Bright eyed baby - WAAAAY past bedtime!!

**Winter** · October 18th, 2009, 10:28 PM

Just need a bit of guidence. DD is 6.5months old, generally a really good sleeper. She normally goes down are 6.30pm without a fuss. Which she dis tonight..except that she woke up at 7.30pm bright-eyed and bushy tailed and just wants to play! I've played a little, calmed her down, laid in bed with her, sung to her, rocked her, now I've popped her in her cot and she is "yelling" for me. Not upset, not protesting, more come and PLAY WITH ME. She's playing with the sounds within the yells, like she yells, oooh that sounds a bit different, I'll do that again, hang on lets try that louder!

What should I do next? She's not upset, she's playing me, but I don't really know how to respond.

I should mention that DH is away and this is day 6 on my lonesome with DD so I am ready for her to be asleep!

**Winter** · October 18th, 2009, 10:45 PM

Anyone?

**Alan** · October 18th, 2009, 10:56 PM

Hi Winter
It looks like you may be on BB for a little longer
This is from The Australian Association for Infant Mental Health

Infants from about six months of age suffer from differing degrees of anxiety when separated from their carers. This continues until they can learn that their carers will return when they leave, and that they are safe. This learning may take up to three years.
Almost all children grow out of the need to wake at night and be reassured by three or four years of age, many much earlier than this.
Infants are more likely to develop secure attachments when their distress is responded to promptly, consistently and appropriately. Secure attachments in infancy are the foundation for good adult mental health.
Infants whose parents respond and attend to their crying promptly, learn to settle more quickly in the long run, as they become secure in the knowledge that their needs for emotional comfort will be met.
The demands of Western lifestyle and some "expert" advice has led to an expectation that all infants and young children should sleep through the night from the early months or even weeks. In fact infants have the potential to arouse more often in the night than older children or adults because their sleep cycles are much shorter. These short sleep cycles allow infants to experience more REM sleep, which is considered to be important for their brain development.
Many parents become distressed and exhausted when their infants and young children cry at night, in part because of the physical strain of getting up and going to their babies to re-settle them, and sometimes in part because of the unrealistic expectation that babies "should" sleep through the night.
Many infants and parents sleep best when they sleep together. There is no developmental reason why infants should sleep separately from their parents, and in most of the world infants do sleep with their parents or other family members, either in the same bed, or in a cot next to the parents' bed. Co-sleeping with infants should never occur when a parent is affected by drugs or alcohol, or where the bedding is overly soft. All parents whether co-sleeping or not should check current information regarding safe sleeping for infants to avoid risk of SIDS

**Alan** · October 18th, 2009, 11:00 PM

Another thing that can be quite helpful is to give your baby a nice deep bath then a massage and perhaps a feed. I find that this will often send them off to sleep

**Alan** · October 18th, 2009, 11:00 PM

Another thing that can be quite helpful is to give your baby a nice deep bath then a massage and perhaps a feed. I find that this will often send them off to sleep

**Winter** · October 18th, 2009, 11:06 PM

Hi Alan, Thankyou for responding! It might be seperation anxiety, she has been a complete KLINGON lately and I put it down to teething. She co-sleeps from when she wakes at night for a feed, normally around 11pm or if I am feeling like a bit more room in the bed, I put her back in her cot and then have her in with me from the next wake up.

She doesn't sleep through, & I'm not worried about that, I still think she is an excellent sleeper but her wake ups are
Bedtime 6.30pm
11pm
2am
4am - then cluster feeds in bed with me until
7am wakeup

I think this is normal, so not worried about her waking up.

Its the not going to sleep now! I've got her up, had cuddles and now she is playing on the lounge room playmat with her toys, talking to herself quite happily.

I think I'm just going to go with the flow and see where it takes us....

**Alan** · October 18th, 2009, 11:10 PM

Yes go with the flow but look for tired signs and as soon as you see them perhaps try the bath and massage before putting her back to bed. The bath only needs to last for a few minutes.