DS is four months old and a really awful sleeper. He either needs feeding or rocking to sleep. He doesn't have a set bedtime as it really varies as to when he will relent and go to sleep. This means that most evenings he is up til very late with DH while I go to bed early to get some sleep before the two hourly night feeds start.
This is taking its toll on DH and I and also on our relationship. He gets home from work, we eat dinner and then I go to bed. We get no time together and we are both tired all of the time.
DH has had enough and wants to start controlled crying. Everyone he works with has apparently done it and their children now sleep through the night. I'm not up for doing CC but I do want to improve DS sleep if we can. The nurse who did his jabs told me that he has no physical need to eat every two hours at night and that I need to be getting him sleeping in his cot. She said if I teach him to self settle he will start sleeping longer at night.
But how do I teach self settling?? I've tried three times this week to put him down for a nap using the sshhh pat technique. The first day it worked and DS was asleep within 20 minutes. The second time he cried for an hour before I gave in and fed him to sleep. I've just tried again for 45 minutes and again have caved and got him up. He gets in such a state, real tears and a cry I've not heard before. He is now grizzling in his bouncy chair.
Should I be doing something differently?