Controlled Crying Diary

[rebeccaroskellthomas]

Our 1 year old's sleep took a turn for the worse when we went on holiday. Then illness and teething happened and me and my partner were having to take shifts and sleep with LG. I decided once her teeth came through that we had to sleep train. I was being used as a dummy (she won't take bottle/dummy) and she wasn't going to sleep until 9/10 PM and she was so overtired she was hyper!

We decided to do controlled crying/ferber method. I know not everyone agrees with it but she was crying anyway and no matter what we did she wouldn't settle unless it was on us and we were knackered! She's 1 now and it was time. We wrote down our plan so we wouldn't deviate from it and knew exactly what we were doing. If anyone wants me to put it down I will.

I thought I'd write down our progress and see if we can help others or get advice from others.

1st Night - in her cot awake at 7PM. Went in after 3, 5, 7, 10 minutes and then she fell asleep by 7:40. She woke again at 8:35 but we only had to go in once. LG then woke again at 9:25 and we had to go in twice. She then didn't wake until 2:25 (couldn't believe it) so I fed her and she went back down without a fuss until 6:45AM.

2nd Night - In her cot awake at 7PM. I meant to increase the first time to 5 mins but forgot so did the same as night 1. LG fell asleep after the 7 min check at 7:20. She woke at 9 and I went in once. Then again at 11:20 with a dirty nappy so I changed and fed her. She woke at 2:50 so I fed her. She then woke at 4:25 and I went in once. She was fussing for a while after this but I didn't need to go back in. She was then up again at 6:45AM.

So second night seemed worse than the 1st night but with the nappy change it might have disturbed her more. On the whole though this is so much better than it has been. Amelia seems happier in the day and we have had some of the evening back and slept in our own bed!

I'll keep posting our progress, hopefully it will get better, until the next lot of teeth come through anyway!

Really nice to see that it is working for you. We are on night 5 of sleep training. I did the first 3 nights on Gradual Withdrawal, the 4th on CC and tonight have gone back to Gradual Withdrawal. Had a horrendous night last night, had to settle DS 5 times over an 8 hour period before I finally gave up and I finally got some sleep. Each time he would cry for about 30 minutes (The first was 1 hour!) However, tonight, he has been asleep for an hour and we had no tears at all. My childminder also commented on how much happier and how he did no crazy screams.

Hope we both have a good night!

Oh no kittymama that sounds bad - 8 times! Hope it gets better for you.

3rd Night - LG was asleep by 7:05! She then woke at 10:45 and she had pooed so I changed her and fed her. She woke at 1:47 and I had to go in once. Then I fed her at 3:45 and she was up at 7. So easier to settle than night 1 and 2 but pretty much the same during the night.

4th Night - Asleep by 7:25 but had to go in twice. She then woke at 8:05 and I had to go in once. Then again at 9:45 and had to go in once again. At 12 she needed a nappy change and I fed her. Then she woke up at 7:45!!!! Couldn't believe it.

I wish she'd stop pooing at night as I think she gets a bit of stomach ache and this is why she's waking quite a bit. But we're still happy with the progress so far especially only being 4 nights into it.

This is going to be a short post!

5th Night - asleep by 7:20. Cried on and off but didn't go in to her as it never got to 10 minutes. Then we woke her at 7am!

Can't actually believe it. It may have been a one off so we're trying not to get too excited but we can't believe the change in 5 days.

Well done!

How did you get on last night? I'm really encouraged as also being used as a dummy and finding it hard to cope with the tiredness!

Hi Nicbiggoblet. Here are nights 6 and 7!

6th Night - asleep by 7:10. Woke at 11 but only went in once. Woke up at 7.

7th Night - asleep by 6:45 (knackered from nursery). Woke up at 6:15.

So really well! Can't believe a week ago we were taking shifts to sleep with her.

Wow that is amazing, bet you can't believe it. Will study your first post and decide what to do. Have to do something as still have older dc who wakes too and it's a nightmare! Thanks and we'll done!

Any chance you could write down your plan as offered in your op? I'm really struggling with my wee ones sleep whic is getting worse and worse. He is a major boob addict and I'm getting 4-5 hours broken sleep per night plus have a 2 year old to pop after too. I used pupd quite successfully a couple of months ago and he now settles fine on his own but can't get him back to sleep in the night without feeding and he's now up 4-5 times. Hes7 months. TIA!

Hi Huishnish, of course. Here is what we did.

6PM or whenever we get home on nursery days (usually about 10 past) we go upstairs and we get LG undressed and she usually has a bit of a play with her teddies.
6:15 she goes in the bath. If we are late home on nursery days and she's extra tired we just give her a flannel wash over the sink.
6:30 she gets out of the bath and we take her back into her room where the lights are dimmed and we get her into her sleep suit and grobag. We have a bear that plays relaxing music whilst we do this. Then we brush her teeth.
6:40 Whilst I am feeding her my partner reads a book to her. When my partner has finished she puts white noise on, kisses LG and leaves.
7 or whenever she's sleepy I put her in her cot. I say 'Goodnight Amelia, I love you' and then walk out and shut the door.

Last night she did 7-6:45. She stirred a few times but we didn't have to go in to her. I hope this helps!

Thanks that's brilliant. We have a pretty good bedtime routine and he settles usually quite well on his own. But how did you decide when to feed during the night? I'm not sure my ds is ready for not feeding through the night but I'm pretty sure he doesn't need 4 feeds! I know it's important to be consistent if you're doing cc. Thanks again for your advice!

As soon as we started doing controlled crying we decided I wouldn't feed until it had been 3 hours. I actually haven't had to feed her apart from one night but it had been 5 hours. I think if you set a realistic number of hours, say 3 or 4 then you can try to increase it later on. You might find though that he sleeps longer and only wakes when genuinely hungry after a few days of doing it!

Forgot to actually say what we actually do when she cries! We started off with 3, 5, 7, 10 mins and when we go in we say 'Goodnight Amelia, I love you' again whilst lying her down if she's sat up or stood up and leave the room.

The next day we increased the minutes so starting with 5 but never went over 10 mins. The next day 7 and then the next 10.