What else can I try?? I need something that works!!
Frustrated, tired Mumma here.
My DD is nearly 13mths old and since 11mths has refused to be fed to sleep. We are BF'ing and she used to feed to sleep. Well, her day sleeps she won't do this the last 2mths (night time yes she does) so we had to resort to lying down with her until she drifted off to sleep.....
Now.... DD won't even do that.... she climbs all over me, climbs up onto the bed head and bounces up and down, blows raspberries on my tummy etc.... (which is cute but not when i need her to sleep!) and basically resists all feelings of tiredness she may have.
DD can just go and go and go and go..... she has no 'off' switch..... even after a bad night like last night, waking 2hrly, she will last alllll day until she goes to bed and thats with a struggle.
So.... at the moment the only way to help her get to sleep is by putting her in her cot and telling her its sleep time now and walking out, when she gets upset i go back in, lie her back down and try again.... this can take ages. If after 15mins it doesn't work I pick her up and take her out....try again later. OR if she's really distressed I will take her out. I can't stand the screaming and crying and we do follow the gentle parenting styles anyway.
I'm at a loss
Night time sleeps aren't good either but that's for another thread..... please any suggestions for day sleeps for a 13mths old who won't feed to sleep anymore and won't let me lie with her... oh, and she won't be rocked or patted to sleep either.
hun the cot thing is what we did at around 9 months, still do if needed, though if she gets upset i dont leave the room,i lay her back down and stand at the end of the cot near the door, she can still see me, i just keep laying her down, if i stay she generally stops getting up and goes to sleep, thats usually only for day sleeps, nights she feeds to drowsy then goes down, she has two blankies she takes and cuddles to sleep
My DS is the same. Sometimes we've hit on things that help, but we still basically have the same problem.
How many day sleeps? - could she be transitioning to one and be not quite tired enough for two?
Will she sleep in the pram or car...? We started walking DS to sleep and still often do for day sleeps - it's often the only thing that works.
Stories and singing also help sometimes. Boring, repetitive, chanting-type stories...
I have just strated playing music in DD's room. she has gone from being a nightmare to put to sleep, walking, rocking, feeding, patting to lying down listening to music and going to sleep. I can not believe the difference it has made. I play anything from Bernard Fanning to Alison Krauss.
It was my little miracle, but i am sure it's not everyone's. Might be worth a shot though.
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!
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
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
yep - we've just been through this - we moved her to a mattress on the floor up against her wall so we could lie down with her and be a barrier at the same time to get around it but found the same thing after a couple of weeks. Good news is she got over it for the most part and will got to sleep (in a single bed now not the cot) on her own especially through the day, but mostly now I got for a nice evening walk with her in the pram at bedtime after her bottle, and put muslin cloth over the pram and she goes happily to sleep and DH moves her to bed a couple of hours later (at night) through the day just leave her in pram if she's not gone on her own in the bed. Does your DD like the pram?
She sounds really active lil girl....what do you do to fill your days ?? i.e maybe she's one of those kids that needs to get out, that needs to be running around a park, going for walks, visits to play centres etc....maybe you need to tire her out more /.......I know she is up 2hrly...and yeah, i agree with you, how can she survive on what she is surviving on, but she sounds like one of those kids that just has so much energy... - she needs to burn it off.
My girls went off #2 sleeps around 12 months, although Dd#3 was 8 months, but that was because we were always in and out and she just never got to fit two sleeps in...
We usually did 1230ish till 330ish...never before 1130am, and never after 4pm...
GL....its been a long journey for you hasnt it ????
What else can I try?? I need something that works!!
Frustrated, tired Mumma here.
even after a bad night like last night, waking 2hrly, she will last alllll day until she goes to bed and thats with a struggle.
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