CC advice needed from people that have done it please

[APMama]

Firstly, I know controlled crying is not for everyone. If you don't agree with it please do not comment. It took us a long time to reach this stage and did not go in to it lightly. I'm looking for advice from people that have successfully used it.

My daughter is 7 months and we've been doing CC for 9 days. She now sleeps through the night wonderfully (after waking every hour or so to use my boob as a dummy back to sleep).

My question is how long til she will stop crying before bed - she only cries for between 5-10 minutes but I presumed this would get less and less and it doesn't seem to? Will she always cry before bed or will eventually she stop? I don't like the idea of it being for good!

Some babies just need that release I think, is she eyes open screaming, or crying as she nods off?

You've done brilliantly to get to this point. Well done! The crying at nighttime will reduce in time as the new pattern becomes etablished. Hope you're staring to feel the benefits of a full nights sleep!

@morethanus thanks, that's reassuring to know! Was starting to doubt it all as don't want her to scream/cry to sleep every time! Definitely liking not being awake in the night so much, feel so groggy in the mornings now though which bizarre. Think it will take some getting used to, sleeping for 7 hours again! Xx

@flowerytwat - bit of both really, varies from night to night. Put her down at 6pm tonight and it was angry screaming bless her x

Hi OP, did your baby wake a lot during the night? Was the first few nights hard?
I'm at my wits end with my ds2 sleep routine and that he appears to want all his milk at night and not during the day so just looking at alternatives

@cbeebieseveryday She used to wake every other hour pretty much. The first few nights were really hard but we started on the Friday night so my husband was home to help. We made our own rules with the times and started going every 2 mins instead of 5 and went up in 2 minute increments. We also said that we would leave her without a cuddle after 20 mins of crying so don't worry about changing it to what you're comfortable with. I also offered her the boob loads the day we started so I was happy that she was feeding enough in the day. I let her have one feed about 2.30am the first night so did cc when she woke up before that. The second night she didn't wake up for a feed til 4.30am and since then has been ok, does wake occasionally but is usually back asleep before the 2 minutes when we go in. Hope that helps lovey xx

Thank you, How long did you have to keep going into her on that first night?

We have our ds1 and ds2 in the same room, so worried about the disturbance but I have to do something.

My daughter was a bit younger when we sleep trained so we used PU/PD technique and now used spaced soothing on the rare occasions she does whinge when put down or when she wakes up at night. I've found she goes through phases - right now she keeps resisting one of her naps and whinges for 5-10 minutes everyday when put down but happily does to sleep for the other nap and at night with no input from us. We have been through this before and it has gone away on its own so I'm hoping by being consistent, she will do the same again.

CBeebies we used a sleep consultant when we sleep trained and she told us that the first night it takes the longest to get them to fall asleep on their own but once they do that, they will stay asleep for longer because they haven't been soothed/rocked/sucked to sleep. She said that when they do stir, they put themselves back to sleep faster each time. She kept emphasising to us that the most important thing was consistency in our behaviour and making sure we did the same thing every single time so she learns what we want her to do when we behave a certain way. So making your own rules is completely fine as long as you follow them every single time. Apparently the most common reason for failure is not behaving consistently so baby doesn't understand what we want them to do and then gets even more distressed

CBeebieseveryday I can't remember exactly but I think it was about 20 mins total first putting her to bed and throughout the night about 5 mins or so each time. Could you let your oldest have a special sleepover in your room the first night or go to a family members so he's not disturbed too badly for the first night? Xx

Thanks Riddles, he goes down great in the evening it's just how much he wakes over night that's the trouble. He wants comfort and milk, although we had a minor breakthrough last night.
He had been at the child minders all day and she said he hadn't eaten much so about 5:45 pm ish I gave him a bowl of ready brek and a yogurt and although he woke for a bottle at 9 ish he then slept until 4am so I am going to try and do the same tonight and see if the extra food helped or not!
Wish me luck lol

AP I had considered sending ds1 to my mums for a few nights whilst training, they are on holiday currently but I think that is the best route to take, although I am surprised at how much he can sleep through.