8 month old a nightmare to settle

[trinityrocks]

How do I go about trying to stop always rocking her to sleep and giving her a bottle to go to sleep and sometimes back to sleep ion night???
I know I've made a rod for my own back but how do you not??? when they are tiny you rock them and they seem to just fall asleeo anyway but the all of a sudden you have an older aby trying to wrestle out of your arms to play at bedtime and then you do anything to make them sleep. Since cutting some teeth she now wakes every two ish hours in the bnight and I'm feeding her back to sleep and she is ending up staying in our bed. Oh I just feel like going AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
sorry I just thought that you lot are great and might have some words of wisdom for the exhausted woman who knows she isn't doing her daughter any good

[Tatties]

Trinity, I am in a similar situation. I have finally come to terms with the fact that ds just needs help to get to sleep, and who am I to argue! I know it is exhausting and if you want to try to change things then I'm sure people here can give you some advice. But if (like me) you can't do cc, etc.. then just carry on doing what you're doing.You're really not doing anything wrong by doing whatever works to settle your dd. You haven't made a rod for your own back. You may be doing this already but just make sure last feed is in a darkened bedroom and deal with any subsequent wakings/feeds in the same way. I feed ds back to sleep in his room but never bring him back downstairs, even if he's fighting sleep. I'm sure they will grow out of this soon enough, and if not, I would feel happier laying down the law to an older toddler who is capable of fully understanding what is going on than trying to 'teach' a baby to do what I want him to do.

HTH

[followthestarlover]

I don't think there is anything wrong with rocking to sleep, or having her in your bed... although I don't know if I could be doing with making bottles up every time too! lol

anyway, what happens if you put her in cot and leave her? Can you wait til she is reeeeeeeeeally sleepy and then put her in cot and see if she falls asleep.
Put her in cot to play during the day so she gets used to being in there and knowing it isn't a terrible place?

DS has taken to being a bit "naughty" at bedtime and we just keep going in and lying him back down.
He will get up and shout/cry/scream and I just go back again and again and lie him down and snuggle him up.
He is usually standing up again before I leave the room... but i stay outside for a few minutes and then go back in and do the same.
If he is really REALLY crying (i mean proper tears, red in the face, can't breathe type crying) then he comes out for a cuddle and to calm him down... then back in cot!

[Kelly1978]

hi, tr, are you actually bothered by it yourself? If you aren't I would leave it and she will grow out of it. After all you don't see many two year olds beign rocked to sleep. My eight month olds have only recently gotten out of the habit, and now fall asleep int he car at bedtime when I go to pick dp from the train station. I know it's a bad habit, but they will grow out of it.

[lindster]

we have to pat our ds bum until he falls asleep but thankfully this is done in the cot and he goes down awake. Im just worried that at 7 months he should be getting to sleep on his own by now. Will he change as he gets older and go to sleep alone or am i going to be stuck with bum patting? tried CC last night and it was awful.

[fisiltoe]

cc is awful for a couple of nights. A doctor said to me recently that in all her years experience she had never met a baby for whom cc didn't work - but she'd met plenty of parents for whom it didn't work!

ds1 was always an angel going to sleep, but ds2 has been very difficult from the start. At first we were reading them a story together so that we could leave ds1 and spend time trying to get ds2 off to sleep. We then decided it was unfair on ds1 this way round, especially as he's the big brother - so we now give ds2 his story and bottle and pop him in bed and then give ds1 all our attention for his story etc. We found that by the time we've finished with him, ds2 has stopped crying - and in fact now he will only do a couple of peeps and then be quiet. If we brush his teeth after he's lying in his cot, he settles even quicker (no idea why).

Ds2 is nearly 7 months, btw.

Oh, and while people are absolutely right that cuddling her to sleep is only a problem if you don't like it, think about baby sitters. I would feel very trapped if I was the only one who could get ds2 off to sleep.

[Tatties]

Wish I only had to bum pat I have to BF until ds is well and truly asleep, then put him in the cot!