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Original poster

Controlled Crying - how long did it take to work?

9 replies

zaphod · 15/08/2004 09:54

I have done CC successfully, with four other children, and the longest it took was 5 days, and at that dd was sleeping through the night, it just took her that long to settle to sleep when put in her cot. Ds4 is 12 months. This is day 6, on day 4 it took over half an hour for him to settle at bedtime, and he cryed for and hour and a half in the night, then slept until 8 when I got him up. He got his daytime naps in the car, as we had to be somewhere. Day 5, he again had his naps in the car, and took half an hour to settle at bedtime, woke at 4am for over half and hour, dh was into him twice, then woke at 6 for 20mins, dh into him once, and when he woke at 8 I got him up. I am dreading nap times today. What is the longest CC took to work for you?

OP posts:
Tessiebear · 15/08/2004 10:34

About 7 days (it helped to have all naps in that week at home in cot)

Original poster
zaphod · 15/08/2004 13:09

When I put him in his cot for naps, he cries for up to an hour. I then pick him up, as Ferber recommends. Today, he cried for over 40 mins, ans slept then for 15. Ferber says to pick them up even if they only sleep for a short time but to then let them sleep where they are,in the play-pen or the floor or wherever, as long as they put themselves to sleep. I am now at my wits end, with a very tired and cranky baby.

OP posts:
Original poster
zaphod · 15/08/2004 20:03

Bump

OP posts:
meysey · 16/08/2004 09:02

you have my sympathy and I too am keen to hear what others say. with DS1 it worked in a few days. with DS2 it seemed to work in a few days but then went downhill again. after 2 weeks of a lot of crying at 3 a.m. we were worried there was something else going on and stopped it.

but things are now so bad we want to try again. hubby thinks DS2 has got more cryey and insecure generally after cc. I am not sure what to think.

Twiglett · 16/08/2004 09:07

message withdrawn

prettycandles · 17/08/2004 15:32

I think that cc is much harder the older the child is. If you don't feel that you are getting anywhere after,say, two weeks, why not try the PUPD method, as used by the Baby Whisperer? I haven't tried it properly myself - cc worked for me when did it at 4/6/8m for night-time sleeping - but did a modified version for daytime naps.

strangerthanfiction · 17/08/2004 21:23

We didn't do cc til dd was 15 months as she'd been a good sleeper up til then. We did cc as a last resort and I found that it wasn't worth tackling the daytime naps at the same time. I thought if I got her back in the habit of liking going to sleep in the cot at bedtime / in the nigt, she'd be more likely to go for it at nap times. It may not be strictly Ferber (though we followed his cc plan to the letter) but it worked for us. In total, dd's sleep problem went on for about 6 weeks, the cc took about 5 days to see a serious difference and a couple of weeks before I'd say we were completely in the clear. She's 22 months now and only occasionally has a problem getting to sleep. pupd was a disaster for us, personally I can only imagine it working in a very young baby, in an older child I think it's like a torture, or at least it was for dd.

But hey, those 8am starts sound like a dream ...

Original poster
zaphod · 18/08/2004 20:24

Thank you all for replying. On day 6, he again cried through his nap time, and finally dropped off in dh's arms before he noticed. That night he only cried for a bit and dropped off, and slept through to 7am. We did the CC but he just cried till 8am, so I got him up. Again he cried through his nap time, so in the after noon I rocked him to sleep in the buggy which he didn't like either.
Last night he went down after crying for about 5 mins, and didn't wake till 6am at which time I just brought him in to bed. I don't mind him coming into bed during the night, as long as he goes to sleep in his cot.

STF I think you are right, and I will leave the naps until he is more used to going into the cot at night. While he is tired enough to need a nap, he still has the energy to fight against sleeping in his cot during the day, so I will continue to hold him till he sleeps and then put him down in his chair. The 8am starts are a result of his 9pm bedtime - I know it's later than recommended by the childcare gurus but when term-time starts it will make more sense to fit in with everyone else.

PC what is PUPD? I haven't heard of that method.
I just hope that I haven,t ruined things by bringing him to bed this morning.

Hope it goes well for you Meysey, I know with my others they were happier children after cc had worked and they were getting regular uninterupted sleep.

OP posts:
meysey · 19/08/2004 09:38

thanks zaphod

we have been giving him water and he is settling more quickly. so now we are no longer giving him milk we will start cc again soon.

naps are fine, it;s just nights that are the problem

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