What else can I try?? I need something that works!!

[Olive]

ohhh great idea JM!

[Shanti]

Nope she still very much needs 2 x sleeps a day. She has a morning one for about 1hr sometimes a bit more and then her arvo nap is usually 1.5-2hrs long. She needs 2 naps in the daytime as her night sleep is so bad.

I have left Sarah McLachlan playing in the room on the i pod just now.... but she ended up falling asleep next to me finally....
She does feed to sleep 'sometimes' during her day sleeps but only if she's cried and that's exhausted her...

This sleep stuff is so hard at times. I always 'go with the flow' but when your DD is 13mths and you can't remember the last time you slept more than 3hrs straight.... it gets a bit much!!

Plus it doesn't help when you are around Mum's that have babies that sleep "all night long" arggh!!!!! LOL!

[[M]umma[M]ia]

I find that if DD isnt "full" or just had something to eat, she will fight sleep to. Mayb try changing your routine around a little bit so she has something to eat before she goes down.

Music is a good idea, it also helps DD wind down. Ive been playing musc for her since about 6 months old. I just got a couple of them cd's from kmart.. i think one is lullabies and the other is rainforest sounds.

13 months was around the time DD went from having her 2 X one hour sleeps to just one 2-4 hour sleep. Not saying you have to do that, just something to think about. Mayb an hour every sleep isnt enough for her to get into a deep decent sleep.

Hows her room? eg.. temp.. darkness etc..

Reading your post, i feel shes having trouble winding down. Going from being an active toddler to "you need to go to sleep now". Mayb she needs some encouragement.. eg, TV off, massage.. etc.

Just throwing some ideas out there HTH and goodluck xo

[onthefly]

Yeah, it sounds like she needs more of a wind down - the trick is figuring out what will help her to do that.
I remember when a breastfeed was all DS needed.... oh, those were the days! We're still struggling with this too, so interested in any other ideas you get. I'll have to try music I think.

I take him for a walk when he's tired and he's out like a light within 5 minutes (sometimes it's 1). But if we try to put him down for a sleep... IF it works it takes 20 minutes minimum...

At bed time we have a bath, walk, books, lights out then.... 1.5 hours of stories, singing, cuddling, crying, exasperation until finally he conks out.

[Kazbah]

I remember with Pip I'd put his rocker in front of a window and he'd watch the leaves on the tree move, that would settle him / wind him down. Guess you're already trying the low light approach in the half hour leading up to sleep?

[Shanti]

Thanks girls... yep we've tried all that.... helping her to wind down, no tv on, not making her laugh and get excited etc... she's just a very 'highly active' bub and always has been. Has always found it hard to relax and unwind (a bit like me I think ).... we have a good bedtime routine and it's going well lately...she's been really good and not taking too long to go to sleep... but day time.... we are struggling with day time settling at the moment.

She likes the pram but not always... she does fuss at times and most of the time if I am to use it as a means of getting her to sleep it can take an hour of walking to get her to sleep and then after that, she will quite often wake up when i go to get her out!!!! (she always has one eye on me i swear!!! LOL!)

Hmmmm.... maybe I'll start doing the massage again like I used to....

[Kazbah]

Is she still wrapped? Maybe that will help?

[beckoes]

we had very similar problems with DD at about the same age. i would end up trying to put her down for her day sleeps and she wouldnt go and would just end up being awake for HOURS...then her night sleeps she would take three hours to get down with rocking, pacing etc etc...She ended up dropping the second day sleep, it made such a difference, i didnt think she was ready cause she was so young and her night sleeps were so bad but she went right back to feeding to sleep for both day and night sleeps and her night sleep improved almost right away, went from waking three plus times to once or twice!! her new afternoon sleep time was 10am till about 1pm. Good luck

[Shanti]

So perhaps she may be transitioning from 2 day sleeps down to 1.... if she is, then I will just need to go with the flow..... however let's say she falls asleep around 10am (she's rubbing her eyes, getting cranky etc so i put her in bed and she falls asleep next to me) but then wakes again by say 11:30am.... she'll definitely need another sleep that arvo!!!

So... should I try and hold off letting her go to bed until say 12pm? By that stage, she'll be so tired she won't fight sleep as much!!!! drag it out then hoping she has a big 2-3hr sleep in the middle of the day like 12-3pm would be good..... ?

Is this what others did when their baby transitioned to 1 day sleep? Interested to hear how it all works and how do you get them to have the big sleep in the middle of the day not the morning or arvo????

[Beautitude]

So perhaps she may be transitioning from 2 day sleeps down to 1.... if she is, then I will just need to go with the flow..... however let's say she falls asleep around 10am (she's rubbing her eyes, getting cranky etc so i put her in bed and she falls asleep next to me) but then wakes again by say 11:30am.... she'll definitely need another sleep that arvo!!![/I]

Its diff for every baby but this is my experience. Ds dropped to 1 day sleep at around 11 months. He always seems really sleepy in the morning so will be up for 2-2 & 1/2 hours max in the morning and then will have a 1.5 hour-2hours sleep at around 9/10ish (depending on when he wakes up) and that is it for the day. Iv tried to put him down for a sleep in the arvo on occasions but he just wont go to sleep. If i try and stretch him to lunch time he will only sleep for about 45 minutes and it makes for a very difficult day. He will then go to bed around 6:30 7ish for the night.

[Cassius2]

when DD transitioned from two to one sleep a day we did hold her off until 11.30 at the earliest. once she was in that pattern we found that she naturally progressed until just after a 'normal' lunch time (we used to give her lunch before her 11.30am sleep) so she didnt wake up because she was hungry but woke up because she was rested IYKWIM.

[Shanti]

Ok.... so I look like a liar today!! DD was getting tired so I lay in bed with her just before and she had a feed as she was begging for it, kept saying "boo boo" and pulling at my top (how could i say no?!?! ) so she fed and i read her a book (part of the new day time sleep routine thing!) and had our new 'blankie' between us and she played with it and then drifted off to sleep!! took 5mins!! Easy!!! Why can't every sleep be like that?!?! haha
She rarely feeds herself to sleep so she must be tired.
We did have a restless night tho last night (like most nights!).

I'm guessing she will sleep for 1.5hrs now as she usually does this time of day.

In relation to the transitioning to 1 day sleep. I do feel she is transitioning and has been for a few weeks now.... If she has a good 2hr-3hr sleep in the morning say 11am-2pm then she is well rested and doesn't need another sleep. But if say she only sleeps for 1.5hrs now, i know that by this afternoon she will be soooooo tired and want to go to bed around 5pm!!! But then it won't be easy to get her into bed that time anyway and i wouldnt want to. (too late).

Cassius- you're right in what you say about giving them lunch before their big sleep of the day to fill them up so they aren't waking up too early due to hunger. That's why i'd love DD to have her 1 sleep of the day hopefully around 12-3 that would be ideal i could give her lunch before hand. But like you said... i think they just gradually fall into that time slot of when it happens i guess.

I've never been one to force my DD to sleep at a certain time so I guess i just have to keep going with the flow while she transitions.

[Arcadia]

Oh hun it sounds crap!

You have been given some awesome advice, but I wonder if perhaps you gave yourself a holiday from thinking and trying things. What happens if you just do what you want and dd has to fit around? So she may not sleep in the day and that might improve the night, or she may have one sleep or she may go to bed later.

then in a few days reassess and see if you can see a new pattern...

You're such a great mummy!! Squishy hugs to you!

[Olive]

if you try the blankie pop it between you and her when you feed for a few days so she gets used to it,
i really hope it works as well for you as it does for us

[sloane]

i was going to suggest the same as olive. i am trying to find something for DS that he can use to comfort him & he's loving his maz taggie blanket so now i put that between us when i'm feeding him to sleep. he reaches out & plays with it while he's feeding so i'm hoping that brings a nice calming, sleep association for him. i know you're not feeding to sleep for her day sleeps but if you still are at night time, maybe if you do it for those feeds for a while?

do you use music as well? i started feeding to sleep because DS doesn't seem to have an 'off' button & if we just put him down he either screams or just rolls over & starts crawling around & thinks it's playtime. but he's drifted off in DP's arms to music (a piano version of metallica songs of all things ) twice in the last week so we're going to try playing that in his room (when i get him out of our bed!) at sleep times...might be something that helps your DD to relax a bit?

sorry - not a lot of advice from me...i'm trailing along a few months behind you with similar sleep issues!

[Heaven]

Ren- that's what I do if I want DD to have one day sleep, just keep her up a bit longer and then she has a longer sleep and sleeps better at night too. She's transitioning, sometimes (like now when she's teething) she REALLY needs 2 sleeps, and then a couple of days a week she only needs 1 sleep.

[Shanti]

Oh hun it sounds crap!

You have been given some awesome advice, but I wonder if perhaps you gave yourself a holiday from thinking and trying things. What happens if you just do what you want and dd has to fit around? So she may not sleep in the day and that might improve the night, or she may have one sleep or she may go to bed later.

then in a few days reassess and see if you can see a new pattern...

You're such a great mummy!! Squishy hugs to you!

Anna, sorry i missed your post!
Do you mean just let DD stay awake ALL day and not sleep? I dont think i could do that as a) I'm so tired from the previous night wakings and need my rest away from her and b) she would be sooooo cranky all day with no sleep!

Did you do this with your DD? What happened?

[BekZ]

I haven't read everything but I would look at moving from 2 sleeps to 1. When I did this with my girls at around 12 months I brought their lunch forward to 11.30/12 and then put them straight to bed. I found that they both settled easier and slept for 2 to 3 hours.

When you do this you will still have to set up a wind down routine like book and lie down/pat etc. If she starts acting up I would keep telling that it is time to sleep and I would leave the room. I found by staying in the room my 2 wanted to play and muck up too.

You might find that DD gets a big grumpy in the arvos but she may go down better and earlier for you at night. hth...and hugs