I thought I would post on here as I have found a lot of threads very helpful this week whilst deciding what to do. Last night we tried CC for the first time. Some background:
DS2 is almost 10 months and bf. He has slept through til about 5.30/6am without a feed maybe 2-3 times in these 10 months. He's had long periods when he was younger of only having one feed in the night, but also long periods of being fed 3-4 times! He shared my room, and most nights my bed, until 8 months, when he moved to his own room without any change/drama. I have demand fed from the beginning, although we slipped into a routine, and he's not a "boob monster" at all, since starting on solids. When he moved into his room, he was generally on one feed a night, which I was happy to continue with, but since then it has got worse again; nothing else will settle him and I have been feeding him roughly 3 times per night, which I'm finding exhausting and have been questioning whether to stop bfing altogether. If we try to settle him another way, the crying gets worse.
So, last night, after much reading and consideration we thought we would give CC a go. Partly because I really want to stop the night feeds and nothing else will settle him anyway, so he is going to cry no matter what; partly because DS1 didn't sleep through til he was 3 yo and the thought of another 2 years of this fills me with dread. We almost caved within the first 3 minutes!! It was like he knew what was going to happen because he started screaming as soon as he woke up. This was at 22.10 last night. We went in at 5 min intervals (decided not to increase it), and walked in saying "shush" gently, patted him and said "Sleepy time baby Camper" (we decided beforehand that we couldn't not touch him at all as the book recommended), then walking out quickly. He did scream and scream and cough, but after about 15 mins, it turned into indignant shouting, getting less and less. After 22.50, there was silence. So actually only 40 minutes, which I was hugely relieved by. The next wake up was not until 3.30am. I went in after 5 mins (I think, I may have rushed in a bit too soon here as was confused). Left the room and crying stopped after 3 mins! Next wake up was 6am, and we decided that 6am is fine to be morning, brought him into bed and fed him. Hurrah! He never usually feeds first thing as he has filled up at night. It was the first time he has not been fed in the night for months. And not only that, but he went to sleep without patting or stroking or anything.
So right now I am very happy, although of course tonight could be completely different. And it does go against my instincts as a mother. But our experiences with DS1 drove us crazy, so if DS2 can become a better sleeper now then we'll all benefit. And I am happy to keep on bfing, which is another important factor. I will update tomorrow if anyone is interested!