So LO has hit a wonderful phase at 5 months where he will freak the eff out when put down. Before he'd go down awake with some fussing and take the pacifier most nights and fall asleep. But those days seem to be over. The only way he falls asleep now is to be held/rocked until he's asleep, and even then I have to try over and over to put him down until he finally gives in. He'll wake a few times at night, and after feeding, he takes forever to go back down, often more than an hour. This is not a long-term solution for me, as I need my rest, my back is breaking, and I don't feel it's good for him either.

I'm gearing up to sleep train soon after we go through a move (figured best to wait since I didn't think it would be a great idea to do it and then make a big transition and possibly have it all undone). I am leaning towards a controlled crying method a la Ferber/Jodi Mindell/Sleep Sense... honestly, I don't even really see a huge difference between any of these!

For those who followed a CIO with checking method, I'd love if you could answer some questions based on your experience:

-Did you start the timer from when you left the room, or from when baby first started crying?
-When you went to check/soothe, what did you do? Did you ever pick up? Did your checking actually do anything or just make it worse? Did you just leave the room again even if the crying intensified, rather than baby calming down? My LO never calms down from crying unless I pick him up so I'm not sure what the checks will accomplish. But I don't think I can handle extinction/full on CIO (at least not yet).
-Did you apply the same method to night wakings, or only for bedtime? Jodi Mindell's book (recommended by my doc) says to do your regular routine for night wakings, the idea being that once they figure out how to fall asleep at bedtime on their own, they'll start to be able to do it for night wakings without having to "train" at 4 in the morning. Any thoughts on that?
-If you were still doing night feedings (which I am, EFF, currently down to typically 1 MOTN feed), did your LO drop the feeding after sleep training, or did that come later?
-Did sleep training at night improve daytime nap sleep? LO is still doing the dreaded 30 minute cat naps and it's driving me nuts. Really hoping that might improve if nighttime sleep improves!

Thank you for your help!