CC - advice about what to do about night wakings

[karaj]

I have a DS, now nearly 8 months old. 5 nights ago, I finally got the courage to start a moderate version of cc. After only two nights when he cried on and off for 16 minutes (I checked on him every 5 minutes), on the 3rd night he fell asleep without a whimper. Last night (night 4) he cried and moaned around 5 minutes, but again fell asleep on his own. A miracle ! We used to have to spend anything from 1 - 2.5 hours every night helping him to sleep. Now he sleeps on his own approx. 20 - 30 minutes after we leave his room.

However, the night wakings continue, on a bad night it is 4-5 times, on a good night it is twice. If I breastfeed him, he goes right back to sleep. But if DH picks him up (he doesn't feed him anything - he tried water once and DS started to scream) he has to rock him a good 30 minutes of so before he goes back to sleep again. But the rocking works as well as the feeding, which leads me to the conclusion that he is not waking up due to hunger. He is on solids 3 times a day, plus several sessions of breastfeeding throughout the day. So why is he still waking up in the middle of the night and screaming ?

Sorry, for the long background story, but I just wondered if anyone has also used this modified version of cc (i.e. where you have allowed your baby to cry to fall asleep, but have attended to him/her when he wakes up in the middle of the night)?

I have been very reluctant to let him cry up to 5 different times during the night. Is it true, in your experience that once they learn to fall asleep on their own through cc, the night wakings also vanish after a few weeks ? (this has been suggested by Jodi Mindell, whose book I have been following). I just wanted to know if this is backed up by your personal exprience ?

[MarsLady]

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