Popsy hits stalemate....can someone remind me how to do controlled crying for during the night please......

[popsycal]

Many of you have followed my numerous sleep threads to do with ds2 (now almost 20 months!!!) and his poor sleeping.

In August, my lovely mother in law helped us to crack night time feeding and he hasn't fed in the night since then. He is better in many ways:

• no night time feeding will sometimes* settle for dh
• no evenign waking so I have a bit of a ife again
• less waking in the night generally.

However, a few times a week, he will go from around 7:30 ish until 5am which is brilliant consiering what he used to be like.

The rest of the time, he might wake at 1am ish but will settle fairly quickly. I leave him for a minute to see whether he settles, then I will go in if he hasnt at which point he will lie down and I leave after a minute or so.

But he always wakes sometime between 4 and 5 and that is pretty much it. He is shattered and needs more sleep but he is so obsessed with having a feeding and screams, yells, cries, head butts his cot. You get the idea. Persuading him to go back to sleep in almost impossible. And even if he does go back to sleep, he naps on and off until about 6 at which point we are up for the day.

So I am going to take the plunge.

DS1 is having a few nights away from Sunday with his grand parents and I am off for a week.

Have never done controlled crying and need to finally persuade myself.
Have tried literally everything.

Is there a gentle version? I invisage it only being needed for this 5am waking really......

Sorry it was long

Thank you!
We have come a long way

He is shattered though. As he was up at 4am and only dozed briefly after that, he fell asleep on the way back from dropping off ds1 at school at about 9:15 for 45 mins. His nap should be either late morning or straight after lunch. he was shattered by dinner time.

I am going to give ti a go anyway
Thank you for all your encouragement

Goodluck Popsy!

Misdee, i didn't realise you were having sleep problems with dd3!

I'll be thinking of you later popyscal. I'm going to start on the cc tonight too. DD is 11m and still waking up in the night for a bf. It used to be only once at about 3am which I could cope with but for the last few weeks she's gone back to 1am and 4am (then wakes for good at 6.30). Too much!

I'm sure she just wants the feed to fall asleep to so it's time to cut that out. I'm going to try cc - unless someone can explain what the baby whisper version is? Or the no-cry sleep solution?

Hope you get some good sleep before you're early start, popyscal. Infact, I better have an early night myself.

leo, i think dd3 sleep problems stems from being back in my room. she had been sleeping fine in her own room for ages, then we had to switch everyone around to fit peters hospital bed in.

good luck popsy, keep us updated.

Hullo popsy (and you other march baby sleepy folk!).

Just wanted to say good luck with it. We've struggled with dd2 getting up at 5.30, which pales into insignificance compared with your 4am starts.

We tried leaving her to cry with regular return visits, but with little effect. One thing that did work, was that one morning a while back I was so shattered I just went and lay on her floor under a duvet, and she played in her cot, and lay down herself occasionally until about 6.30am. That in itself wasn't bad, but the really amazing thing was that for the next 5 weeks she didn't rouse until gone 6.30am. It was like some kind of miracle - she seemed to realise she could play in her cot and then snuggle down and go back to sleep if it was too early.

Unfortunately we've been back to 5.30 starts again over the last week! So may have to try the duvet on floor trick again.

Anyway - that was a long rambling way of saying - GOOD LUCK. And well done for getting this far with his sleep.

so how did it go?????

was thinking of you when i was still awake at 3am (dh out for work and i couldn't sleep).

whatever happened it will get better.

xxxx

he woke first at 4:30...which in itself was good as he was asleep last night before 7.

I left himto cry for only 1 minutes for the first 3 times then added 30 seconds (bit of a wuss)
By five am he was starting to settle then went to sleep for ten mins then woke again
so started again
after 2 lots of 2 minutes of crying and going back in, I left the room, he didnt cry at all then went back to sleep til 6:30
which is unfortunately 'morning' in our house and ds1 was up

so not too bad at all
dh slept through the lot despite being in the room next door

will keep going tonight

oh popsycal....well done!!!!

That is fantastic.

might be worse to night, but then will definitely be better tomorrow and by mid-week you'll be laughing.

well done popsy!

I'm amazed you've come so far - I can remember some of your older 'not sleeping' threads and I can't believe how you've managed to turn the situation round so well

popsycal - that sounds brilliant! Well done you.

You should save a copy of this thread for when he's a teenager and you're yelling at him to get OUT of bed .

ok..update...

he didnt wake until 4:20 and I went in and he was just lying down shouting mama so I told him to go to sleep and I was see him in a little while. I left the room and he didnt squeak!

Then he woke again at 5:20. Three lots of crying for 2 minutes each then settled quickly after that. Awake in cot but lying down.
I went back to bed. Not sure whether he fell asleep or not but at 6:10 he was wide awake for the morning so we got up

I am not realy a big fan of CC (hence to 'wuss version' I am doing), and there is no way I would have attempted this before now - neither ds2 nor I was ready. But he is nearly 20 months and understands every word I say so feel happy that he knows I am just outside his room and will come back.

Also, we had literally tried everything as many of you know.

Feel positive!

wwent to bed fine
put him in shattered and he went to sleep

wonder what will happen tnight

Well done - that doesn't sound too bad. Hopefully after a few days he'll twig that there is no fun in waking up before dawn & just settle himself back to sleep if he does.

last night:
didnt stir until 5:20 when he shouted mama
I went in and he was lying down so I said night night go back to sleep
I left the room and he did a half hearted whimper for 3 seconds then that was it
woke at 6:30

All sounds good popsy.

tinker
address please to popsycal2005
yahoo

Been following your progress Popsy. Sounding really fantastic. Think you are 99% of the way to having a 12 hour night. Can you believe it?
How about some pics of DS on the March 2005 Photobucket??

I really think he might do it tonight......but i suppose i am tempting fate

ds1 is out at his grandparents tonight so no pressure in the night.....
he got to 5:20 last night which is pretty much sleping through in our house!!!

I will come back to the march thread and am about to upload some pics to the pc so will put some on the photobucket jambot. TBH I have just lurked on the thread recently due to the sleep thing and how rubbish I felt about it all....

fingers crossed for tonight

Please come back to the March thread. Know everyone has been keeping an eye on how your doing and would give you tons of support.

he slept til 5:40 then would not go back after that but stayed in his cot until 6:15....

jambot - i will do

heard him twitter at5 but didnt go in
then he woke at 6:10.....

Sounds good Popsy. You've nearly cracked it. If you think you haven't , just go back a few months and read some of your old posts. Things have improved so enormously from what they were. Well Done!!!

guess what