Controlled crying and night feeds - does it work?

[IsItMeOr]

I know this is probably going to start a riot, so please be gentle with me.

7mo DS has never been a great sleeper, although we did have a couple of months from about 3-5mo when he only woke up twice in the night for Bfeeds once he'd settled (which took about 45mins iirc). For the past couple of months, his sleeping has seemed to get gradually worse, and currently he seems to need 3 night feeds. He also wakes up 2 plus extra times when DH is able to rock him to sleep without me feeding him.

We are getting very tired. DS is teething at the mo, and our usually sunny baby has become very whingey particularly at the end of last week. I find that harder to cope with than the night-waking tbh. But DH and I are SO tired, and just keep disagreeing about what to do about it.

DH is now suggesting that we try controlled crying. I really, really don't feel like doing this, so have put in an order for the No-Cry Sleep Solution and the Sears Baby Sleep Book. I've also offered to try doing all the night wakings on nights when DH is going to be at home the next day. My position is that I think this is probably a phase that we just need to survive as best we can.

Anyways, my question is whether anybody knows whether controlled crying is even an option when the baby is still Bfeeding at night (I'd estimate that DS might be getting as much as half of his 24hr intake of milk at night at the mo, as he is so distractable during the day)? My limited understanding of the technique suggests that controlled crying would not be compatible with 3 proper night feeds (20-25mins of proper sucking). Does anybody know?
TIA.

Just to add my experience - having had a DS that wakes 4 to 5 times a night.... I was always feeding 3 or 4 hours apart and the other wakings I would pick up and rock.

DH went away for a fortnight and atfer a week I was so totally shattered without help day and night. When DS woke and it was 4 hours since a feed, then I fed him. Otherwise I sat next to him with my hand on his tummy. First it was 15 minutes crying, next time 10 minutes, then it dropped to a couple of minutes. After about a month I stopped going to him - somehow felt it made no difference - unless it was feed time and now he will cry out for a moment and go back to sleep. I never gave it a sleep training name but basically he wakes, cries to go back to sleep, sleeps unless his tummy is empty of milk and then I feed.

That is my next task to crack - feeds.

But I could never have done that any earlier than 7 months... somehow felt right.

Hope that helps somewhat....

Actually have to agree with dycey. I said my son sleeps through, what I mean is he doesn't require attention. At 22 months he still wakes and fusses, sometimes has a little cry, but usually for no more than about 20 seconds and then settles himself back to sleep. Most nights we don't wake up, but sometimes if we are up anyway, or if someone is sleeping over we hear him.
I think that's the point of letting them cry. It's not to let them cry uncontrollably for hours, it's just to give them a chance to learn to settle themselves. Otherwise I'd still be up every couple of hours to rock/comfort him even now.
FWIW my son also has night terrors. The health visitor has convinced me that this is all it is, and actually if you wake him up he calms instantly and doesn't seem to have any recollection of it. Now and then though, he has a nightmare. It is completely different. His cry is extremely distressed and then I would always go to him. I also break all the cc rules in this situation and I pick him up and cuddle him and sing him back to sleep.
I guess what I am trying to say is that you need to judge each situation as it arises. No-one expects you to leave your toddler screaming for hours in a terribly distressed state, but it's worth giving cc a go for 15 minutes at a time for a few nights (as long as you know there is no valid reason for his distress) to see if he is just crying out of habit.

p.s. have you tried ashton & pearsons powder for teething? It's fantastic stuff, and they can have it on top of calpol. I gave it to DS just before bed and first thing in the morning during teething periods.
It's herbal, so they can have it every hour if needed, but I found twice a day was plenty.

Ooh, more good tips. Yes, he is having the ashton and pearons powders - three times a day at the mo...

Have just heard that 3 sets of mums and babies who we saw on Friday have since come down with suspected Swine Flu. Am sincerely hoping we don't get that on top of what he is currently doing, although so far the babies seem to be doing much better than the mums.

Yes, we had the dreaded swine flu scare too. I was told that baby would be fine, and I was more likely to be ill with it. They quarantined us, but we didn't have it in the end.