controlled crying has worked wonders for overnight sleep, but still tears to drift off!

[TheCaretakerNadine]

Hi!

I thought id share my experience of controlled crying, and see if anyone also experienced the same.

please, no anti sleep training brigade.

We are on day 5 of 8month old bubba being in own room with some sleep training.

Before: we coslept. I really enjoyed it until he was 7 months, where hed wake every 30mins and wanted me to rock him to sleep even though im right beside him. It was a nightmare cz as soon as he drifted off, id come downstairs to sort dishes etc and hed cry 20mins later - like this all evening til i went to bed. Dh in guest room.

So we moved DS into his own room, did controlled crying. 1st night: I increased intervals but never went past 6 mins. But it was choppy because he would cry, id start my timer and the cry turned into a winge or a natter or a moan as opposed to a full on cry. After 1hr, he was asleep and slept a solid 10 hours. He has NEVER slept this good. Subsequent nights, I have found that when I put him in his cot, white noise on, catchphrase said, and leave, he starts crying asap. The controlled crying can take upto 30mins. The last 2 nights, I went in to pick him, calm him and I stayed longer than 1min. And then he as slept well again through the night.

Apart from night 1, he wakes up 2/3 times, i leave it 2 mins before going in and hes easy to drift off. I dont mind 2/3 wakings - I think its unrealistic to expect them to sleep through at this age. But its a damn sight better than before.

My question is, for all those who have tried cc, does your LO still put up a bit of a fight to actually sleep or do they happily natter and fall asleep themselves?

Im so confused because for day naps, I will leave him and he happily natters, and sleeps himslef.

Any advice/tips appreciated
X

Is lo overtired perhaps?
Seperation anxiety?

I think fighting sleep is fairly normal. DS still fights it sometimes but it slowly turned to a little winge rather than a cry. Nowadays sometimes he’s legitimately bolt upright in bed crying as though to say “don’t leave me mummy” and usually an immediate “it’s bedtime darling, we’ve done your story and now it’s time to sleep” is enough to settle him. Sometimes he waves and says “bye bye”. Totally depends on his mood, how tired he is and whether he thinks he’s missing out on something. You’re only on day 5 so I’d continue to persevere. We did CC at 6mo and he’s now 16mo.

Hi,

I'm the same with suddenly feeling the need to change our routine. I breastfed my boy to sleep until 6 months and did lots of contact naps. Then suddenly this became too much on me.

We are 3 days in, we are going in every 2 minutes to comfort. It is slowly working for us, but I too am wondering when he will gurgle and moan to sleep rather than cry, my heart is struggling with the tears.

Can you do it without the actual leaving part? Sometimes they are terrified of being alone.

We used to sit in the same room, after story, night night and sing a little lullaby. The time taken to fall asleep got smaller and smaller and it really wasn't difficult to sit for a few minutes while they settle to sleep peacefully rather than in tears.

Some kids take a few days longer - DC1 took 4 nights before being happy to be put down awake and self settling, DC2 took 11 nights

We’re on day 7 and it’s the worst day today. It’s took almost an hour and still lots of tears and all naps have gone to pot aswell.

Co sleeping to sleep training? No wonder your child is distressed. Literally one extreme to the other. Don’t worry, he’ll soon realise you won’t come and will just sob himself to sleep.

My 9 month old goes to sleep fine in the day but not at night. I always try for two mins and watch on the camera, listening to what kind of cry it is. He is pretty determined not to fall asleep alone and I know he will just get more worked up. So I now sit with him and literally just need to put my hand on him for 2-3 mins and he goes to sleep. 50% of the time he sleeps through so I just don't see the point on putting us both through the anguish of the self-settling. And he can do it as he does it in the day. It's clear night time is different and it seems like it may be the same for your LO.

Solo we were similar. Why sweat the few minutes reassurance it takes.