CIO Questions

Baby boy I s currently 3 months but we will be sleep training at 4-6 so I chose that flair instead.

I had some questions on the CIO method though.

1. I keep hearing baby should be in their crib/nursery and that parents needs to walk out of the room. How does this work if baby is say, 5 months, and the recommended age for them to sleep alone is 6 months? Do we leave them crying in their bassinet in our room instead? And if so, we walk out of our room during every wake in the middle of the night so they can CIO again?

2. How do you know if baby woke because they’re hungry rather than just because he hasn’t learned to sleep through the night? Same with diapers, at what point should we check for a dirty diaper instead of having them put themselves back to sleep in the middle of the night?

3. I’ve heard baby’s should get all their calories during the day so they can sleep through the night. How do you manage this? Our baby won’t eat more during the day and continues to feed every 2.5-3 hours during the night. How can we change this and should we not sleep train until baby manages to sleep longer stretches?

4. Would it be a good time to wean baby from their pacifier once sleep training begins?

5. Anecdotally, does anyone have babies who are ok with a later bedtime than the recommended 7pm or is that truly the gold standard?

6. Is there a limit for how long a baby should be left to cry?

7. If you’re comfortable sharing, how many nights did it take your LO to learn to fall asleep with sleep training and at what age did you decide they were ready?

Thank you so much in advance.