controlled crying - have you done it?

[er1507]

just wondering if you have tried controlled crying and how old was your baby when you done it and most importantly, did it work??

im not sure what to do, me and dd cosleep which i like and dont mind but she wont go 2 sleep unless cuddled and if i put her 2 bed at 7pm she will continue to wake every 20min until i bring her in my bed aroune 10/11pm. she used to be a dream and would only wake up once maybe twice for a feed, she is now 6mo and has breakfast and dinner. i really dnt think there is any reason for her waking other than she wants to be close to me. again i wudnt mind but she wont sleep for more than 2 hrs before waking again, i usually can turn her on her side and she goes straight off or she will nurse bk to sleep. she refuses a dummy. so im thinking that a little cry down more than cc will help her understand that bedtime is sleeptime?? oh and shes def not confused about day and night.

er1507 , my comment wasn't directed at you, mostly the comments posted after in particular the one I quoted as it wound me up. i can understand that it is frustrating that your lo will only settle when she is being fed but I just think there are better things to try before you ever have to do controlled crying. your baby is only young and i'd be surprised if you still have to nurse her to sleep when she is 4 or 5. please try not to take offence, controlled crying is a controversial topic!

When I did it I went in every 2 mins. The first night I went in many times! By the third night I had to go in once! But I had quite a tight routine in the day and followed a night time routine. Dd2 was always put down at 7. Lifted for a dream feed at 10pm (until she dropped it herself at around 6 months). She was always wakened by 7 am too.

madam1min no I understand where you coming from and I'm just thinking that cc will be might be better than other methods such as pu/pd as I feel it would be more draining and gives mixed mags to the baby? I had a brief look at the sears website and it did make me think "ahhhh sod it who cares if AP?" then I have a fight with myself about what to do! Last night I cuddled her till she was half sleepy put her in cot and then gently patted to sleep and she had a bette night than she's had in a long time, still brought her in with me tho.

k999 what was your day time routine? I used to have a pretty good one but it's got a bit loose recently, from tea time it's always pretty much the same.

It is a while ago but awake by 7, fed and dressed by 8. Play time for an hour or so. Bottle at 10, change nappy, then down for nap for about 45 mins. Awake, play, lunch, play, change bum, bottle about 1. Down for nap about 2 pm for about 45 mins. Awake, repeat!! Dinner was about 4.30. Play, bottle (only hlaf of bottle), bath, jammies, Then rest of bottle in darkened room. Down by 7.

I think!!!

I was so anti cc but my lo at 9 months old was waking every 40 mins, we tried cuddles co sleeping, feeding to sleep. Everything. In the end we had to do it for everyones sanity, it wasn't the conveniance of waking a few times I was getting depressed making the days and nights both miserable. After 2 nights of less crying than with the 40 mins of waking my lo slept through and I noticed he was so much happier as well, lost his dark circles and was eating better. We've lost our way a bit lately and think we might need to start over again as I'm okay but he's struggling to enjoy his day. I do think you need to be really ready and really commited to making it work, I don't know if I could have left him any longer than the 12 mins we got to.

I was also going to say we actually put him into his own room, he was in with us until 9 months and that initially seemed to help.

never thought I would do cc, but at 8 months my DS was in bed with me, not something I minded, but he was waking up every hour or so and getting really upset at not being able to get himself back to sleep, and I mean beside himself upset, I tried everything to get him back to sleep, gave him the boob but he had 6 teeth and just bit me as he wasn't hungry. He got so upset he would also bite me wherever he could get hold of flesh and kick me in the tummy etc, I was getting no sleep and had no energy with him in the daytime. CC was a last resort for us, took two nights and he was sooooooooo much happier afterwards, he's got lots more energy in the day andhas lost his eyebags, he sleeps 12- 13 hours a night now, I watch him on a camera monitor, if he wakes up he shuffles about gets comfy and goes back to sleep. Has transformed our lives!!!! Only advice I would give is make sure there's nothing bothering him like a cold or teething, and make sure DP is 100% supportive. I never got past leaving him for 10 minutes.
I now know when he wakes and cries in the night that something is wrong with him, and we can deal with it.
Good luck and let us know how you get on!!

Thank you highlandbird did you go in and check on him within the 10min? I'm also wondering what happens on the 1st night if they wake up early hours? Do I leave them then too as I'm expecting her not to sleep through until the 3rd night or so. Dd has a cold at the mo so going to wait a bit.

Yes it works I had to do it for 2 weeks put him down closed the door and didnt go back up.....it was horrible but now he sleeps lovely from half six to 7am

I went in every 1 min then every 2 mins then every 5 mins built it up to every 10 mins, so that he knew I was around it's just that he was not going to get out of the cot, it was bedtime etc, when I went in I just gave him a pat and said night night. And he had a night light and a lullaby on. Did the same when he woke in the night.
Also helped my piece of mind checking on him to make sure he didn't need his nappy changed, or that he'd got himself scrunched up in the bottom of the cot.I also have a monitor with a camera on it (was given this second hand) its great for checking on him without disturbing him sometimes if I hear him shuffling about.
The cry that he did to go to sleep was a frustrated angry sort of cry iykwim I can tell the difference when he wakes in the night because he's done a poo, or if he's teething.
In the daytime I got him up at 7 then put him down for his naps at the usual time (9.30am and 2pm) didn't let him sleep in between so that he was tired at bedtime and ready to sleep.
Maybe your DD still needs to feed at night if she only has 2 meals a day?? That's why I didn't do cc before 8 months but by then he was on 3 meals a day and rejecting the boob quite often anyway, I was sure he didn't need any night feeds. May help to up her to 3 meals a day?