Controlled Crying/Comforting: Did You Do It & Did It Work Out For You?

[Tamara101]

i was not too sure about the cc method the first time i tried it. the ideaof leaving my little one to cry, feeling alone and unloved, made me feel an emotion i cant even describe.

so i tried the cc method without the crying. i know that makes no sense. but as soon as he started crying i would hold him and give him kisses and whisper to him. then put him down. then repeat. soon he realised i was not going anywhere. so when he cried i would rub his head and give him a kiss instead. then i would slowly move a step back at a time. each time he opened his eye he was comforted knowing i was there. it wasnt easy. if he got too histerical i would have to go back to the start and hold him till he settled down.

btu it was all worth it because now as soon as i see his tired signs, i out him in his cot and he goes straight to sleep. sometimes with a little smile first.

i like to think it is more about controled sleeping. the feeling they they are safe sleeping. they have that trust in you even if they arent sure if you are there.

i will admit when he wakes up in the early morning i take him to bed with me. I too like a good cuddle. and i cant stay awake feeding him, and it is so easy to fall asleep breast feeding!!!

dot feel bad if it doesnt work for you. there is no point if it causes more harm than good because your health and sanity is just as important as your childs!

[misty]

I have attempted CC with all three of my kids. Worked fabulously with DD and DS2. DD was such an unhappy, crying baby that she would cry regardless of whether I put her down or held her (she got in bad habits due to bad reflux in the first six months), in the end I had to put her down and let her cry herself to sleep for my own sanity.

But with DS1, it actually made things worse. He is still a bad sleeper at 2.5yrs, and we get up numerous times throughout the night with him, whilst the baby now sleep through. I was very hesitant trying cc with DS2 after the experience with DS1, but after some terrific advice from another BB member I gave it a shot, and the past couple of weeks have been great (I am actually getting some sleep and bubs no longer needs me to hold him while he sleeps).

My point is simply 'what works for some, may not work for all'.

[MummaSue]

My best friend did it with her little man - and she keeps trying to push me to do it too. I won't.

Anyway - she always goes on about what a beautiful sleeper she has which is fab - BUT she let slip the other day that he is a very sensitive little man, who cries at the drop of a hat and cries when someone else is crying. Hmm......... she hasn't made the connection - and ok, there may not be one but it's too coincidental for me.

Sue x

[allycat06]

Nope never tried it and will hopefully never need to. DS has never been a great sleeper but we work around it.

[trishalishous]

My best friend did it with her little man - and she keeps trying to push me to do it too. I won't.

Anyway - she always goes on about what a beautiful sleeper she has which is fab - BUT she let slip the other day that he is a very sensitive little man, who cries at the drop of a hat and cries when someone else is crying. Hmm......... she hasn't made the connection - and ok, there may not be one but it's too coincidental for me.

Sue x

same with my neices. my sister did CC and at 4.5 they have her up at least 3times a night with nightmare, bedtime is horrible as they get anxious and scared.
she has started co-sleeping in an attempt to get rest.
we would never consider anything like this- DH even pulls over to give DD a cuddle if she cries on a 5 min car trip!

[trishalishous]

My best friend did it with her little man - and she keeps trying to push me to do it too. I won't.

Anyway - she always goes on about what a beautiful sleeper she has which is fab - BUT she let slip the other day that he is a very sensitive little man, who cries at the drop of a hat and cries when someone else is crying. Hmm......... she hasn't made the connection - and ok, there may not be one but it's too coincidental for me.

Sue x

same with my neices. my sister did CC and at 4.5 they have her up at least 3times a night with nightmare, bedtime is horrible as they get anxious and scared.
she has started co-sleeping in an attempt to get rest.
we would never consider anything like this- DH even pulls over to give DD a cuddle if she cries on a 5 min car trip!

[Maruschke]

CC was a life saver for us, worked in TWO NIGHTS where everything else had failed dismally. DD1 started sleeping through the night, without tears, and my sanity returned . All kids and parents are different, works for some and not for others...

[Beach Mama]

I'm not sure if it was CC but a form of I guess, but with both of mine after 4-5 mths of literally trying everything and in the end, me wanting to run off and join the circus, we let them cry. We sat and shhh'd and patted and then shut the door and went in and out, and with both of them it took one night. J went from waking 1-2 hourly for FOUR months non-stop (hence my circus craving tendencies - surely that would have been more fun?) we did just this, and after that one night, the following night he went 5 hours and then increased to what he does now which is sleep 7-7. If he does wake up we cuddle him and hug and retuck and he goes back to sleep. Iz was the same and both kids were 7-8 mths old when we did it. We would NEVER do it with a baby under 6 mths - in fact even once they hit 6 mths I still felt they were too young.

I am also not sure what we would have done if we had to do it over the course of a number of nights/weeks. I also completely understand WHY people do it at a younger age. Especially when you have tried everything, when you feel like you are literally going to die from tiredness, when your babies cries actually don't register on the care factor because you are so brainlessly tired that you just need to do something.
Each to their own as in everything else in parenting.

[Heaven]

DD was an absolutely horrendous sleeper until over a year old but we never did CC. We contemplated it when we felt like there were no other options and didn't know what to do. But when it came down to it there was no way we could go through with it, it felt really wrong for us. She was crying because she wanted to be near me and would settle as soon as I held her and I couldn't deny her that if that's what she needed. So we gave up trying to change her and just went with it and that's what actually worked for us in the end. She started sleeping through at 16 months and now sleeps from around 8.30pm to 6am without waking. She is happy to run to bed and goes to sleep without any fuss. It was a long 16 months but was totally worth it. I am for a better sleeper this time though, lol.