My DD has never, and I mean NEVER, been able to settle to sleep without feeding to sleep and it has only been in the last couple of weeks that I have been able to get her to nap in her cot (she graduated from co-cleeping in to her cot at night at 16 weeks).
I am now facing the (unexpected) probability of having to return to work and putting her in nursery and she will need to be able to get to sleep without me. I am just not sure how to help her get there.
HVs all seem convinced its a case of putting in her cot when she is tired and rubbing her eyes, and if she crys for a bit, she crys but she will go to sleep and then soon get the hang of the whole putting herself to sleep lark.
I have no issues with leaving her to cry for a bit (going in every 5 mins to reassure her) if I KNOW she is tired, but she rubs her eyes most of the time and I find it difficult to know when she is actually tired. I feel awful letting her cry wondering if she is actually tired but knowing that by then going in to her and getting her up again undoes all the hard work we have both put in.
Are there any suggestions for how we could acheive her learning to sleep on her own? or how long to CIO methods actually take to work? No other method of getting her to sleep has worked for us and I am very wary of introducing new methods now that might just be replacment crux that will need taking away in future anyway.
Sorry this is so long, but thanks for any help you can give me.