Problem getting 4mth old to sleep

Hello,

I'm currently having problems getting my 4mth + to sleep during the day.
I used to rock her to sleep. After a while, I then started rocking her to she's almost asleep before placing her in her cot. Now, I'm trying to just place her in her cot when she's tired and then patting her to sleep there. However, the last method is not working at the moment.

What happens is this...
I pat her in her cot and she will play with her little cow soft toy and with her musical mobile. I continue to pat her and say shh..shh - this goes on for 1/2 hour and she's still playing!! :( I then get quite tired (my back will be sore by then - I've tried kneeling by the cot too) I've tried leaving the room and let her play by herself hoping she'll evventually fall asleep. I've tried this a few times and 1 hour later she's still playing.

I guess I would like to find out if what I'm doing is correct. Should I leave her and let her play till she falls asleep regardless of how long it is? Or should I go in after say 1/2 hour, carry her and get her to sleep by rocking? This morning, she was awake at 5am, I tried putting her to bed at 6:30am (she was yawning and showing signs that she was tired) by patting her in her cot. She was playing for 1 hour when I finally gave in and picked her up and rocked her to sleep. It took me less than 5 minutes to rock her to sleep. The reason I gave up is because I've heard that babies at this age shouldn't be up for more than 2 hours at a time and I didn't want her to get overtired.

Please can someone advise me what I should do?

Thank you so much!

Mum of a sleep deprived baby

Hi Leea and welcome to BB. Not sure if I'll be any help to you - I have the same problem with my 2mo. Except she is *always* tired and cranky, so doesn't play when I put her in her cot tired, she just cries.
I chatted to a nurse yesterday at my mothers' group about cuddling/rocking to sleep. I can get my baby to sleep that way, but she won't put herself to sleep (and I'm not comfortable with just letting her cry).
The advice I've been given is this - if cuddling/rocking helps your baby sleep and you are comfortable with it, then do it. No one can know if this is 'setting up bad habits for later on' etc, because all babies are different and their sleeping patterns can change all the time.
Alternatively, if your baby is happy playing and can fall asleep in her own time and you are happy with that, then I wouldn't think there's a problem there...? I think the time babies are awake and asleep varies greatly, so try not to stress yourself out if your baby isn't fitting in with the 'rules' - I'm still just learning this myself :)
Anyway, HTH a little bit, and all the best.

Leea, I had the same problem ...and the tried the same method of patting in the cot....and it has worked pretty well for us, some days it still takes awhile ...but mostly about 10 mins. The one diffence is that Lugh doesn't have toys in his cot, or a mobile. I have read that at this age they are very distracted ...I would try taking out the toys and see how you go ...also ...if she isn't crying I think you could probably leave her. Try ..it's all you can do ...and good luck.

I do agree with Snacks though ...it' what ever you are comfortable with doing.

Thank you Snacks and Olivia - I will try patting for a while and then leaving her by herself and see if she will go to sleep eventually. Will let you know the outcome! :)