Have we created a monster??

[NaeNae]

DD was a reasonably good sleeper until she turned 1 then it all went down hill.

Up until I fell pregnant I did all her night stuff as well as day stuff and was pretty much feeding her to sleep for all naps.

I am slowly weaning her and have just recently dropped her night feed completely as it seems to be the easiest.

The problem we have been having for a few months now is she is not wanting to settle into bed. We keep our night routine much of a muchness ... Dinner, Bath, Book and Bed.

Admittedly bed has been getting later and later and she somehow gets SO wound up its usually 10-10.30 before she is actually asleep, despite going into her bedroom at 8.30.

We are starting to do things earlier where possible and are aiming to have her ready for bed by 7-7.30 and seeing it takes her an hour or so to fall asleep its be 8-9pm by the time she is asleep.

The problem we're having is she is not a good sleeper. She stirs constantly through the night and DH ends up sleeping on a single bed in her room, The last few nights she just WON'T stay asleep in her cot. She will sleep ON DH int he rocking chair or NEXT to DH in the single but won't sleep in her cot.

Her day naps are only 60-90 mins too and she is waking up tired and grumpy from those.

I suspect her Molars are starting to do something because the ammonia in her wee is REALLY strong it just about blows your head off.

She isn't trying to climb out of her cot but we are at a loss as to what to do.

Is she trying to tell us she wants to sleep in the big bed? Its a bit too high for her yet though.

Should we take the cot side off and have it as a toddler bed??

We are stuck for ideas

please help.

Nae x

[feeb]

Try putting mattress on floor for her if bed too high maybe she is waking as hitting sides of cot.

When DS1 went thru a period of frequent waking and crying we bought braurs calm it's a homeopathic solution was great and helped him.

Good luck

[*LittleMissSummer*]

You have just described my DD the last few nights... Shes always been a bit of a bad sleeper especially when it comes to her cot. She will go through a period where she will sleep 10-12 hours in her cot then the next night she wont want a bar of it. DP had her in the single bed in her room last night. But because shes only just turned 1 i'm a bit hesitant to put her in a big girls bed.

My mum said that us kids all let her know when we were ready for a big bed, us girls just wouldnt sleep and my brother climbed out of his cot. So you could try taking the sides down and see how she goes.

I'm sorry im not much help im trying to get through it too!

[[M]umma[M]ia]

I noticed you mentioned "those" day sleeps. So she is having more than 1? DD was just having 1 day sleep at that age.

[FabFiona]

I noticed you mentioned "those" day sleeps. So she is having more than 1? DD was just having 1 day sleep at that age.

I had the same thought. We moved to one day sleep when the same thing was happening. My DS was around 14 months, but the same behaviour. He went down between 11.30 am and 12.30 pm and no sleeping past 3 pm otherwise he would go to bed too late.

[NaeNae]

MM - She only has the 1 day sleep I try to pop her down between 12 and 1. If she goes down too early it seems to make the night worse as she is soooooooo tired, if she goes down too late she isn't tired enough. I just thought for her one a day nap that she should be sleeping longer?

Feeb - I have one of those air wrap cot bumpers as well as a regular padded cot bumper in her cot as she does seem to snuggle up to the top. Part of the problem is as she is stirring she sits up. If she sits right up then she wakes up but if DH gets to her in time he can settle her back to sleep until the next sleep cycle ends and its the same thing she wiggles herself to a sitting position.

I might pop the kiddie rail on her toddler bed but I think its got a lot to do with sleeping WITH someone. Maybe she needs one of those bed buddies like you can get for puppies (with a clock for a HB and a water bottle for warmth).

I dunno All I know is Dh is getting more and more tired and grumpy and I just don't have the energy to do it either. I am hoping its an age related thing and just a phase

[[M]umma[M]ia]

Ahh ok, I interperated it wrong.

What happened at 12 months old that is different to now? Maybe its time to go back to then and work out whats different.

Have you tried that Bruers (sp?) Calm? I used to give DD that when she was really restless at night because of teeth or whatever was going on. Its all natural, so wont do her any harm

So her cot is in your room?? Maybe its time to move her into her own room. You are probably waking each other up with being restless from one and others noise.

DD did start to have a love for sleeping with items around this age. Around the same time we brought her a giant pink teddy.. she thought it was wonderful.

Also the old tricks like warmed milk, lavender etc is good for calming and a good nights sleep

If all else fails, maybe take her to a natropath to see if any foods etc are upsetting her tummy during the night.

[Miss.B]

Oh sweetie, you're describing my DS there! lol. He's always been a great night sleeper until a few months ago where he really fights going into his cot. I know he's not ready for the big bed as he's still not walking (except on furniture) and I'm just teaching him now how to climb backwards off the couch/our bed. Day sleep is not too bad (how funny, that's the one I always struggled with!) he goes into the cot OK (except today, he's still whingeing 1 hour after I put him in there). Night sleeps are the worst. He gets dinner at 5-5.30, bath around 6.30-7 pm, then when I take him into his room the fiasco begins! It's doing my head in ATM. But we've also made a huge mistake of bringing him into our bed so last night he woke up and proceeded to reach out for the door as if to say take me to your bed immediately! My DF was not impressed as he believes he wakes up around midnight to come into our bed, and not because he's teething like mummy says. His molars are coming through though.....I don't know how to advise you hun, I'm curious myself if anyone has any pointers! Big hugs xoxoxxo

[NaeNae]

Thanks MM - DD has been in her room since day 1 and nothing really has changed since she turned 1 other than her dropping a day sleep. We worked out early ont hat routine works best for her so have kept to the same one since the early days. The only real difference is there are no more feeds to sleep, even her 1 day sleep I can only handle her on for a very short time usually 20secs because my girls are very very sore and DD does this weird tongue flicking thing which feels weird and yuk. I will try that Braurer stuff and see if that makes a difference and we might see if we can get her a "night buddy" of some kind ... she just hasn't really "taken" to a particular toy