6mo nightmare to get to sleep at night!

[FelixFelix]

My dd is 6mo and was a great sleeper until around 4 months. I'm assuming this is down to sleep regression. She started waking up every hour through the night, which carried on for a few weeks and now she's waking up around 3 times a night (which isn't great but a lot better than it was. Occasionally she still wakes up to 15 times a night). We have recently moved her from a Bednest in to a proper cot and she's turned in to a nightmare to get to sleep

We have a good routine of bath, bedtime story, bottle etc. from around 7pm, but it's taking up to an hour to get her to drop off after all of this. Before, she would literally have her dummy then her comforter to hold on to and be asleep within 5-10 minutes. She's now got the space to roll over so she's constantly tossing and turning and then whinging because she's over tired. She seems to prefer to sleep on her side/front but still wriggles about a lot. I have no issues with getting her to nap in the day time.

Am I doing anything wrong? I've realised I've started feeding her to sleep which I really don't want to get in to the habit of. Sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't.

My poor DP has been up there for an hour now trying to get her to drift off

[BigPigLittlePig]

What happens if you leave her to it, perhaps with some soft music, for 5 or 10 minutes? I find if I hover then dd takes FOREVER to go to sleep, but left to her own devices, she gets into a weird and apparently comfy position and sleeps.

Equally, dd at that age would have gone batshit if I had put her awake in her cot sooooo...might not be the answer

[FelixFelix]

I've tried that she just ends up flapping her arms around and bashing her legs down on the mattress, or rolling about and gurgling. I've got a Tomy Starlight which used to be good for sending her to sleep but now she's immune to it!

I wonder if I should start the bedtime routine earlier than 7? I don't know what's a normal time for babies to go to sleep

[Quodlibet]

Felix mine is exactly the same. Exactly. I think we fucked up moving her too late and it coincided with her getting 6m separation anxiety. We have now moved the cot next to the bed and taken one side off to try to recreate the babybay. She sleeps much better if I let her cosleep with me but the rolling/whinging/leg flapping etc is driving me mental. No answers for you but here's hoping its a short phase!

[BigPigLittlePig]

As long as she's not upset, or hurting herself, I think I'd be inclined to try leaving her. If dd is being tricky, I take myself off and do the dishes, or something equally dull and time consuming, and figure that, if she's still upset when I've done that, I'll go up. She's almost always asleep.

But, like I said, I say this having been in your position, ignored all the advice, then sussed it out myself a few months later It is hard to know what to do for the best at the time.

[FelixFelix]

Thanks quodlibet! It's good to know in not alone. We definitely moved her too late, but I struggled to find a cot I liked

Thanks for your advice bigpig. I'm going to try getting her to bed earlier tomorrow and leave her with the monitor on if she's refusing to fall asleep. A lot of the time she's just not interested in sleeping and isn't upset at all so she will be fine if I leave her a while.

I wonder if I should put her to nap in the cot in the day, so she associates it with sleep? She sleeps from around 10-12 then 3 - 4.30ish so I might give that a go tomorrow too.

[Littlef00t]

It could also be that the afternoon nap is too late in the day and she's not tired enough?