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First night of PU/PD. Anyone up?

5 replies

Peaceloveandcustardcreams · 18/07/2015 03:29

My heart is breaking :(
DS is 7 months and teething got him and us into some bad habits at night. He hasn't needed a night time feed since he was about 12 weeks, but now he "needs" one to go back to sleep in the middle of the night. He has a dummy at the moment but I wonder if we should just phase it out now as well because it's not staying in his mouth while he's crying.
DH is doing the picking up and putting down at the moment and I'm climbing the walls.
It worked really well for naps the last couple of days so tonight we decided to go for it while it's the weekend and DH is around to support me. But it's only been an hour and I'm cracking already.
I've just done a stint of picking up and I thought we were getting somewhere but then the back arching started :(
Anyone around for support? I'm at the stage where I'm going to break and the whole night will have been pointless.
Please don't tell me I'm being cruel etc. I'm not doing CC or CIO, and I have the support of my HV. Don't tell me I'm damaging him - I have lots of MH problems and already spend a good chunk of my life worrying about my ability to parent him adequately, so it's already swimming round my head anyway!
Just if anyone has done this and can tell me it is worth it and will get easier?

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Peaceloveandcustardcreams · 18/07/2015 03:34

He's sort of crying in his sleep now. I said I'd never let my children cry themselves to sleep. Feel like such a monster.

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thinkfast · 18/07/2015 04:05

We did this with ds1 at about 8 months as we were at breaking point. We were told 3 nights and you'll crack it. That advice was spot on. By the fourth night he just laid in his cot and went to sleep by himself and generally speaking subject to a few blips and a period of v early waking has been a good sleeper ever since. Those 3 nights were hell but worth it in the long run

Ds is now nearly 4 ands thoroughly happy chappie. Chin up. You can do this

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Peaceloveandcustardcreams · 18/07/2015 04:05

It took an hour and forty minutes of screaming but he is asleep. That was hard, I hope he sleeps a couple of hours at least.

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Peaceloveandcustardcreams · 18/07/2015 04:08

Thank you thinkfast, cross posted with you! I have a friend who recently told me she did this at four months - I've always admired her DS's ability to nap! I deliberately waiting until my DS was over six months as recommended, but I'm lucky that he's not standing/pulling himself up yet. That sounds even harder!
Thank you.

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Peaceloveandcustardcreams · 22/07/2015 04:47

So after the first night he slept through every night since (7-7:30pm - 5:30am waking once for comfort, which I can handle). Tonight is night 5 and he was up at around 4ish crying. He is teething so we gave him Calpol and teething gel, and probably stroked his face a little more than we would have done otherwise.
But five nights without the night feed again feels pretty good. I hope he gets the picture now.