should i try CC?

[november08mum]

Hi,

my DD is 7months old and im thinking of trying CC. I have never really had an opinion on it or heard much about it, but lately i have heard alot of succes stories with babies of a similar age and how there sleep pattern changed dramatically for the better.

Since birth DD has slept 8hrs a night which was great as a newborn. but now im reading and being told she should be sleeping more overnight and less during the day.

she currently has 2-3 1hr approx naps in the day, sometimes 2 bigger ones.

she doesnt go to 'bed' for the night until 11pm though. before that i have no chance of getting her down,

I would really like to get her in bed earlier, say 830pm and have a proper bed time routine and bedtime.
i have tried doing it earlier, but either she just wont sleep, or will wake at 3am and wont go back to sleep til 8am. and then we are both exhausted for the day!

so my Q is, should i try the CC method to get her down at 830pm, and then teach her to skleep through the night and not wake at 3am?

also, she has her last nap for the day around 3pm, but does still get tired around 5pm-6pmish. i have tried to hold off this nap thinking she will go down earlier but it only makes her a very overtired and grumpy baby.

thanks

[Emi]

i think cc is a personal choice and a decision that you need to make yourself!!!
some people love it and think it works a treat... others think it is a horrible way to get your child off to sleep...
i personally did try it... and absolutely hated it!!! i could stand listening to my little one creaming her lungs out for attention... but its a personal opinion.. im not sying tis bad im jsut saying that its not for everyone...

by the sounds of what your dd is doing it sounds as though she is doing excatly what my dd did... and i tried to change her bedtime to get to bed earlier... and it stuffed up everthing!!! ive been working for months to try and get her back to what she was at!!!
dd is 14months going on 15months she has one sleep during the day after lunch and it will be now more than an hour and a half tops... and i still struggle to get her to sleep before 10pm... she just wont do it!!!

you can read about all the things children shoulf be doing... but at the end of the day i believe that they are your child and you know what works best for them!!!

the question i was asked when i tried to change sleep patterns was this... did you do it because you thought she should be going down at a certain time ie:earlier etc... or did you do it because hwat you had going wasnt working for you???

i realised then that what we had was working perfectly well for us i didnt mind the late nights as i got to spend quality time with her and +she would sleep well at night...
hope that helps?

[BabelFish]

Goodness no - if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Many, many people don't have their kids sleeping 8 hours a night at 7 months! And the day naps sound perfect, too. I would be counting your lucky stars, not trying to change anything! :)

[Oya]

Definately not. Gosh your 7 month old is sleeping fantastically! You're so lucky!

[justmum]

No sounds like you have an excellent base to work from.

You can probably gently improve things even more by using Elizabeth Pantley's "The No Cry Sleep Solution" or Pinky McKay's "Sleeping Like a Baby".

[kezzaskids]

I would love Samara to sleep 8 hours in a row but she doesnt! She wakes, I feed her back to sleep and that suits us even if I do complaine a bit!CC would not suit me or in my opinion her at all.
Do you want your DD to go to bed earlier because you think that she has to or because it is impacting upon your life in a negative way etc
If you want to do CC then please research it and do it properly and stick with the strategies that they put in place. I just hope that you wont upset the routine she has to a point that she starts to wake more frequently and it stresses you both out further.
I guess it is a decision that you can make for yourself and your DD as you will be the one ''doing " it. Good luck with your decision xx

[JadeyBaby2]

CC is a very personal decision which no one should be looked upon badly for doing, nor choosing not to do.
Personally - I think that CC is great to resort to when you are being so affected by what is going on it is threatening your well being and capabilities as a parent. There are many techniques to use so best to do research - speak to CHN also.
In your situation I wouldn't do it. 8 hrs is fab for 7 mths of age!! My DD goes to bed 7.30pm - I would like it to be earlier (before DS goes to bed preferably - atm it is the same time as him.....which is ok I guess), and found messing with it only cause DD to wake an hour or so later because she wasn't that tired in the first place.....they have their own little body clock. Count your blessings (I'm in the process of CC now that I am happy with the technique I've been given which I cannot recall the darn name of as I was up anywhere from 2 - 5/6 times a night sometimes for hrs at a time like the past week) - if it suits your own night time habits then stick with it.
As for day sleeping - each baby is so different as to how many hours sleep they need per 24hrs. My DD sleeps twice during the day for 2hrs each....she was also having a little 1hr morning sleep (which she is having right now - but we had our first CC night last night which I'm classing as a success) and a little 40min evening one but they are cut out now as I was finding she was having too much and not settling for bigger day sleeps / bedtime.
All the best - sounds to me like you are doing a wonderful job!

[Youngmum57]

Hey i have a 10 month old who used to do the same thing. to get him to bed earlier i started on a day that would tire him out swimming etc and woke him up a little bit early from day naps i will normally dim any lights at about 8 and turn tv down get in relax mood then i would use the cc technique its very hard at first my DS cried for 30 mins straight then settled he did this for 3 nites in a row but now goes to sleep on his own at 8.45. good luck