What age is the right time to try cc?

[RachelsFirst]

My dd sleeps between 730-830 and wakes at 4. It takes 2 hours to get her to sleep at both times and it requires endless amounts of rocking, walking and singing (currently a bad rendition of my girl)
Have decided cc is the only way she'll learn to self settle.

Is 16 weeks too young to try this though??

I think it's from 6 months.
Could you perhaps use a different technique?(not sure what but one of the Baby Whisperer ones).
I've done CC twice with amazing results,but my DD was over one.

Absolutely too young, meant to be a year I thought.

Tried pupd but she just got really worked up and hysterical - felt almost like I was teasing her by picking her up and not rocking her to sleep. Will try no cry solution-would much prefer kinder method if possible. Thanks!

Way way too young.

She doesn't have the mental development to understand why you won't come when she cries.

If she is taking 2 hours to settle every night maybe have a look at your routine and timings - is she overtired? Not tired enough? Hungry? Thirsty? Hot or cold or just not comfy?

IME things shift at around 4 to 5 months and what has always worked doesn't for some reason, you may need to tweak things. She may need to go down earlier, then wake in the night earlier for a feed then go back down again for a longer stretch.

There's no harm (IMO) cuddling her to sleep for a bit longer, she's still very little and needs you so much. You've got plenty of time yet for her to learn to self-settle.

Thanks sidge. I've tried a few different bedtimes and find that 730pm suits her best as she's naturally quite sleepy at that time. I've tried changing her bedtime to 930pm for 1 week to see if she'll sleep longer but regardless of bedtime she wakes around 4am (sometimes earlier). When she wakes she's not particularly hungry (I'm exc bf) but is very playful and likes to chat!
Last night she woke at 2am and didn't fall asleep until 4am despite walking, rocking and singing. I put her down in her cot for a while (back aching!!) but she got very vocal as she wanted to be picked up. Hence in my desperation I started thinking of how she could self settle. Friend of mine has used cc on her 4 month dd but I didn't feel comfortable when I read about the method.
Any tips would be really helpful!! Thx again

way too y9ung

advice is from a year

but never is the right thing

Sounds counter-logical, but it might be worth moving her bed-time EARLIER for a few nights - sometimes that can actually encourage better sleep at night...

Hi RachelsFirst.

My DS is the same age as your DD and has had a number of very restless nights recently. Just like you I was up between 2-4am this morning. Lovely.

I'm putting it down to the big 4/5 month developmental leap, the hot weather and also I recall full moons can make them a little crazy too (was full moon on Saturday just gone). My plan is to write off the next 4-6 weeks and expect craziness all round regarding sleep. I've read so much about how this particular developmental leap is one of the longest and most intense leaps for our LOs.

I think there are other ways you can use to teach self settling: sh/pat, or gradually using less and less rocking so that the baby is doing more of the actual dropping off on their own IYSWIM. Naps can be an easier time to teach self settling.

FWIW self settling may not help with the 4 am party anyway. My DS can self settle perfectly well but chooses not to until he has been awake for 90 mins at 2 am.

Inmaculada - thx will try that as she does sometimes have a small catnap at 5 so maybe I can encourage a longer sleep at that time.
Koeda - it could be a developmental thing but it's been going on for too long now!
Nosleep - I tried sh pat but she just gets REALLY irate and really starts screaming and thrashing as she's used to being rocked or walked. Tried sh pat just now and failed again spectacularly. She got into such a hissy fit that it's taken me 2 hours to get her to settle as she became overtired. I've gotten myself into 4an accidental parenting rut that I can't get out of!

Agree 16 weeks is too young for CC - most sleep books which recommend it as a strategy say 6 months plus. Many people, though, would say not before a year, many others wouldn't want to use it. The No-Cry Sleep Solution has some good ideas in it.

I agree her bedtime sounds like it's at the wrong time if it takes so long to settle her (or you need a different settling strategy). Trying it earlier would definitely be a good place to start.

There is also an infamous sleep regression at 4 months, which messes up lots of babies' sleep. It could be this which is causing the problems. If it is, there's not much you can do except sit it out. More info here, here, here and here.