I have to say I am amazed by how successful this time controlled crying technique has been for us. It's approaching the end of week 2 and it's like we have a totally different child. I genuinely would not have believe it possible and I was so against this idea at the beginning, but now I have experienced it for myself, it was nothing like as bad as I expected, and the results are just unbelievable.
I won't break down per evening, but in sum, we have consistently stuck to the bed time routine, as outlined in the 'week 1' page. We have also consistently stuck to the day sleeping routine as well - although I have moved this back to a little later in the day, as I realised I was trying to put her down for her day sleep a little too early. Baby A was not therefore tired enough at the time, so albeit she would not cry, she would use the time to play in her cot instead of sleep. She was then tired and shattered by about 6.30, when bed time was supposed to be 7:30.
I now put her down for her day sleep somewhere between 11 and 11:30 and we have had much better results that way. Her schedule now therefore looks something like this:
Of course all these times get completely thrown off course now and then, but that's the framework I try and get back to - so if we are running behind, I will try and catch us up so we are back on track.
My main things to stick to are the sleep times - so if dinner was not ready on time, for example, then bathtime would just be really quick, and there would be one short story to try and make sure we still managed bedtime at 7:30.
She DOES still have her dummy - I am yet to prise that away - BUT only for sleeping - so as soon as she is out of her cot, dummy comes out. If I was brave enough, I would try and get rid of the dummy at night too - but at the moment, I want to be certain this routine is fully established so I am confident enough to try. At the moment, I do not think she is ready, or maybe I'm not ready - either way, for now, we are all enjoying structured days and great sleep at night, so I want to capitalise on that for a little bit before we start changing anything else.
We have had 4 nights unbroken sleep - where we have not had a peep between 7:30 pm and 7:30 am. A couple of evenings she woke as we were going to bed, but that seems to have stopped now. And I have had a couple of nights where she has cried and I have gone in to discover she can't find her dreaded dummy, but I literally give it to her and she is back to sleep straight away. I used to be in there settling her for 45 mins plus every time that happened so this is still a massive improvement!
All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this technique. It has greatly improved the quality of our days and our nights and as a family, we are ALL much happier as a result :-)
I won't break down per evening, but in sum, we have consistently stuck to the bed time routine, as outlined in the 'week 1' page. We have also consistently stuck to the day sleeping routine as well - although I have moved this back to a little later in the day, as I realised I was trying to put her down for her day sleep a little too early. Baby A was not therefore tired enough at the time, so albeit she would not cry, she would use the time to play in her cot instead of sleep. She was then tired and shattered by about 6.30, when bed time was supposed to be 7:30.
I now put her down for her day sleep somewhere between 11 and 11:30 and we have had much better results that way. Her schedule now therefore looks something like this:
- 7.30 ish - wakes up and usually plays for 10 mins or so in her cot
- 8.00 ish - breakfast
- 9.00 ish - clean teeth, washed, dressed
- 9.15 onwards - playtime - be it playing with toys inside or outside in the garden
- 10:30 ish - offer milk as we sit down, snuggle up and watch one episode of Waybuloo together (her favourite)
- 11 ish - naptime
- 1 pm ish - wakes up and lunch
- 2pm ish - afternoon activity and playtime
- 5:30 ish - I usually start dinner and Baby A has her own 'cooker' she received at Christmas, so we 'cook' together
- 6:00 ish - Baby A starts her dinner - usually milk and something small to start off e.g. a breadstick or some blueberries
- 6:30 - Family meal - Baby A then has whatever we are having for dinner and eats with us
- 7:00 - Bath, clean teeth and ready for bed
- 7:20 - Bedtime story (at least 1, sometimes 2)
- 7:30 - Bedtime
Of course all these times get completely thrown off course now and then, but that's the framework I try and get back to - so if we are running behind, I will try and catch us up so we are back on track.
My main things to stick to are the sleep times - so if dinner was not ready on time, for example, then bathtime would just be really quick, and there would be one short story to try and make sure we still managed bedtime at 7:30.
She DOES still have her dummy - I am yet to prise that away - BUT only for sleeping - so as soon as she is out of her cot, dummy comes out. If I was brave enough, I would try and get rid of the dummy at night too - but at the moment, I want to be certain this routine is fully established so I am confident enough to try. At the moment, I do not think she is ready, or maybe I'm not ready - either way, for now, we are all enjoying structured days and great sleep at night, so I want to capitalise on that for a little bit before we start changing anything else.
We have had 4 nights unbroken sleep - where we have not had a peep between 7:30 pm and 7:30 am. A couple of evenings she woke as we were going to bed, but that seems to have stopped now. And I have had a couple of nights where she has cried and I have gone in to discover she can't find her dreaded dummy, but I literally give it to her and she is back to sleep straight away. I used to be in there settling her for 45 mins plus every time that happened so this is still a massive improvement!
All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this technique. It has greatly improved the quality of our days and our nights and as a family, we are ALL much happier as a result :-)