Sleep training
Over the past few days, my good sleeper has done a 180 and now is defiant about not going to sleep. Prior to this, he would pass out while nursing, I would put him in his crib and that would be that. The past few days, he has woken up when I put him down and proceed to scream.
The first night we let him cry for 5 minutes, went in, comforted him, and when we left it made the screaming worse. After another 3 minutes, he cried so hard that he threw up. So I went in, rocked him until he fell asleep.
The second night he fell asleep nursing and I put him in his crib and he slept for about 1.5 hours, then woke up and started screaming again. It took us another 2 hours of going in every 10 minutes to comfort him before he finally fell asleep at 11:30.
Tonight I nursed him and put him down at 7:30, and he's still screaming (8:45) and his screaming just increases whenever we go in to comfort him. I know he's tired because he only took one nap today, and was showing signs of tiredness before I put him down. He sits up, falls over because I assume he's just exhausted, and then pushes himself up to sitting again, screaming and screaming.
He's got no fever, hasn't been acting different during the days.
I know I'm supposed to "not give in and pick him up" but it's breaking my heart to hear his screaming and see him on the monitor.
Re: Sleep training
i don't think there's a one-size fits all solution here, unfortunately.
in the beginning, ferber worked for us. we recently went on a trip & sprout cried when we put him to bed. it was enough for one of us to sit next to him while he was in his pnp (which he had used as a crib before) while he fell asleep. we didn't touch him, just near enough so he could see us. i've heard some people start next to the crib & then slowly move out of the room (over a series of days).
i feel for both of you though! it's the worst.
I don't have much advice because Ferber has always done us well even in periods of regression, but you might be interested in this article:
https://www.motherhoodsupport.com/2010/08/sleep-regressions-what-they-are-and-how-to-deal-2/
Other than that, I'd say that if he's crying to the point of throwing up in gradual extinction (ferber) and full out extinction (CIO) isn't working either, then I say just keep rocking him to sleep. You may have to deal with sleep training down the line but at least right now it will get him to sleep and give you time to research some options. I also wouldn't overlook the benefits of a dose of tylenol.
Hang in there!
This just happened to us too - where DS would wake up the instant he hit his crib after being rocked to sleep, even after months of it being no problem. He also puts himself to sleep well for naps, so this was a big change.
For a few nights we thought maybe it was teeth or something else and gave him some ibuprofen and rocked him back to sleep each time he woke up. But, that stopped working too - he didn't want to fall asleep in our arms but would scream in the crib, and he didnt want to come in our bed either. So, DH sat in the rocking chair while DS was in the crib and that worked for a few nights.
But then the night before last he woke up at 10:30 and was pretty inconsolable no matter what we tried, so we did Ferber, and honestly I think the 5 min checks made it worse so we stretched to 10 minute stretches. I was on the 3rd 10 minute stretch when DH and I said we might just let him cry until he falls asleep because he would sound like he was winding down and then checking on him would rile him back up. Thankfully he fell asleep that time (at 12:00am), so we didn't have to go longer.
I'm happy to report that yesterday was blissful, he took 2 really good naps and slept straight from 6:30p to 6:30a. I really felt awful letting him cry so much the night before, but this confirmed for me that he really needed it. Let's hope it keeps up!