We decided to try chair method for sleep training a 10 month old because having baby fall asleep in our arms for every nap and bedtime just wasn’t sustainable anymore.
She’s getting too big and it’s taking longer and longer.
With our daughter also going through a brutal sleep regression, we committed to a 5-day trial of the chair method: putting her down in the cot, sitting on a chair right beside her in full view, and spending up to 45 minutes comforting, shushing, and singing her to sleep.
This is the method – but we’re using a stool, rather than a camping chair.
Here is our completely honest, unfiltered 5-day diary of how it actually went, the wins, the fails, and the tears.
The 5-Day Sleep Training Log
Day 1 – Total fail & tears (40 min meltdown)
Day 2 – Shock success (3 minutes flat!)
Day 3 – Even faster settling
Day 4 – Great bedtime (needed a night feed)
Day 5 – Boundary testing & rolling over (35 mins)
Day 1: The Big Fat Fail
- Settling Time: Aborted at 40 minutes
- Outcome: Failed attempt, fell asleep in arms
Our daughter cried, threw her arms around, and shouted for 40 solid minutes while we sat right beside her cot doing 5 to 10-minute shifts trying to calm her, singing, shushing, everything you can think of.
Around the 30-minute mark, my wife started crying too, asking “Why are we doing this?” (This whole idea was hers!).
So there I was, comforting a screaming child and had an upset wife.
We had to abort at 40 minutes because she had shouted so hard she soiled her nappy.
We felt like terrible parents.
We cleaned her up, reset with our normal storybook routine, and she fell asleep in Mam’s arms.
She slept reasonably well that night, probably because she was exhausted from protesting.
Day 2: What On Earth Just Happened?
- Settling Time: 3 minutes!
- Outcome: Slept independently
We laid her down after Oh Dear!, and during our second book (Peekaboo), she actually smiled.
She realised she liked lying down and watching us make silly faces.
We switched on the Zello Sound Machine with the soft red light, and Mammy sang her three usual nursery rhymes.
Baby was still slightly awake, so Mam sat beside the cot, took her hand, and sang You Are My Sunshine.
Halfway through the second rendition, she was fast asleep.
We turned off the lights at 8:21 PM and were out of the room by 8:24 PM.
We just stood in the hallway staring at each other in disbelief.
Total switcheroo compared to yesterday.
Day 3: Is It Really This Easy?
- Settling Time: Under 3 minutes
- Outcome: Slept independently
Day 3 was almost a carbon copy of Day 2, except she went under even faster.
We barely finished the third book before her eyes were heavy and she drifted off without a fight.
We started asking ourselves: Have we actually cracked this?!
Day 4: Great Bedtime, Mid-Night Stumble
- Settling Time: Fast
- Outcome: Slept well, needed a 11:15 PM feed
Another brilliant evening.
The only bump in the road was when she stirred around 11:15 PM.
I tried shushing her back to sleep, but she wasn’t having it, so I had to call in Mammy for milk reinforcements.
Apart from that single wake-up, it was a smooth night.
Day 5: Testing the Boundaries
- Settling Time: 35 minutes
- Outcome: Settled in cot after lots of protesting
Her daytime naps were better than ever, but bedtime went downhill fast.
She has suddenly discovered a new skill: rolling over and sitting up in the cot.
Every time we rolled her back down, cue the angry protest screaming.
Just when I thought she was asleep, five seconds of silence later she’d pop back up like a jack-in-the-box.
It took 35 minutes of physical resetting and reassuring, but she eventually crashed out.
My Honest Verdict For Sleep Training A 10 Month Old After 5 Days
Doing the chair method sleep training with a 10 month old taught us that progress definitely isn’t linear.
When it works, it feels like magic, she goes from awake to sleeping in under five minutes without crying.
But when she’s testing new developmental milestones (like sitting up), it turns into an angry battle of wills.
We’re sticking with it because she now knows how to settle in her cot, but you definitely need thick skin for the off days!
Will we continue? Yes.
Will it be a success? Time will tell.
I’ll put a link here to the next blog post about sleep training, but I’ll give it a few weeks this time before I do a full review.
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