Q re controlled crying

[MioNome]

hi
am not trying to spark a huge debate, this is a genuine question as I've been reading lots of sleep training threads recently (looking for inspiration on how to tackle my 7mo beastly sleeper...)

What is so bad about this method? When I read threads on here, lots of people comment about leaving the child alone to cry can have a lasting negative effect on them, letting them pass out from exhaustion is cruel, about the children only sleeping through because they know noone will come to comfort them etc

But it seems to me that with CC you DO comfort them when they cry - you keep going back into them don't you? Presumably you can also set the time limits to something you're comfortable with.

Am I missing something? are people who make these comments mistaking it with crying it out?

For what its worth I've never done CC but have no problem with anyone who does. Your baby, your life.

I did CC when DS was 9 months of age because his sleep was terrible. We did increments of 1, 2, 4 and 8 minutes. The first night we did it DS was understandably very upset and it took about 45 minutes until he went to sleep but then with every night that passed he went to sleep much quicker.

Within 3-4 days he was sleeping through for 11 hours.

The questions arise over the (as yet not fully understood) impact of cortisol flooding of the brain at a young age.

There's also a lot of research I think about how lack of sleep can be damaging to the baby and their development.

Prior to CC and sleep training my baby was only getting 11 hours sleep in a 24 hour period but afterwards he was getting 14-15 hours which was a huge improvement. The fact that he was sleeping better made him a happier and more contented baby and it also made our relationship blossom because I was no longer exhausted and I no longer felt resentment and frustration towards him.

I think it's a case of weighing up the positives and negatives and taking it from there....