Sleep training... help me through....

[emeraldcity2000]

So I've finally given in. Dd1 was a brilliant sleeper so never had to consider it. Ds has been dreadful. He's 1 and has the odd night where I'm only up once but more often 2/3 times and just recently for hours at a time. He goes to sleep with me cuddling / feeding him and often wakes when I try to put him down.

I'm back at work and homeschooling and too exhausted to carry on. I drove into a bollard last week. At nursery they put him in his bed and he naps perfectly so I know he can set settle. He just doesn't if I'm here.

We're on night 2. He's fallen asleep after 20 mins crying. Last night was 45 and then a couple of whimpers but basically he slept through. So 🤞 it's working.

But I feel awful. Tell me your stories of sleep training and raising perfectly well balanced humans afterwards to calm me down......

[Izzysverytiredmummy]

Emeraldcity2000, thank goodness I came across your post, I'm going through the exact same thing with my 10 month old. She will only settle on myself and wakes up as soon as I put her down, I'm surviving on 2-3 hours of sleep a night, recently back to work and do all the housework (not that you can tell because my house is a constant mess, much to the constant criticism of my mother in law).
I'm desperate to try the cry it out method as I am extremely exhausted and my partner will not help during the night even though I've been in tears explaining to him how physically and mentally drained I'm feeling, starting to become more and more depressed too 😩, he's adamant that we aren't doing the cry it out method because he doesn't want to hear our DD crying. Do you have any tips on facing those first few steps on the method that you've found helpful? I'm glad that it's working for you and I wish you every success with it going forward 😊 x

[RLRapunzel]

I wore earphones and listened to music so I didn't have to listen to the crying; made it alot easier. I did feel guilty but the alternative was to rock her back to sleep 6/7 times a night.

Me and my siblings were all sleep trained and my brother just finished his law degree, does that help?

[emeraldcity2000]

@Izzysverytiredmummy sorry to hear that. My husband was actually the one who wanted to do it. Especially as he was settling by himself at nursery, dh felt we just needed to give him a proper chance at home... but without him encouraging / restraining me, I would have gone back in and tried to settle him.
Amazingly though he slept through last night and woke up giggling this morning. So far we've only really had 3 periods of sustained crying and the last one was only 15 mins...
God luck. The exhaustion is like nothing else xxxxx

[emeraldcity2000]

@RLRapunzel

I wore earphones and listened to music so I didn't have to listen to the crying; made it alot easier. I did feel guilty but the alternative was to rock her back to sleep 6/7 times a night.

Me and my siblings were all sleep trained and my brother just finished his law degree, does that help?

Thank you!!!!