I'm starting CC tonight

[pipplin]

This could be an utter disaster but I just don't know what else to do. PUPD did not work neither does shh pat.
If I put DS-11 months in his cot he stands up and screams and I always give in as there is nothing left to do.

So after doing my research I'm doing CC. No idea if this will work as DS is pretty unpredictable and a high needs baby.

Just need some support really, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea and pre children it wasn't mine but I have 2 months until I give birth and we need to get DS' sleep sorted.
I've only just managed to get him to sleep without a feed.

I am not worried so much about the crying part just the part where it doesn't work and then I have no idea what we will do. He cannot self settle and I need to teach him.

Hello all!
Well after a terrible couple of weeks in RL I am actually starting CC tonight.
I am very scared it won't work and I'll have a hysterical DS to calm down :(
My plan:
Bath: 6.15-6.30
Massage and dress: 6.30-6.45
Sit in his dark room give bottle and then put down by 7ish.
Night night etc leave room even if he's crying
Come back after 2 mins and shh, Mummy's here, night night sleepy time.
Leave repeat after 5 mins place back lying down and then couple more of the 5 minute ones then leave for 10. Repeat until asleep.
This apparently shouldn't take more than an hour?

Anyone got any tips? Am I doing this right? I'm worried he just won't sleep.

Thank you, pwb- aka pipplin

Hi just adding my own bit of experience in. We had to do cc with our dd as she just couldn't fall asleep on her own or self settle. I got to absolute breaking point one night (you know the routine, rock/feed to sleep, put them down and two seconds they're awake again).

I put her down then went in after three, five, seven mins etc. Think I got to 11 and she dropped off by herself.

The two things I learnt from this experience were: you can't do it half-heartedly. Either go for it and be consistent or leave it till you're ready. The second thing was to tackle one thing at a time. For me that was getting nighttime sorted, then one nap at a time in the day. They won't nap forever so night was a priority

I think in your situation I would do the going in at longer intervals, gently laying him down and quickly leaving the room. I know it's horrible but I reckon it will work. Like other posters have said, it might take a while but stay strong if you're going to do it! Will you post back and let us know how it goes?

V interested to hear how you get on OP. I started cc with my 8 month old DS last night and gave in after 10 minutes and picked him up...

Going for it tonight though. I'm going to take the advice of the person who said they walked around the garden to avoid hearing the crying.

FWIW, I did cc with DD and it worked a treat. She was younger and settled quite easy though.

Good luck OP

Well so far- he was exhausted as he didn't nap well today- typical of babes that can't self settle so I've heard.
He went down well after his milk and has cried out once about half hour after he fell asleep.
He was sat up in his cot when I went in but I just shhed him and turned his White noise sheep thing on and he went back down.

Thank you for all your advice and support- I am a wreck from sleep deprivation and 30 weeks pg! Dp had him so I had a 2 hour nap today and I'm still exhausted.

Smellsofsick- I know the rock to sleep then wake as you put down so very well! So glad to hear cc worked for you- gives me hope!

Sweetandtender- my cc buddy hope it's going well and your not getting soaked with rain walking round the garden (it's raining here)

Oh it's still so early by about 10 he starts waking and getting harder to resettle.

I'll report back as I can

What age is he?? At 4 months both my DDs were still feeding regularly during the night (apologies if you've already mentioned his age - I've had some wine).

My mantra has always been 3 days to make a habit 3 days to break a habit.
Do it consistenlty for 3 days!
I'm sure suoernanny did a program on this. She always starts with child then moves chair one foot away at a time until you are out te door. So this could take a week or so. But just sitting with them until asleep with your shush pat pat plan
Maybe google supernanny Jo frost for more tips.
Good luck

Hope it all went well, I've my own little thread with Sprout on bad sleepers..I have chickend out of cc in favour of gradual withdrawal. Good luck tonight keep us posted

Ooh foxy- gradual withdrawal- can you talk me through that please? How's it going and how old is dc? (sorry for all the questions!)
Mayday- I briefly looked at jo frost but couldn't see too much info- will definitely look again though. Have shh-patted tonight when he has woken.
Ginmakesitallok- fab name btw! He's coming up for 11 months. He doesn't have a night feed. I fear it is more sleep cycles and habit is the reasoning for his waking.

He's doing pretty well currently- he'd normally be in bed with us by now. I think this is either because he has sensed my pregnancy related/ sleep deprived wobble or we went off routine today and he didn't eat until 6ish and bathed and bedded later. Maybe he is fuller? Though he shouldn't be hungry. These babes are a mystery!
I'm so annoyed I didn't give him a routine earlier but general consensus was not too- hindsight eh? Can't help thinking a lot of this my fault.

Sorry for the long rant! Hope you are still with me :)
Thanks for the continued and encouraging support.

Sorry meant to add- he slept so terribly today he is probably exhausted. He kind of chats in his sleep too so I'm always on guard as it were- is he asleep or are we about to burst into tears?

Well we were awake at 3 but successfully shhed.
Awake at 5- this is a normal wake up time and took 34 minutes to shh. I didn't pick up, he asked a couple of times but I just laid him down- night night sleepy time etc.
I did pat a bit... I know, I know I shouldn't have but tbh I think just my presence was enough in the end. I just sat next time and shhed- also gagging from MS :( i doubt he'll stay asleep long but he is NOT coming into our room until 7.

He's done amazingly well, he's so unpredictable and high needs though, what works one night won't another. This has worked tonight due to him, not me! How the hell will I cope tonight if he doesn't want to go along with this? :(

Well done Prolific. I think you're going to get there. How did you find the 34 minutes of shushing? I find it very stressful, but I do have an older dc and I always worry she'll wake up as the screaming gets louder!

DS fell asleep on his last feed last night so I couldn't do cc... He woke at 2 and settled easily with a dummy. He woke again at 4 but just wouldn't settle and screamed and screamed. I picked him up . Going for it tonight though, I really am.

Good luck OP and do report back tomorrow

Hello Sweetandtender thank you for replying :)
The 34 minutes were tough going- I'm getting too big to be leaning over a cot! I ended sitting on the floor with an arm through a bar patting him.
Don't feel bad, I'm sure it will be better tonight. I am going with worst case scenario at the moment, an action plan if it all goes terribly wrong and my exhaustion becomes too much then enough for one night. My aim is to get to this half 4/5 waking!

Dreading tonight but he may surprise me, am giving him slow release carb oaty milky cereal an hour before bed to help.

Good luck tonight, let me know how it's going.

How was last night Sweetandtender?
We had a good night here, never in shhing him for more than ten minutes I'd say. Still up 3 times in the night but hey, he's slept in his own bed for 2 solid nights which he has never done before!
I'm going to keep going, its going too well- which is worrying. Hopefully he won't regress.

Great news Prolific! Hope he keeps it up tonight too!

DS woke once at 2am and settled with a dummy (as he did the night before) and woke again at 4 and needed over half an hour of shushing to settle. He was SCREAMING!!!!! Not pleasant but he got there in the end.

Keep going Prolific, and let us know how it goes

Prolific How did it go last night?

Welcome SinisterBuggyMonth How was your night?

DS has a cold so didn't sleep very well at all, but the good news is that he settled quickly (less than 10 minutes) every time I went in to him and I didn't take him out of his cot!!! I now actually have some hope that it might start to work out sooner than I thought

Hi all, last night flipping disaster! At 4am he woke up crying, proper teething in pain crying. I tried and tried but Calpol and in bed with us won in the end. He hardly slept in with us either tbh then we were all late dp woke us up at 7.30 but I reckon he would slept on otherwise.

He's been teething on and off today and not napped really-25 mins max all day.
Back on it tonight though I will not be beaten!

Sweetandtender- hope he feels better soon but hurray! Sounds like you had a good night.

Welcome sinister! Come join the madness :) last night sounds good by all accounts.

I so scared we are back to square one and all my hard work was for nothing. I am utterly, utterly exhausted so I'm hoping he'll go easy on me tonight. Dp is helping thankfully!

I wish you luck and lots of sleep tonight ladies
Adios!

Aw Prolific it's so hard to leave them crying when they're teething... I think I would've done the same as you tbh. How did it go tonight? Hope you've had an easier time.

In huge contrast - my DS slept through!!!! I can't believe it. I keep thinking he must've woken up but I was in such a deep sleep I didn't hear him (DH would never hear him...). I hope it wasn't a one off. I got my first full night's sleep in nearly a year!!!

Stick with it if you can Prolific

Wow sweetandtender! I am so jealous you lucky lady!
Did you do anything differently?
Long may it continue!

Last night was okish. Stayed in his own bed until 6. He woke every 2 hours from midnight. I am exhausted! I had to pick him up once but once he had stopped crying he couldn't get comfy on me(I don't blame him, I have a 30 week bump all out front getting in the way). So I put him down and he went to sleep instantly. Then by 5:30/5:45 he just was awake. Managed somehow to get him back to sleep albeit on me by 7 and that's where he currently is. Like having a newborn all cuddled up to me and snoring! Bless.

Naps are still a disaster, we just aren't doing them really. Had about 30 mins yesterday until a little boy in the shop we were in made a rather loud noise. I gave him the look!

Hope everyone else is well. Any ideas to why he is waking so frequently? He goes back to sleep quicker than he used to but ideally would prefer to be able to have more than 1 hour 1/2 sleep at a time!

Just like to say thank you for this thread. I have been umm-ing and ah-ing about CC with our 16 month old co-sleeping, frequent waking, boob monster as I'm pregnant but have been terrified that it wouldn't work.

Thanks to this thread I'll just be sticking to the NCSS.

It's worked for me mummyberryjuice. Second night sleeping through now. Don't knock till you try

NCSS? Not controlled crying? Oh someone explain that please!

I tried cc with ds2, I lasted half an hr sobbing ds, sobbing mom, gave it up as a bad job, I was so upset that I had done it, waited till he was old enough to reason with, happy child happy mom, he s 4 now and sleeps 7 til 7, am doing the same with ds3. am sure others will disagree, but cc made us all unhappy, although I didn't stick to it, if hes crying he wants you, but good luck