Could really do with some reassurance re CC

SingleMumOf2_3

Well.. some of you may of seen previous posts and I have had so many problems with my now 6 month old.
He was crying constantly, but they couldnt find anything wrong. Anyway they finally sent a health visitor. She said because he has been colicky for so long, he is used to screaming, used to waking frequently.. used to being rocked to sleep or having milk when he wakes.

So.. the solution? To control cry.. to not give milk in the night.. and to not use the swing etc.

So we are now on night 3. I have been putting him to bed at 7pm with my toddler. Giving him some milk even if he isnt due.. just so its routine.
I have then been giving him a bottle at 12 or nearest to there when he wakes.. and then at 5am.. although this morning was 4am as it was a hungry starved cry..

The first 2 nights were really good.. he woke every 2 hours or so.. but cried for no longer than 20 minutes before falling back to sleep.

But tonight he took over 35 minutes.. screamed the house down hysterically.

I just need some reassurance I suppose from those who have done CC successfully. I need to feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel and that I CAN succeed and am not wasting my time..

Thank you in advance.

Mice_Elf

Oh, I feel your pain. My daughter started sleeping through the night (9pm to 6:30am) at 6 weeks. Brilliant, I thought. We then moved when she was 17 weeks old & nights were awful. She would wake as & when she wanted, with absolutely no routine to it & wouldn't settle until she was latched on, even if that was only for 20 seconds or so.

Eventually we did Controlled Crying with her. We started her on solids at 6 months, hoping this might help & still hadn't. So she was just over 6 months when I thought No, we need to do this. My poor OH was sleeping in the spare room by this point, just to get some sleep as he had to wake early to go to work.

I started by just getting her to take her naps without being latched on & when that was settled, moved onto night time self-settling.

The first night, she screamed & cried for 1hour & 20 minutes. I would pat her & say "shhh. Sleep time" after 30 secs, 1 min, 1 min 30 secs, 2 mins, 2 mins 30 secs etc right up to 5 minutes. I couldn't leave her any longer than this. After the 5 minute window, I'd go back to 30 secs again. Probably the wrong thing to do but hey...

Occasionally she seemed to be settling, just to start up again. It was awful. But finally, she did settle to sleep. She woke again at 4am & forgetting that I was supposed to be allowing her to settle, I picked her up & fed her. You know how it is when you're absolutely shattered, you act on instinct. She was feeding before I really thought about it.

Anyway, I thought, well 1 feed a night I can cope with!

The next night she cried for 25 minutes before settling & grimbled at around 3:30am, but settled again & didn't require feeding.

The 3rd night she settled after 7 minutes & went straight through. Bliss!


So yes, it's hard when they are crying & screaming. We Mummies seem to be hard-wired not to be able to NOT let it get to us, unlike our OHs who can sleep through it! It does become easier though.

The main thing is to stick with it! If you go back now, you'll have undone all your hard work & will confuse your baby. Keep going - it's going to work out.

lindseykim13

my dd is 16mths and still wakes at night for bf sometimes once sometimes twice they grow out of it eventually so i just get on with it and feed her. She's my 3rd so probably more relaxed about it and also sleeps in our bed lol

Mice_Elf

LindseyKim - I admire you! I value my sleep too much to be woken up too often once they are old enough to go through!

Plus I'm a grumpy moo on a little sleep...

SingleMumOf2_3

tbh I am only doing it because we have severe problems. he was waking every 5-15 minutes EVERY night ALL night. only milk would settle him. he has been on formula for about 4 weeks now.
but he is now going 5hrs between feeds.. and waking every few hours. so for night 3 we are def making progress.
its just the hearing him scream and cry. just want to give him snuggles.

lindseykim13

SingleMumOf2 wrote: »

tbh I am only doing it because we have severe problems. he was waking every 5-15 minutes EVERY night ALL night. only milk would settle him. he has been on formula for about 4 weeks now.
but he is now going 5hrs between feeds.. and waking every few hours. so for night 3 we are def making progress.
its just the hearing him scream and cry. just want to give him snuggles.

Sounds like what your doing is working otherwise have you tried bed sharing? Maybe he just wants to be with someone. I know it's hard thats prob why we just let them sleep in with us as i'm happy as long as we all get some sleep. TBH dd doesn't really keep me up i kind of sleep feed her! She had massive problems with colic up until she was about 4-5mths and would only sleep on someones shoulder for naps. Which meant i couldn't do anything while she was napping. Failing that a dummy worked for my other 2 They both gave them up at 3 too quite easily.

SingleMumOf2_3

No I tried it all lol. Dummy, co sleeping, cuddles, rocking.. nothing worked!! not even water. he seems so much happier in the day too now, because he is getting enough sleep and having proper feeds