I have been to a sleep centre twice. Now as I would like to acknowledge that there are gentle sleep schools around in Australia, the majority aren't. I'll give a run down of what happened for us. We went for a 4 night stay. The first time was when Matilda was 12 weeks old, we were co-sleeping at that time and she was waking every 2 hours for feeds during the night, and did not sleep during the day. I was an emotional mess due to birth trauma and Matilda had reflux as well which was very painful for both her & us. Our GP worked on the reflux from the time she was 6 weeks old and recommended we go to the sleep centre to help "train" Matilda to sleep better. I was looking for anything that could help us.

The first thing they did was put her in a cot & tell us to walk away. She went hysterical, and promptly vomitted everywhere. They told us to removed the sheets around her, leaving her in the cot & remake the bed without looking at her. I said "no". If I were to have vomitted in bed, I would want a cuddle and someone to nurture me, I would not want to be ignored & pushed aside while someone cleans around me. I then said I would go home... I didn't agree with what they wanted and I didn't want to stay for a week of CC. They then adjusted what they do to fit with me & what I was willing to do.

I also decided at that point that I would go ahead with the program and hey if I disagreed with it, at least we would have a go and when we got home we could always modify it more to suit us.

So we did a modified version of CC. I hated it, because it still meant Matilda screamed & was upset... even when I was in the room with her. BUT one thing I did learn there, was Matilda would not go to sleep if I was with her.... her independant streak came out. She settled 50% quicker if I was away from her. It didn't mean she had to scream & do it all herself. I could hold her and rock her and get her into a sleepy place and then gently put her down and walk out. IF she got upset I would go back. That was the deal. If she stirred I stayed outside.

It wasn't what I wanted but I learned more about Matilda there. BUT the majority of the mums around me were stuck with CC because they didn't know how to say what they wanted & went along with what the nurses recommended. I learned from Kelly who told me to stick up for us when we walked in and that made our stay more beneficial for us all. HTH!