Your Controlled Crying POSITIVE stories

[Salad]

I would love to hear stories of peoples positive controlled crying efforts.
Please dont post if you have a negative story because I have read the negative side of things. I know this is a gentle parenting site but after the last 2.5 months that DH and I have had with Georgias sleep and trying many things we have decided that this is the path that we are going to take.
We have had a chat with a sleep counsellor and we will be starting this weekend, we are going to use the method that requires listening to the different cries not the method that requires you to go in and out of the room at different times e.g every 3 mins etc

So you stories and any tips you may have to offer will be great. Thanks.

[AliBaby]

hun. We too got to a point where what we were doing wasnt working and I was due to be going back to work so something had to be done.

I dont know if we did CC but did do something similar to what you have explained.

I would put DD down awake but ready to sleep and would put her on her side pull the blankets over her and say I love you and goodnight. I would then walk out and close the door. I would always give myself 4 minutes.

I did listen to her from outside the room. If she was crying, I would go in but if she was just doing sparatic whinging then I would leave that.

Would you believe that she put herself to sleep within about 2 minutes and now for the last month and a half (since she was 6months), she puts herself to sleep within a couple of minutes for every single sleep!

She goes down at 7pm after a bedtime routine of dinner, bath, book, boob and then her sound machine goes on (heartbeat sound that she associates with sleep) and she's out to it. Doesnt wake until anytime between 6:30 and 8am.

I hope that helps. Hoping it wont be long until you get some good night sleeps

[Salad]

Thanks Alibaby that is exactly what I need to hear, thank you so much.

[ss_storm]

we have done something similar, I know DD is only young but she used to only sleep on me during the day and while I loved it, it meant I wasn't getting things done (besides getting fat and lazy sitting on the lounge all day!). If I put her in her cot or bassinette she would wake up in about 10 minutes and wouldn't go back to sleep and that was driving me mad!

I don't know if what we did was actually CC, but whatever it was it worked and if I put her down when it is sleep time and pop her dummy in she usually goes off to sleep within about 5 minutes.
I'd wrap her up when she got tired and it was sleep time then we would close the curtains in the bedroom, i'd give her a kiss and tell her sleepy time/good night and that I loved her, put her down and tuck her in, stroke her head and put her dummy in. I'd leave the room if she was quiet and if she started crying would go in after a couple of minutes and tell her it was alright and pat her shoulder (I was patting her bum but was too hard pulling back the sheet/blanket all the time!). If she kept crying and it escalated i would pick her up and resettle then put her back in her cot. 90% of the time it worked the first time, but sometimes I would have to go back in a 2nd or 3rd time.

She is usually pretty good now, and i feel so proud of her that she can put herself off to sleep without me having to pat her or cuddle her until she goes to sleep. Sometimes I do feed to sleep, but that's usually her last feed before bedtime and she falls asleep during it. There have been a couple of times when she has screamed hysterically, to the point she made herself sick and nothing would console her except a bottle, but other than that she sleeps really well at night now! Well..I bet that is until teething starts. Lol.

[Liviam]

We do hands on settling (just a fancy name for controlled crying I think). We watch for the tired signs and as soon as DD/DS shows any of them they are wrapped and popped into bed. If they are crying (not whinging) we go in every 5 minutes (this time varies depending on their age) place our hand on their chest for the count of 10 and then leave the room again. When we go in we don't give eye contact or talk to them. DD was extremely stubborn and sometimes it took us up to an hour to settle her in the first few days/nights. This process took us a week and we have never ever looked back. It was the BEST THING we could have done for DD and us. DD loves a routine and to know what is coming next. DD and DS self settle 99.9% of the time now. If they don't we know that there is something wrong/or they are getting sick.
The best tips I got from my the sleep school I attended were:
* Consistency is the key. Discuss with DP exactly what your plan is and no matter what stick it.
* Give yourself three nights/days before you expect a change
* Monitor your baby closely for the first sign of their tired signs and pop them to bed straight away.
If you want to know what the tired signs just let me know.
This technique worked brilliantly for us and even through the first few nights/days were really hard it is fantastic now and we have the most brilliant sleeper.
Best of luck with making your decision. You need to do what is right for you and your family. If you have any other questions please feel free to PM me.

[MummyNaomi]

Salad we have been trying a few different things as although DS goes off to sleep easily at the beginning of the night, he's not the best self settler in the middle of the night when he wakes.

Although we aren't really using 'controlled crying' as such, after always rocking to sleep we have recently found that leaving a few familar toys (eg rings/links etc, nothing too stimulating) in his cot at sleep time give him something to play with (albiet sleepily) and he doesn't fret when we leave the room, and he usually falls asleep (with link in hand HAHAHA)

I must be honest however I more often rock or feed him to sleep than let him self settle so I am well aware I am creating these habits but I'm not ready to give up those sleepy cuddles just yet. So I have to deal with getting up to re-settle him during the night but its the price I pay for my sleepy cuddles

I'll be interested to see how you go, as when I go back to work next year I will have to be a bit tougher and teach him to self settle more

GL, I know how precious sleep is

Naomi

[littlelara]

Hi, we did cc with both our cubs and hard as it was, I think it was the best thing we could have done. Once they figured out it was time to sleep and they could handle it alone, we were all happier and calmer mainly because bed time wasn't a stress anymore, and we weren't tense knowing what was coming and wondering how long it was going to take us to get them to fall asleep, how long we were going to be sitting in a darkened room patting or whatever worked that week.
With Jordy it turned out he was better if we didn't go back in at all.
Don't forget that when you first start it will be so far removed from what your little one is used to that they may well get much more upset than you would expect; they don't understand what has changed or why. Both mine lost their voices in the first week.
It doesn't mean cc won't work, just that it's new for them too.
Good luck

[joss.00]

Dear Salad,

My positive story is that I have a DD2 who is 14 months old and she was a terrible sleeper and i was physically and emotionally at my whits end with it, i was actually booked into a sleep clinic to help me until someone asked me if i had read a book called "Save our Sleep" by T**** H***...........I bought that book the same day and i have never looked back and it took 48 hours for things to take affect and she has slept wonderfully ever since. I really do recommend reading it, it gave me the tools to teach me how to teach her how to sleep and it was so gentle.