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11mo suddenly rubbish at going to sleep

13 replies

cornflakegirl · 13/05/2006 13:14

My 11mo ds has been brill at going to sleep since he was very little. After his evening feed, we take him up to his room, put him in his grobag, sing him a song, kiss him goodnight, and leave him. And he's always just gone straight to sleep.

Recently, however, he's started pulling himself up and crying lots when he's put down in the evening. It can take us up to half an hour to settle him. We use a mixture of cuddles, pu/pd and just being in the room, depending on how upset he is. Sometimes we can leave for 5 minutes, but then he'll start up again really upset.

We've tried bring his bedtime forward (it used to be 7-7:15, now about 6:45) because we thought maybe he was getting overtired (started crawling and cruising about a month ago - all of a sudden). He doesn't really show any signs of being tired - would still play happily if we let him. (In fact, on a couple of occasions when he first started doing this, we thought maybe he wasn't tired enough and brought him down to play for a bit more. He played happily, and then screamed even more when he was taken back to bed.)

Is this a thing? Is it likely to be a phase, or are bedtimes likely to be a pain for the forseeable future? Would especially like to know, because we use to go out on a Friday night to friends - would put him down in their travel cot at his normal bedtime, then bring him home with us at about 10.30, with no problems. Haven't done this for a few weeks, because of the bedtime issues, and want to know whether this is likely to be a long-term change...

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hermykne · 13/05/2006 13:25

conrflake, when does he last nap in the dya and coming up to a year he may need to go to bed that wee bit later - not earlier - my ds at that age went to bed at 7.30, it had been 7pm, now its 8 on the button aged 21mths to 7.30/8am.
hth

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cornflakegirl · 13/05/2006 13:43

hermykne (love the name!) :)

his last nap is lunchtime - 12.30 till 2.30. i did wonder about making his bedtime later, but he often yawns towards the end of tea (about 6) and sometimes seems sleepy after his bath (gets a bit cuddly, which doesn't often happen any more!). but then seems to wake up when we come downstairs for the last feed.

have been wondering if we should start doing the last feed in our bedroom, so it's less stimulating.

or maybe i should try a later bedtime?

it's so hard when you can't tell the difference between not tired and overtired. i feel i should know by now!

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hermykne · 13/05/2006 13:50

cornflake i'd try later and definitely do the last feed in the bed room. do you do stories at all with him just to drag it out a wee bit but they still keep everything very calm and no real stimualtion

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cornflakegirl · 13/05/2006 14:00

that's a good idea - will get dh to read while he feeds - see if we can get him to fidget less! will see how long we can string it out :)

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cornflakegirl · 13/05/2006 22:54

well, that failed miserably! he cut his lunchtime nap short by 30 mins today, so i decided to put him down at 7pm - took him into our room at 6.40 for milk and a book - nice and quiet - put him down at 7 - and he cried for an hour!

still no idea what's up with him!

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hermykne · 14/05/2006 08:27

ahh cornflake, has he wind - or a cramp maybe after his tea/dinner, i'd perservere. it maybe just that his sleeping pattern is changing and he himself is trying to rejig.

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shellybelly · 14/05/2006 17:38

dd is abit like this too, bedtime is now playtime to her and she will stand up in her cot and then when we try to leave the room she screams blue murder, she has 1/2 - 1hr nap in the morning usually inbetween 8.30am-9.00am, then her afternoon nap is from 1.00ish for 1 1/2hrs, in the evening she normally has her bath just after six and then around 6.30pm its supper and then bottle at 6.45 in bed and a story (i have been known to rock her to sleep which i don't want to get into the habit of doing) so will keep watching this thread with interest

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cornflakegirl · 15/05/2006 19:20

well, last night he cried for 20 mins - and tonight was only 2 mins! we've tried to make sure that the 20 mins before bed is really low key - and stopped picking him up when he cries - just soothing him in his cot - as picking him up just seemed to make everything worse. hopefully this will work long term!

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kitbit · 16/05/2006 12:39

Hi there, ds did the same at this age, it coincided with him suddenly becoming more independently mobile as he was getting the hang of walking (he had a similar phase when he learned to crawl) and he found it really difficult to "switch off" at sleep times. He'd fidget, kick, squirm and generally get himself grumpy overtired and fretful. we found the answer was to drop a nap some days as he also seemed to need less daytime sleep althugh this went through a period of time, some days 2 naps some days just 1, and we also did loads of physical activity to really knacker him out. Lots of walking practise, climbing over cushions, over sofas, beds etc, soft play areas, anything to tire him. It did seem to help and when he got a bit more confident on his feet and used to the idea (2-3 weeks I suppose) it calmed down and he was happy to settle again at sleep time.

For us it was just a phase, and it DID pass! Is your lo at a physical milestone, could that be it?

good luck!

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shellybelly · 16/05/2006 13:50

dd is also waking up at 5.30am arrrghhh, the early mornings are killing me and my relationship with dh, we never see each other he gets in we have tea and then its the whole bedtime routine with dd and as she does not settle till 7.30-8.00pm I'm knackered and zonk in front of tv for my soaps and then i'm usually in bed by 9.30pm, i might try adjusting her day naps and she if she settles better on an evening

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Ellieo · 18/05/2006 14:33

Ds is just coming up to 11 months and started doing exactly this about three weeks ago. It coincided with him learning to pull himself up/cruise etc. Whereas before we'd put him down to sleep at 7pm, then leave the room and he'd be fine, he went through about 2 weeks of screaming blue murder for about 40 mins or so. I really think it's just a phase that happens when they've learned a new skill. He kept pulling himself up on the cot and that stopped him from being able to fall asleep. Now the pulling up's not such a new thing any more he's calmed down a bit and last night he actually went to sleep without a peep. So I really do think it will pass - hopefully Wink

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Lio · 18/05/2006 14:53

Sorry not time to read whole thread, but once you have got him to sleep black-out blinds might help keep him there with these bright early mornings. We did controlled crying at 11 months, worth every heratbreaking minute of it.

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cornflakegirl · 18/05/2006 17:33

yeah - think you're right ellieo - ds has been fine the last few nights. suspect it is just that he's got used to the new skills, rather than any of the minor tweaks we've made to his routine - although i'm hesitant to change them back, just in case! :)

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