There's no magic to any of this. Some kids are probably just going to pick it up sooner than others.
Our daughter (first and only child) is 13 months old. She slept with us for way too long. It got to the point where she was so squirmy none of us could sleep properly. Putting her in her own crib for the first while was absolute hell. She cried so long and so hard she would throw up. Everywhere. Nothing like cleaning up a sobbing baby and changing bedding at 3 am.
My wife was sick one weekend so I resolved to not give in. I put our daughter to bed and shushed her for a few minutes until she calmed down. Then I left the room. Instant crying. I waited 10 minutes and then went back in. I shushed her to sleep, sang a bit (off key) and rubbed her back until she fell asleep. Never once did I pick her up. Then I'd leave. She'd wake up almost instantly and start crying again. I would wait 12 minutes this time and then repeat the process.
It was a long, long night. I got close to zero sleep other than a couple of quick 10 minute naps here and there. The next night, however, it went a little better. And then the night after that, even better. By the end of the week, our daughter was going to bed at a decent hour and only waking a few times during the night. She was more easily shushed back to sleep too.
Crying it out was really hard on my wife. She couldn't stand to see her precious cry like that but since she was sick and unable to get out of bed, she couldn't do anything about it.
Our daughter was about 6 months old the first time we tried to let her cry it out. It just wouldn't work for her then. When we finally had success she was about 10 months old. Bed time routines also helped us out. Our upstairs neighbour being out of town for the first weekend we tried it also helped too. Didn't feel as bad that our daughter screamed all night if there were no roommates to disturb.
Have patience. Be firm. Good luck.
|