Is chair method just CIO with you there?

[Elliephant07]

I tried the Chair method aka sleep lady shuffle with my 18 month old tonight. It went terribly, she cried for an hour and I eventually gave up. Is it meant to be just 'cry it out' with you sitting there offering verbal reassurance? Guides online seem to say this is a 'gentle' sleep training method? What am I doing wrong?

Give your baby love and comfort. Don’t ignore a child’s cries.

I have done and resisted sleep training for a LONG time but need to get her to sleep in the cot now! Any other ideas?

How was she going to sleep before? Is there a step between what you previously were doing and sitting on the chair giving verbal reassurance? We did gradual retreat but it was quite a few steps before we just sat giving verbal reassurance.