Are there alternatives to CC? Has anyone not taken this method? Or is this it?

[LaCiccolina]

Hey, I appreciate there will no doubt be an age when DD perhaps needs cc however at present Im loathe to go there. Problem is I don't know any alternatives. Do you?

Has anyone not used this method? I feel like Im the only one as every second note from mummy mates is telling me how wonderful it is. (Possibly the reason Im so averse. I hate films too that come with massive marketing plugs.) There must be alternative ideas....?

Thanks

How old is DD?

Of course there are other approaches to sleep issues. 'The No Cry Sleep Solution' by Elizabeth Pantley is a good place to start.

I would advise researching all the pros and cons of CC before deciding to use it.

Gradual retreat. See the 'what worked for us' thread.

Patience.

Join us on the what worked for us thread. I couldn't recommend it more!!! Amazzzing!!!! Not only does dd get herself to sleep, but been going thro the night too. In only a few days!! Dead chuffed!! Xxx

No, we didn't do it, did shh-pat when I wanted to stop the bedtime breastfeed and always stayed in the room. It has taken a month or so to work but we didn't like the idea of leaving her to cry, it was just one step too far.

I also always fed my DDs at night if they woke until 10/11 months and they just seemed to grow out of that themselves.

I never left DS to cry. I don't see the need to do this at all. he sleeps through fine now and has done for about a year. He is 3.4. Might seem a long time to wait if you are expecting the "norm" to be a lot younger, but I didn't find it too bad. He was in bed with me when he still had during-the-night feeds, so both of us would wake briefly and go back to sleep. I used to feed him to sleep in the early evening and leave him in bed, he'd wake up just before I came to bed and sometimes once more before this in the evening, but I'd get a pretty full night's sleep.

I moved him into his own room at about 2 because he kept stealing the duvet and I seemed to be waking him up, for a while he kept up this one wake up which was around the time I went to bed anyway, and then he dropped that one too.

The biological "norm" for sleeping through is somewhere between 1 and 3 years - they all get there in their own time. No need for any kind of sleep training if you don't want to do it.

I was the only one in my group of mates who didn't CC, so I know how you feel. Statistically there will always be one baby who a)doesn't sleep, b)doesn't eat c)doesn't do other stuff all the others are doing. I had a), a friend had b), etc etc.

It doesn't always work, as my mates would admit, and often if the child had a cold or something it would stop working and they would have to start again. I think partly (and I could be totally wrong here) they just felt like they were doing something, and had some control over their unpredictable babies, because it was a recognised method with a recognised name/brand. And the HVs told them to use it.

I never mentioned to my HV that dd woke up every hour, so she didn't try to sell CC to me!

Anyway, I found reading NCCS very useful, just to feel I wasn't alone or mad. I found accepting her waking incredibly useful (the most useful thing actually). I found my own version of gradual retreat worked but only when she was about 3.

No cry sleep solution is lovely and very helpful.

I have had to let my babies cry a little but tried to be with them or sooth as much as possible. I hate it. The crying. In fact avoiding it as much as possible has kind of created sleep problems which I then have had to address by letting the baby cry a bit. So my advice to myself would be to try and keep the crying in perspective!

Id say Only worry about it when it does become a problem.

Some people use dummies successfully and don't need to let their babies cry.

I think there are skilful mothers out there who instinctively know just the right amount of crying and their babies learn to settle well and so the whole sleep training issue is avoided. I am not one of them but I'd love to know their secrets!