what has happened & what do I do!??

[firstbubba]

My DD just recently turned 12mths and she won't settle at night like she used to!!! For the past 3 nights she has been put to the bed in the same way as always (ie. story, song, cuddle) but has rolled over, sat up, crawled, laughed etc in her cot! 1 to 1 1/2 hrs later she is finally asleep!! But only after DH and I have gone in a couple of times each to settle her by taking her out of the cot, sitting with her in the rocker etc. The first night I thought she might have been hyped up because we had a few friends over and she didn't want to miss out on the party, and last night we went out for dinner so again thought she might have been a bit awake because of being out (mind you, previously she would have easily fallen asleep in the car on the way home!) BUT tonight....well, who knows!?! She cut out her morning sleep today and slept for 2 1/2 hrs in the middle of the day so has been awake since 2.15pm this arvo - we went in to her room at 7pm tonight, sat with her for at least 25 mins in the rocker, reading, singing etc before putting her in her cot.........straight away she is rolling over, crawling, laughing etc! It's now nearly 8 o'clock and she just wants to play!!!

I know they sometimes take longer to settle once they get a bit older, so what do I do?? Go in, take her out of her cot and sit with her in rocker, or just leave her? She isn't crying (yet).
She has always been sooo easy to put to bed!! - maybe I have had it too easy for too long!! :p

[MumOf4Monsters]

Is she tired enough to put to bed?
My little man is 14 months and he has just started to muck around at night.

These are two things i stick by -

I wont put him to bed if he is not tired, i'll only put him to bed if he is showing signs of being tired. Some nights he'll be in bed by 6:30, other nights it'll be 8:30.

Once he is in his cot i will not take him out. I'll let him whinge himself to sleep for a few minutes as long as i know he is not hungry, wet or sick.

I had major problems with my 1st ds's sleeping habbits. If he cried i would run in and pick him up.
He ended up depending on me to rock him to sleep, which i would do and then put him back to bed.
He would then wake in the middle of the night and i would rock him again.

This went on and on until he was nearly 2 years old and i could no longer handle it.

We went through control crying and it did work, but we had problems on and off for years with him.
It's much easier to deal with sleep problems when they are younger.

I would recommend that you make sure she is tired, fed and clean and put her to bed. If she wants to play, let her. I would'nt be going into her room and picking her up, she'll get used to that very quickly!!!

If she whinges thats ok, it won't hurt her to have a whinge. Babies need to learn to soothe themselfs to sleep. If she is screaming and screaming, then that is another thing.
Ultimately it all comes down to what you are comfortable doing.

Good luck with it!

[firstbubba]

thanks.

I did just go in and rock her for awhile :o which has worked! But yeah, I do agree that she will get used to that if we keep doing it!!??

She is just normally sooo easy to put to bed, so she has bamboozled me! But yeah, maybe she just hasn't been tired enough the last couple of nights! ? But honestly, tonight she was showing all the tired signs - oh who knows!?! :confused:

[MumOf4Monsters]

it's a hard one.
Motherly instincts just kick in when you hear your bub cry, you just want to hold and soothe them. I've gone through alot with my 1st son, so i know that i don't want to go through that again with my little man.

Tonight when i put my 1yo ds to bed he immediately jumped up and started to cry.

It is heartbreaking to turn your back and walk out, but i now know that it is for the best.

He cried for under 2 minutes and then went to sleep.
I know that if i had have picked him up, he would still be up now.
He has an excuse to cry though, i've just decided to stop giving him bottles.
He was fine during the day but tonight i think he was quite shocked to be going to bed without his beloved milkys!:(

Hopefully he'll have forgotten all about bottles withing the next couple of days!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

[firstbubba]

yes it does all get very hard doesn't it!?

good luck with your ds! :fingerscrossed: