9 mth old always crys to sleep - better way?

[Megsy]

My 9 mth old always crys herself to sleep. I would much prefer that she didn't, and have read numerous books (from one extreme to the other) but with no luck. Could she just 'need' to cry? I am always anxious until she finally drops off as I HATE listening to her cry. So any suggestions welcome.

Let me set the scene for you...

DD sleeps through the night no probs. I put her down at 7pm every night after a bath, breastfeed and then a book and she moans for a few minutes and then she is off to sleep. She usually wakes at about 6.30am. But it is not the night sleeps I am having problems with.

During the day she has 2 sleeps for an hour and a half each time. So the first thing to explain to you all is that I know she is tired as she has a solid sleep (once she gets to sleep). I watch for her tired signs as well as watch the clock and even if she doesn't look sleepy I will start her naptime routineif she has been awake for a while. By the end of that she is usually displaying tired signs anyway. So I don't think she is overtired.

Her naptime routine is always the same - about an hour after breakfast and lunch I change her nappy, pack away her toys, read a book, go into her room, pull the curtains closed, sing a song and then ssshhh her a few times as I put her in the cot. I then walk out. Her room is pretty dark.

Well, the problem is that as soon as she knows she is going for a sleep, she starts howling. And loud. It doesn't matter if I put her down in her cot in her room or in another room in the portacot. If I don't put her down and just sit with her instead in the rocking chair she still crys. If I try to breastfeed her to sleep she wouldn't have it - she pulls off and crys (not that I am keen to feed her to sleep anyway). And that's why I have resorted to simply putting her in the cot and listening to her protest crying for up to half an hour each time. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, she crys anyway and I hate it. It seems like such a long time. I have tried going in every few minutes to settle her (in the cot) and I have tried the opposite - just leaving her to cry, which is pretty much what I do now. She is crying right now and I am soooo tense writing this as I can also hear her kicking the cot. This has been occurring for months.

Any suggestions or support welcome.