Controlled crying questions?

[Emy84]

Sorry i know there are loads of posts on tgis topic!

Not sure if cc is for me but just trying to understand what it entails. DS is 5 months so wouldn't do it yet anyway and problems may sort themselves out possibly maybe???!

He can go down ok but with dummy. Then will sleep on a good night 7hrs on a bad night 3/4 before the contrast waking and resettling with the dummy starts.

Reading about cc not sure if I could do it but a couple of things I don't understand. If after going to sleep he wakes up in the night do I leave him to cry (using the timings for checking)? Also do you do cc for naps at the same time?

DS main problem is the dummy I really don't think he can settle without it. It is very useful at times but means that I never get more than 3hrs consecutive sleep.

Anyone used cc to get rid of dummy? Did it work?

If he wakes up the first thing to judge is what kind of cry it is. IME there are two main types. One is a low-level, soft grizzle that can doesn't sound urgent because it isn't. The other is the sharper kind of cry that is going to escalate if you don't see what the problem is. With the low-level grizzle, you can safely not leap in straight away but give it a minute or two and they self-settle. (I wouldn't even call it 'controlled crying' tbh because it's not crying.) With a more urgent cry you can't really leave it because it usually means something is wrong. So you check, comfort, shush, pat, wind, feed, change or whatever and then resettle.

CC and CIO aren't recommended by HCPs for under-1s any more.

Thanks ZuleikaD I had not heard that!

If it's a dummy issue then if you haven't got rid of it in the first few months then it will be really hard for your baby to get rid of it now. I've had 3 dummy addicts and it seems like the easiest times to get rid are in the first few months or when you can do the dummy fairy around 2 or 3yrs old - from my own and others experience.

I did sleep training around 7months and had to teach my ds that his dummy was on a clip on his sleeping bag, so he needed to find it himself to settle himself back to sleep. It took a while to make sure he wasn't waking up hungry. I ebf so if he didn't settle with a dummy after the first few times during the night then I fed him. At this age are you sure your baby isn't hungry if he isn't settling back to sleep with a dummy? Sorry to sound patronising, you obviously know your baby best, but I had a few moments with my ds where I was trying to settle him with a dummy and thrn realised he was starving!

We did CC with DS at the reccomendation of health visitor. We were on our knees with him and nothing else worked. She basically told us to do it, which in a way im glad she gave us a direct instruction as she could see we were near broken with it all. It is awful but it worked. first night was 45 mins, 2nd night, 20 mins, 3rd night 5 mins and now he goes down fine. He still has a dummy at night time and nap time hes 2 now by the way. When we did CC i think he was about 16 months old. We didnt do it in the night as its not fair to the neighbours but we found with CC he started to sleep through. We have had setbacks and always resort back to using CC if he does regress but it only takes about 10 mins and to be honest hes been a far happier child for getting the sleep. As someone else has mentioned if he does cry first establish what cry it is. DS woke last night and grizzled for about a min, but then went back to sleep.

CC isnt for everybody, it was a last resort for us but it worked.

My baby used to wake every 45mins. She would go down at 7pm sleep then 9pm then wake. Every. 45. Mins. Until 5am when she would start her day. I would spend my days walking around town crying from exhaustion. She wouldn't nap longer thn 20mins x2 as well. This went on til she was 6.5 months when health visitor told me to do cc.

I did my own version which was cc mixed with pu/pd. first night bath, massage, cuddles, feed, put down awake. She cried for 1 min I went in picked her up, cuddled her, put her back down. This went on for 8mins (me going in and picking her up every 1 min) then she slept......uninterrupted til 7am!!! The next night 5 mins, night after 90seconds. 3weeks in and she goes down tired but awake and sleeps no crying 7am - 7pm. Wakes at 7am, has a bottle and goes back down til 9.30am. Then has a long 2 hour afternoon nap 11-1pm.

Baby is SO happy and energetic now, every comments on how smiley she is started crawling at 6minths 3weeks and I think that made her even more tired as as was everywhere.

Cc may be controversial but waking every 45mins was deterimental to both me and baby's health. 8mins of crying (with comfort every 1 mins) beats all th hysterical crying shevud all throughout th night because she coukdn't self settle.

Good luck.

I did cc but not to get rid of the dummy. If the dummy is causing problems with dd I used to stick loads in her cot so she could always find one.