Please help and no guilt trips about CC

[Binkston]

Hi, I posted before but not much result so I've tried with a punchier title to see if that works.

I'm baffled - I've been through all the emotional trauma of CC after my seven month DD had taken to waking every 1.5 hours. Anyway, CC worked, she was going down without a peep and then doing the same for two daytime naps - 1.5 hours in the morning, 1 hour in the afternoon not to mention 8-9 hours at night.

But slowly it has all started to unravel - waking at night after only 3 hours and not going back down again and then waking every two hours or so. And she's started to cry again when I put her down.

What's gone wrong? and please don't reply if you are against CC cos I find it hard enough as it is

is she hungry? teething?

what time is she going to bed

She goes down at 8pm (last feed at 7pm having been tanked up well) and still gets to sleep on her own without fussing.

She has quite hard, hot gums and has done for a while and now she's on solids twice a day boob the rest of the time.

I always give in and think it's hunger but I think she comfort feeds. She invariably ends up in bed with us sooner or later at night.

what time is her last nap?

TBH, at 7 months i wouldn't be ruling hunger out

sometimes an earlier bedtime can help, and then a dream feed at 10.30 pm and another feed at the next wake up

I don't like CC but I'm not going to have a go... BUT you should also realise that babies' sleep patterns cahnge all the time. JUst when you think a nice long pattern has been established, teething can kick in, or chnages to their feeding so they wake up hungry, not needing that 2nd nap or any number of different reasons.

I was lucky with dd1 in that she slept for 12 hours from 7 weeks (and didn't dh and I think we were bloody marvellous ...) and then dd2 came along who simply did not have a full night's sleep until she was 2 and a half.

In the end we just had to accept she was a lighter sleeper and needed milk/comfort/whatever at some point each night. It got a lot easier when we just got on with it rather than drive ourselves mad trying to chase after the elusive 12 hours unbroken sleep.

She's probably hungry and in pain and lonely.Hence her waking up.

If it's making you feel bad, then I'd be following those feelings through.

I did CC with my ds. I obviously don't have anything against it as did it myself and still do, the only thing I find that CC isn't really about teaching them to settle themselves so when something happens, like they get ill, start teething and so on, we have to start at the beginning again, so it's a bit of a PITA isn't it?
I stopped night feeding really early but I was ff and he was eating loads of solids so I knew he wasn't hungry.
If you think she's hungry, you could try to feed her, personally I wouldn't. You could try teething gels, frozen flannels to chew on during the day to try to relieve the pain if that's what it is. What about some soft music. I have a lullaby cd I put on for ds so he's not completely on his own iykwim

I'm not actually CC-ing now. It's been done and works to a point that she can get sleep independently.

I do put gel on at nights and feed when she cries. So I do think you're right and I just have to except sleep patterns change and will do so again.

I've had 11 hours solid from her (and I woke up feeling as if my boobs were going to explode!) and will again .

I guess I just woke up grumpy and confused after a particularly bad night (hmmm should be an smiley icon for sleepy somewhere!).

My DD started waking up at around the same age, after 2 weeks nearly went mad with lack of sleep, one night we just left her, when she woke, she settled herself after a few minutes. Think she got so used to us going in & putting gel on her gums, that she had established a pattern. She continued to wake once or twice a night for 2 to 3 nights, but each time we just left her ( obviously if she was very distressed or in pain we would have picked her up), after the few nights she stopped waking.

She also might be hungry, at 7& half months DD was on 3 meals a day, so might be time to move her onto 3 meals.

Good luck....nothing worse than lack of sleep, especially when she's been such a good sleeper for you.

I feel stuck too, first time I've posted on a site like this. My S is 9 months old and was sleeping very little up every 40 minutes and ended up in our bed which became a habit partly because was waking up her big sis A (who slept great from about 3 months ).

I became at end of my tether as she wasnt sleeping in our bed either and wasnt fair on big sis and I wasnt able to function much. So started CC after talking to other mums and a lot research. This was nearly three weeks ago and one of the hardest things I ever had to do and think I cried a lot more than her. She is now sleeping through the night which I never thought would happen which is great and she seems much happier content and no bags under her eyes.

But it is still really hard getting her to go to sleep to begin with and I am still cc each time she goes down night and day. Its made harder as unsettles big sis too. Sometimes its just about 6 mins but last night was an hour (never leave her crying for more than 10 mins before going in).

Wondered if this was normal for other people who have done it or if rocking her to sleep will undo all the hardwork of 3 weeks ?

I don't think it would. I have done CC with DD. The normal thing now is for her to go to sleep happily in moments, but if she is finding it difficult I hold her hand or put my hand on her tummy. It has no effect on her sleep. When she is sick or teething I just co-sleep, or whatever is necessary for us both to get as much sleep as possible.

I would say as one proviso that I don't think that CC would have worked on DD if she had been as young as yours.

Sorry. That was answering the previous post more than the OP. So, my opinion on CC is that if the time is right, it works really quickly and stays that way (unless ill or teething etc). If it's not working, from my very limited experience, I would abandon it and try again in a month or two.

I'm sorry because I a) know it's not what you want to her and b) is only based on my own experience but my opinion is if it was 'emotional trauma' for either of you, she might have been a bit too young for it and I would try again later.

It was so easy with us and we did it because DD was taking so long to go to sleep with feeding and rocking etc, and actually crying a lot more than she did with CC. The first night we did CC it seemed to be a huge relief to her to know that she didn't need us to go to sleep and she actually cried very little.

And believe me, I do sympathise as I know how hard sleep deprivation is. My DD went through months of waking constantly. You might like to have a little look at this thread. It has died now I think but all of us on it did different things and all of us now have babies who sleep pretty well. You might find it interesting.

i would say hunger as my ds didn't stop feeding in the night until he was about 18 mths he needed that extra feed to keep him going was always a hungry baby

i used to dream feed him when i went to bed and this would see him through till morning and id put teething gel on while he was asleep so he didnt get to the point of being in pain to wake him

At night she goes down fine, awake and falls to sleep by herself and is down in her own cot for 3-5 hours. But when she wakes I just get her in bed and feed her and then we fall asleep and I just feed her every time she wakes after that.

I guess what I want to know is whether this is forming a bad habit that will be really difficult to break or if she'll snap back into better sleeping when teething pain subsides/she's onto more solids?

the simple answer to your question Binkston is - there is no one answer: each baby is different and they will sleep in a variety of patterns throughout their development.

The only advice I would follow is to listen to your instincts: if something feels wrong, then it probably is wrong. Sleep deprivation is horrible, but it does pass. Dh and I managed to keep down jobs whilst dealing with unbroken nights with dd2 and now she's 3 she sleeps through most nights. But I don't regret the way i dealt with it eventually and went with my instincts: they're there for a reason.

I agree. All baies are different. For eg, sometimes I have stopped things that she likes, like a feed in bed in the morning as she kept waking earlier and earlier for it. I have reintroduced it now so I can stay horizontal longer but I'll stop again if she starts waking earlier and earlier.

I don't think you are necessarily making a bad habit.

Thanks guys.

Completely agree really about trusting instincts but just wanted to try out some feedback.

Also someone mentioned three meals of solids a day. I was giving her three but when she had a checkup at the doctor's last week the doctor and the nurse said only one at her age (7 months). I live in Spain so I guess the party line is different here (maybe based on the fact more babies are formula fed...?). So in the UK is three meals of solids a day recommended at this age?

I'm in Spain too and everything is totally diffeent. My dd was on three meals at this age (although we were in Wales then!)

in UK advice is to get them on 3 meals by 7 months, but (and i bet you're sick of this line by now!) go with your instincts as to whether you think DD needs it. if she's happily polishing off brekkie and lunch then maybe she would take well to having dinner as well. they say the last meal of the day should be quite a light meal and preferably vegetarian so they don't get any probs with digestion at night. could you just try her on a milky sugar free pudding like rice pudding or a vegetable dish with a milky/cheese sauce. This could help you with night time hunger as well and could help you rule out hunger in the night when DD wakes up?

Hi, just before this thread disappears I'd like to thank everyone who took the trouble to respond.
We're back up to three meals a day and she's enjoying them all and making a fine mess and the last two nights she woke twice during a 12 hour nights sleep (both times I fed her and she went straight back down). So that ain't bad!

Buenas noches!

That's great news. !Duermais bien!