controlled crying not working?

[sasholi]

Hello all.
I have tried a modified version of controlled crying a number of times - where I leave him to cry for five minutes, then try and resettle for five minutes. The only problem is he just will not resettle. He won't even resettle for me when I am in the room. I just don't know what to do. His night time sleeps are OK. But when he is tired during the day I am finding it nearly impossible to get him to sleep.

We had a session yesterday for over an hour of him just crying and crying and then today for 45 minutes. I finally got him up out of his cot and his room out of sheer frustration and put him on his play mat to play (where he is there happily).

What's going on? it is so frustrating because he is tired (yawning, rubbing eyes) but I put him down and he'll occassionally fall asleep OK. Then other times - won't even think about it. And then I feel like a really bad mum because i'm not enough to settle him, and I can't get him to sleep and then I feel even worse because I get frustrated at him (i know, i know, it kind of counteracts any sleep attempts!!!)

Should I just not worry about his day time sleeps? I try to get two out of him. He's only nearly six months old. And if we are out and he doesn't sleep he's fine (social butterfly just like his dad!), but at home he gets grizzly (poor ol' mum's a bit boring for the little one) so i try to put him down but, not much luck!

Any suggestions/advice?

[drewid]

Hi

My 6 month old is the same. He sleeps just fine at night time (thank god) but day time sleeps are a bit all over the place at the moment, have been for the past fortnight or so.

What I"m finding, is that after his tired signs, if he isn't going to sleep in the cot after a few attempts to re-settle, i will take him out and put him on his playmat/walker/jolly jumper whatever. As soon as he starts showing tired signs again, he's goes straight back to the cot. I will only repeat that one more time. After that i KNOW he's tired and I will persist in the attempts to resettle.

What I'm finding now is that he doesn't fall asleep the same way he used to. I used to put on his music, give him a dummy and his scratch mittens and he'd go off to sleep. Now he needs more coaxing, and he spends a few minutes trying to kick off the blankets. I find that I just need to tuck him in and walk away, no talking or shhing. Generally I find something to do that will take me 1 minute (putting on a load of washing, going to the loo) and then i come back in and check on him, re-tuck him.

Its soooo stressful at the moment. I feel your pain!! I keep teling myself its a stage and he will get past it if i can live through it!!

Good luck!!

[wattle]

Hi. I still need to wrap ds during the day sleeps. I haven't wrapped him at night for about 6 weeks, but he just won't sleep during the day unless I do. He usually just lies there and laughs, blows raspberries, or whinges!

So wrapping it is. Hopefully he'll grow out of it soon. :)

[sasholi]

Hi all - update.

I think it must be a phase. He seems to be doing pretty good for the last couple of days (fingers crossed). It's only been three or four days now but we are getting pretty consistent sleeps out of him.

Think I just need to "roll with it" and just get through the frustrating days with a little less stress (as hubby tells me all the time - just go with it. which is easy for him I suppose when he's at work!)!!

Oops, bubs is awake.
Thanks for the support! Always nice to know you aren't the only one out there with frustrating days!

Yesterday was perfect, so we'll hold on to that for the moment!

[jessica]

Hi,

Just wanted to say 'perservere' - its worth it in the end!! We started CC 6 months ago and bubs still has bad days (few and far between but teething, needles and colds will do that - sorry to dissapoint you!) HOWEVER - usually she is great and although it was incredibly hard at first (for over a month off and on!) it is so wonderful to just pop her into her cot and let her settle down to a LONG and restful sleep! I know lots of non CC mums still struggling with sleep issues I feel so lucky we got that problem sorted out!!

Good Luck!