Please explain to me EXACTLY what you do with CC?

[eenybeeny]

I started a thread a while ago debating whether or not I should do CC for my now 8 month old ds. At the time I decided against it.

I want to know now though exactly what you do. Do you just leave them to cry? For how long?

Alex sleeps very poorly at night and his naps are only ever 30 mins long which isnt long enough he needs at least an hour as he always wakes up in a foul mood and stays that way all day.

Thanks for your help.

i don't think there is one right way. there are many options and you choose what you think will work best for you.

some people just leave the baby to cry until it sleeps. others go in after ever increasing intervals (eg 2 mins, 4 mins, 8 mins, 16 mins) and just show the child they are there. others go in and stroke them/talk to them. i think the golden rule is never to pick them up once you have started.

i did cc on my 7 month old DD just under 3 weeks ago. i had to because she could not get to sleep without breastfeeding and i am going back to work. i could not bear the idea of just leaving her to cry so i stayed in the room (in the dark , on the other side of the room) and came over and stroked her head at incresing intervals (as described above). after 21 minutes she was asleep. the next night she cried for 2 mins. she has never cried when put in the cot at night since. after one night she learnt to put herself to sleep having never done it before. she also stopped night waking at exactly the same time .

despite it being just one night and only 21 minutes of crying i found it heart breaking but i am also so much happier now that bed times are so easy and i get a proper nights sleep. i think dd is happier too as she is more rested.

good luck.

thanks artichoke. I am doing some research on the web now. I wouldnt mind Alex wakes so much if only he was in a decent mood while he was awake. Instead he wakes in a horrible mood because he is over tired.

Eenybeeny, you are probably thinking: ?Noo, not him again! Step away from my shiny new thread!?

I promise to behave myself this time

I was thinking of you today because a) your thread seems to have finally come to an end and
b) thanks to the debate on your thread I worked out a method of helping dd to go to sleep during the day
? and did it successfully today for the very first time!!

Essentially: CC with parental presence with a hint of Pu/Pd!

So I am feeling doubly bad towards you and would be happy to make amends, if there is any way I can help.

To briefly answer your OP: the actual technique of CC is very straightforward, what you need to get right is the stuff around it, e.g. ds's routine and your and your dh?s mental frame of mind.

Hi DaddyJ no need to feel bad. Actually if you want to make it up to me I need £100 by Friday see here so that would go a long way towards resolving my angruish over THAT thread.

I am glad anyway that the thread did something useful for you. What it SHOULD have done for me was teach me not to start CC threads but look here I go again.

I have thought about it AGAIN and talked to DH about it, he is very against doing CC with Alex at this age so there you have it we wont be doing it. I hope thats the right thing to do.

It is absolutely the right thing to do! You know, after all these months of dd sleeping through and dw feeling refreshed and happy, my wife?s first response to any crying in the middle of the night is still to immediately go and feed dd. We then have a quiet chat about the pros and cons and 5 minutes into that debate dd resettles herself?

No, controlled crying is definitely not an option for everyone.

Out of curiosity (and maybe it would be helpful for us during the day ? dw does not do CC during daytime), how are you settling Alex at the moment?

Sorry, I missed the £100 chat, glad that it?s sorted, though!