Why can I not feed DD to sleep?

[stopprocrastinating]

Please remind me why we?re controlled crying?

DD falls asleep on the boob, very easily, and is then transferred from our bed to her cot. Due to impending move to nursery, DH is insisting that we do crying it out controlled crying. I don?t like it and neither does DD.

When we have mastered DD self-soothing. We?ve just done third night in row, of controlled crying, do I need to then start putting her down awake, every night? If we revert to falling asleep on the boob, will all the crying it out have been in vain. She?s six and a half months old. For the last few nights, I've moved her just as she's coming to end of feed, and before she's fallen asleep.

DH has two sisters, and they both did controlled crying for their children, and he?s been listening to their advice on getting children to sleep. DD is still waking every two to three hours, and whilst I cope, DH hates it.

I've agreed to move her to nursery, at seven months, and consider giving her just water at night, at eight months (as per his sisters advice). DH is worried, that if we don't act now, we could have a poor sleeper for years to come. I'm much more laid back.

Is he right? Try to convince me that he is correct. I've compromised, and I don't like it.

[gamerchick]

I'm puzzled to which technique you're using? Are you doing controlled crying OR Cry it out? They aren't the same thing.

She's very little for CC anyway and I recommend it as the last resort.

[TinyTear]

why is your husband unhappy, how does it affect HIM you feeding your daughter to sleep.
Mine is 19 months old and I still feed her to sleep and then she sleeps the whole night. no sleep training, no night weaning no nothing.
sleep is developmental and she will do it when ready.

does your husband get up in the night?
if he doesn't and you are ok to continue to do it, please do so. for your daughter.

she is still so small, she needs her needs attended. a cuddle is so much nicer than crying in bed...

[TinyTear]

nurshable.com/2012/07/19/the-wio-wait-it-out-method-of-sleep-training/

Waiting it out is better than crying it out...

[Pachacuti]

I fed mine to sleep until they went to nursery, and they slept absolutely fine there.

[TinyTear]

Mine has been going to the nursery since she was 8 months, at the nursery she gets patted to sleep when tired and then sleeps for an hour.

out and about she sleeps in the pram...

At home mummy feeds to sleep...

Different techniques for different situations...

and 6 months is soooo young...

[Sleepstarved]

Please don't leave your baby to cry for 15 mins. It's just wrong.
You are not teaching her to self soothe you are teaching her to give up crying.
Studies on cc show that cortisol levels are just as high after 3/4 nights when baby is not crying anymore as they were on night one when they were crying frantically.
Can't you at to DH that it should have worked by now and it isn't so let's try a different method?
( I am feeding DD2 to sleep now for a nap and she wakes 8/9 times a night, so I know about sleep deprivation and how you just want to shout 'go to sleep' but they are tiny babies and need us).

[ipswichwitch]

the trouble with cc is that yes it might work in that you baby will fall asleep quicker, but the minute they get ill/start teething/have growth or development spurts it all goes out the window so you have to go through it all again. like someone said earlier, what it really teaches them is to just stop crying.

I have been in your shoes op, with well meaning but insistent relatives who pile on the advice as gospel, and have very different ways of raising their kids to how me and DH want to do it. What may work for one child does not necessarily work for others.

DS was moved to his own room at 7 months and the night wakings did get less frequent, and DH was happy to continue with DS feeding to sleep until he was 16 mo and he self weaned, because he says it was more of an impact on me since I was the one doing it, and he wanted to support me for as long as I needed it. Now DS is 22 months and I can put him in his cot awake (as can DH), and sit next to him with no interaction until he falls asleep. Next step for us is gradual withdrawal, and DS is now capable of sleeping through, barring illness, teething or gobshite neighbours waking him up.

Seems to me though that you want us all to tell you that you are doing the right thing to make you feel better for agreeing to this in the first place. We can't tell you whats the right decision for you, but i strongly advise you to go with your instincts as they are very rarely wrong.

[trilbydoll]

I think someone has already said this, but isn't 6 months too young for it to have a permanent effect? If you are going to have to re-do it every time she gets more teeth or is ill, it seems a bit pointless to go through all the upset (for you and her!)

[mewkins]

Hi op,
I can't say what is best for you but I did something similar (stayed in room baby whisperer method) at similar age and it worked well. I had to do something as feeding to sleep wasn't working and dd was waking every 40mins all night every night as could ONLY get to sleep by sucking. It was hideous as I was doing every night get up. Dh didn't see a problem as he is a heavy sleeper and rarely woke up. I can sympathise with your dh and lack of sleep is very hard to cope with if you need 8hrs a night to function properly AND you know that there are techniques which can help- it's understandable that he is keen to try a different tactic.
It took about a week but dd has slept well throughout the night since. Even teething etc hasn't disrupted her routine. So it can work very well but ideally both parents should be happy to do it and committed to it as consistency is everything with any sleep training. If you plan to revert back to your old routine it will be a lot of heartache for nothing.
Xxx