Hi,
We have had a sleep consultant in to help with our 12 month old you was becoming impossible to put to bed after being a really good sleeper, and also starting to wake during the evening. We have had 4 nights now of controlled crying. We are also attempting to shift his bed time earlier because it was quite late (sometimes 8.30pm) simply because he was so difficult to settle. We are now aiming for 7pm. So the first night he was put in his cot and cried for 9minutes before settling at 7.45pm. Second night cried for about 4 minutes before settling ar 7.15pm. Last night 25 minutes before settling at 7.31pm and tonight about 21 minutes before settling at 7.25pm. When I say crying, the sleep consultant taught me to look for gaps in his crying and by the end tonight it was really just whinging rather than crying.
My question is, if you have done controlled crying, how long before you saw an improvement. I really don't want bedtime to be so stressful that I have to spend 20+ minutes listening to him cry. It's very difficult. Does it take a week or so provided we are consistent? What about middle of the night wakings? Last night he woke at 12.30am and I basically patted him back to sleep but it took 30 minutes. I didn't want to give him a bottle or pick him up as this is what led to our problems in the first place I think.
Any experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks!