To try the Ferber Method?

[doggiemum247]

Our lovely 8 month old has become progressively worse at sleeping since she was 5 months old. She's now waking every hour in the night and will only be fed back to sleep (which often takes an hour). We try rocking her but she becomes so frantic and screams and writhes so loud she's actually at risk of flinging herself out of our arms. It's terrifying.

Because of the misery this is causing us all, I've decided I'm finally ready to try some sleep training. I'm not sure I'm strong enough for CIO but I'm on board with Ferber Method.

In your experience is it unreasonable to hope this will work with an 8 month old?

Sorry to hear you are having sleep problems OP.

It really isn't uncommon in the first year. Have a look at The Blissful Baby Expert she has information on controlled crying and also a more gentle pat and shush method.

We tried every gentle sleep technique possible when my daughter was a baby but eventually did controlled crying at 14 months.

However I'm not sure personally I would be comfortable doing any form of controlled crying under 12 months.

So might be worth trying some gentler methods first :)

Side note - definitely not against controlled crying as it works and unlike the social media BS you hear it doesn't do any psychological damage. My friend is a child psychologist and told me this!

I'm not a fan of CIO or controlled crying to be honest. But completely understand the desperation for sleep as I have been there, very recently. My DD is 12 months and sleeps pretty well now with either no wake ups or 1 or 2.
4:5 months there is a change in their sleep cycles, this was soooo hard for us. My SD woke every 30mins to an hour and constantly fed (breastfeeding) but that got better about 6/7 months and wakes were very 2-3 hours.
Around 8-10 months they can go through a period of separation anxiety and this again is very tough. My DD's started around 10 months and it was really difficult but by 11 months she'd moved on from that phase and her sleep is so much better.
It's obviously your decision on whether you try controlled crying, some babies respond well and just have a temperament where it won't bother them and others will make them worse.
Essentially what happens, especially with CIO, is a baby signals that they need something and this is ignored, they keep signalling but being ignored so eventually they stop signalling as they know no-one will come to them. They still wake the same amount in the night but will no longer cry out because they shut down due to stress.
The first couple of years of infant sleep are very tough and you feel like it's never going to end but your baby will get there, everytime you respond you're giving them what they need and making them feel secure. They will finally do this on their own.
My DD will only call out now if she wants a drink, usually if she stirs she'll just go straight back to sleep. All I've ever done is respond to every wake with whatever she has needed and now she doesn't need me as much

Our 13 mo was a nightmare sleeper from 5mo and doing the same where it was taking an hour or two to get him back to sleep. We did cc at c.10 months and honestly wish we had done it sooner, he was definitely ready. We didn't get it right at first but when we did it properly it took 2 nights and it's been great. I found it easier in some ways because I wasn't getting as frustrated as when he was thrashing and screaming in my arms - better for him and better for us.
People don't talk about it but at my baby group when I tentatively mentioned it there were 3 others who all were doing it as well and our HV helped us with it, it really does help everyone get more sleep and be happier