Has anyone tried CC but staying in the room?

[KiaraN83]

DD is almost 9 months, I tried controlled crying a few weeks ago but it clearly wasn’t working and DD was hysterical, I didn’t feel right to continue.

I’ve been reading about other methods as I’m currently rocking her to sleep but she’s getting heavier and when I go back to work she will be 1 and I can’t expect my mum and MIL (who will be looking after her) to rock her for ages. So trying to tackle the problem now.

I’ve found a method where you basically put them in the cot but don’t leave, you sit there singing or going shhhhh so hey know you’re still in the room. Then after 15 mins you can pick them up to calm them down for one min then put them back down and repeat. It seems a lot more gentle that CC but I’d like to hear if anyone has had any success?

Hi OP, I tried something similar with my DS and it didn't really work for us, he just seemed really angry that we weren't going to pick him up and got even more hysterical 😐

I just wanted to add though, DS started nursery last week and I was absolutely convinced he wouldn't sleep at all when he was there because I'd always fed him to sleep at home and nothing else ever worked. Couldn't have been more wrong! He napped for 3 hours in total on his first day and has slept well for them ever since. So your DM/MIL may not struggle as much as you expect they will, babies are so adaptable

I don’t do this exactly but I have tried an approach where you try and get the settling better one step at a time.

So first in the cot, singing lullaby and patting and picking up to cuddle when upset, for as long as it takes.

Then drop the lullaby. Then hand on baby rather than patting. Then no hand. Still picking the baby up whenever they get really upset.

Takes a bit longer but I don’t feel like I sleep trained but his sleep got better (though worse at the moment due to illness argh!)

I did this with DD - sort of. Feeding to sleep stopped working at 9 months, and after a very brief attempt at CC (I didn't have the stomach for it) I figured she'd just have to learn to fall asleep in the cot. At first I tried shushing and patting, but she just used to wrestle with my arm and go a bit mad - it became clear I needed to interact with her as little as possible, so I just sat close, just doing enough shushing so she knew I was there. I realised quite quickly she'd cry for five minutes then calm down, squiggle and chunter for a while, then cry for another five before falling asleep. At first it took maybe 45 minutes in total for her to fall asleep, but within about three to four weeks it gradually came down to 5-10 minutes. Totally worth it! It took a while and you still need to ride out some crying, but staying close and reassuring them continuously feels so much nicer than leaving them crying alone in the dark - even if you're periodically going back in.