For those who have done gradual retreat-advice please

[Rachel153]

Been doing gradual retreat for a week now (after reading the thread "What worked for us" from a while back) and I'm not sure if it's working like it should. Am still sat right by the cot instead id being closer to outside the room and dd is still screaming her head off every night. She does eventually fall asleep by herself (no rocking etc) which is definitely progress but I just wondered if this method is really working?
I haven't seen her fall asleep in less than 45 mins all week, sometimes it's taken more than 1.5hrs :(
Any advice would be great

I tried this too and gave up. Sorry to say, the gentle approach just didn't seem to be working. Although it used to when she was younger, a recent bad cold/ separation anxiety combo derailed her self settling and sleeping abilities.

We did cry it out last night instead. Drastic measures. She cried for 24mins (the longest of my life) then fell asleep, and woke at 7 this morning. This is the first night of unbroken sleep we have all had in what seems like months! So seems worth it just for that, as we are all different people today.

We'll persevere with the hard line approach I think, though I do feel as she is 10.5 months, she seems old enough to deal with it. The crying seemed mostly angry and outraged too, not anxiety driven.
I read this book(while she was crying, to give me courage)by Marc Weissbluth, and it helped me a lot.