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Hi All,
Hoping for some advice.
DD- nearly 6 months- will not have a day sleep in the cot.
If I put her in there- she screams the house down.
She will only go to sleep during the day if I bounce her in the bouncer.
I know I have probably created this bad habit, but would love some advice on how to break it.
DD will go to sleep by herself in the cot at night, just not during the day
Thanks!
Oh hun, I feel your pain! We had the same issue with DD until she was 6 months old. Besides 5 weeks of awesome sleeps in the hammock we bought her at 10 weeks, she was a terrible day sleeper UNLESS she was in the car or in her favourite spot, in the sling attached to me.
We went to sleep school twice and DD 'won' both times (we were sent home early as they could not get her to sleep, LOL. Like your DD, our little girl slept beautifully in her cot at night sleeping through (10 hours straight!) from 10 weeks. She just hated day sleeps in it. It had us baffled and to be honest, it really wore me out. We always tried to get her to sleep in her cot during the day but we just failed miserably. It was frustrating and annoying.
I was going mental by 6 months so one day I made sure all her needs were met (clean nappy, breastfed, right temperature, relaxed - you get the picture) and I put her to bed and let her cry for a bit. It broke my heart but I had just had enough so I made myself busy with some chores for 10 minutes. I was surprised how quickly she settled and ended up just grizzling - disputing really. And then she fell asleep for 30 minutes. I was thrilled, it was a breakthrough! The next day I tried again in the morning. I looked for tired signs and noticed at around the 1.5 hour mark after waking, she seemed ready for bed. I didn't feed her (that was something I'd always done, fed her to sleep) instead I took her to her room gave her dummy to her and put her in her Grobag then into her cot. The whole time I was getting her ready, I was explaining that it was sleep time and I would come back for her when she woke from her sleep. She slept for 2.5 hours straight, I was gobsmacked!! Since then, we haven't looked back. She's gotten so used to the 'routine' now (given her dummy while I put her in her sleeping bag then placed in her cot) that she rarely protests at all! I always look for her tired signs and watch the clock. She is normally ready for bed between 1.5 and 2 hours after waking in the morning then 2-2.5 hours after waking from that first nap. Sometimes she'll do an hour so she'll have three sleeps a day but most the time she has a decent morning sleep (usually 2 hours) and a shorter afternoon sleep (1 hour). It's bliss hon and I really hope you get to feel that feeling soon.
It could just be a stage she is going through...DD has gone through stages where she would only sleep in my arms (if she went to sleep in her cot it would be up to an hour battling her to get her sleep,and she would be lucky to sleep for 40 mins), and a few times I had to lie down with her on our bed.
I'd just be persisting and hopefully one day it will sink in...lol. Do you have any bedtime routines (for day & night) that you could use to associate going to sleep and the cot?
Aw Hun, I remember feeling the same frustration! My DD is similar, she will only sleep in her pram during the day and it's been that way for most of her life. I've been through times where I've tried to put her in her cot for daytime sleeps they'd end up being 20 minutes max. After a week or so I asked myself whether it really mattered that she slept in her cot and since then it's all been fine. She sleeps in her cot at night and her pram during the day, and above all, everyone is happy and well rested!
Strangely, we're overseas at the moment, and on a whim (or maybe I'll give myself the credit of mothers intuition this time...) a few days into the trip I put her in the cot instead of the pram for her day sleep and she's been sleeping well there for about a week. Having said that I'm standing here rocking her now coz she's not settling today, so it might be back to the pram for us... The only thing you can be sure of is as soon as you get used to something it will change!
Hey gorgeous every bub is different and they all go through these stages but some of the things i was always told to try were:
* Make sure the room is REALLY dark
* Try putting on some soft music, maybe she sleeps on in the bouncer as there is noise around
* Try putting the bouncer IN her cot and see how she goes, then as she settles a little more herself in the bouncer remove it and try patting etc in the cot.
I am sure it will just be a stage, just take it 1 sleep at a time and try a few different things and go with what works for you for now, if her sleeping in the bouncer isn't a MAJOR hassle then go with it, just try the cot, if it doesn't work go with what does.
:hug: hun your doing a fabulous job!
Thanks for your advice everyone :)
We have a bedtime routine and I try to follow that during the day, but it seems that during the day she ONLY likes to be bounced to sleep.
I've tried complete darkness, soft music.....
I do let her cry for about 15 mins :redface: but it seems to make her more awake?
I will really be watching her tired signs today and be putting her straight into the cot, hopefully that works :)
I have been giving her a nap after every bottle, is it possible that now she may only want a nap after every second bottle? She really fights it, but being bounced in the bouncer will send her to sleep (It would send me to sleep too ;))
How long is she normally up at a time Em?
Z is up from roughly 2-2.5hrs and that seems to be her limit, at night she plays up and is up for about 2 - 3.5hrs but during the day i know enar on 2hrs is her limit.
Our routine during the day is roughly:
6-7am - feed
7-8am - breakfast
8:30 - 9ish BED
10 - 11 - feed
11 - 12 - lunch
1ish - BED
2-4 : feed (depends how long she sleeps etc)
5ish: tea
6 BED - but this doesn't work so she's up again til we finish tea then she is fed to sleep and back in bed by about 8.
Obviously not every day is the same and some days she sleeps 30min others she sleeps 2hrs, today she fed at 5am, went back to bed about 6 and is still asleep :wall: it's all a trial and error, as soon as they get over tired or over stimulated they can become right PITA.. maybe if you know she normally lasts say 3hrs you can make whatever activity our doing something nice and calm, no playing maybe a book, settle her right down and see if that helps.