cc please help

[puttheteaon]

Writing this listening to my baby cry for the third time tonight. Started cc 16 days ago and at first it was so easy, we barely got beyond 10 mins and then he slept from 720 until 1 then 5 when I fed him. I felt like we were teaching him to sleep, he was improving and didn't seem at all unhappy, just a few little grumpy shouts. Our plan was to cut one night feed at a time over the next few weeks.

For the last few nights he has woken at around 10 and cried for over half an hour including our visits in. Tonight he only slept for half an hour before waking again and we had to repeat the whole awful process. Its torture, I feel like I am a horrible person and don't know how to move forward.

We had to do something about his sleeping as at 8 months he was up every 2 hours, sometimes less and often very difficult to settle overnight, we were all exhausted and it was becoming depressing and very hard.

Please help, why has it become so hard now? I was prepared for a 4/5 night relapse but not after over two weeks, he's not ill or teething and is happy and naps well in the day. Just don't think I can carry on hearing him cry but the sleep deprivation was making me crazy, I has all my hopes pinned on this being the answer

How old is ds? Are you still feeding him during the night? If so, how often? Is there anything that has changed in the last week or so? Any developmental things ds is working on? Any change in naps or length of?

At around 11 to 12 months I needed to reintroduce a nightfeed (dreamfeed when I go to bed) because my DD evidently needed/wanted one. It wasn't long term, just a phase I assume coinciding with a developmental phase and also the fact that she reducing the amount of milk she would have at her daytime milk feeds. She had not had a night feed for several months before that.

My point is that sleep isn't linear. You are assuming that your LO sleep (and need for night feeds) will and should steadily improve in a linear fashion: "Our plan was to cut one night feed at a time over the next few weeks". That isn't necessarily the case.

Hi mintbiscuit yeah I've been feeding him at night still, he has always woken loads overnight so was worried he might genuinely feel hungry if we went cold turkey with no feeds, he has dropped 1 feed since cc and is now up at 1/2 and then 5/6, hes 8 1/2 months old, no real noticeable changes, hes more mobile now but no big leaps from a few weeks ago now.

fatedestiny think that's been the steepest learning curve for me, thought new born sleep was the trickiest bit and thought that by now he's be a dream!! Its not really the night feeds that concern me, its how difficult hes found it to go back to sleep, he was up at 950 then 1045 last night even though he's had a big dinner and been fed within 4 hours so I'm fairly confident he wasn't hungry but the crying lasted 30 mins each time. At bedtime he cried/grumbled for 4 minutes! Just so upsetting to hear him upset was thinking maybe the night feeds were confusing him and prolonging him learning to settle as sometimes I feed him, sometime I dont!!

Thanks for your replies xxx

Hi OP

I don't know anything about whether the night feeds are confusing your DS but just wanted to let you know that the exact same thing has happened with my DS.

His sleep wasn't as bad as it sounds your DS's was, but wasn't great and I was exhausted. He wasn't night feeding at that point and would refuse a bottle if offered. I also tried cc when he was 8 months. Like you it seemed to be working at first and I felt ok about it. He did sleep through for one or two nights but then we have also had a similar deterioration. He is 10 months now and still waking a lot, with an occasional night where he sleeps.
I have to admit that as I wasn't seeing any improvement I did give up on cc. Even the sleep consultant I used agrees it just didn't work for him.

Other people may have more positive tales though of sticking with it and your DS could be different! The only other thing is there is a lot of developmental leaps at this age which seems to really affect some DC sleep.

Thanks timtammy, tonight has been a bit better, straight to sleep and no wake ups yet from 730 to 11, think I've just got a low tolerance for knowing that he's awake and calling for me and I'm not going to him really hope its a case of developmental leaps x