Getting one year old to sleep at a reasonable hour

[Luxembourgmama]

My kid is 14 months and is so difficult to get to sleep. When we were on leave we had been waking her at 8am so she went to be around 8.30pm which was late and meant we didn't have much of an evening. 3 weeks ago she started in crèche and my DH went back to work so we started waking her at 7am and the first few days were blissful she went to bed between 7-7.30pm no bother and we had our evenings again but the last week she's been a nightmare. Last night i was so wrecked i said i'd go to bed with her at 7.30pm in the spare room so we'd hopefully both get more sleep. By 8.45pm she still wasn't asleep and my DH took her and i went back to the spare room to sleep. She went to sleep around 9pm apparently. IS this normal. How is she not tired. Any tips for what to do. Usually we put her to bed in her cot after bath and her having had a bottle and a cuddle in the dark. We wait holding her hand until she's gone to sleep. I was thinking maybe i could read to her with a nightlight? I miss my DH i feel we don't see each other as one of us spends our evening trying to put her to bed.

[FATEdestiny]

What is her daytime nap routine?

How do you get her to go to sleep at bedtime and naptime?

Issues with bedtime are most likely due to either the timings of daytime naps or unsustainable methods to get her to sleep.

[Luxembourgmama]

She's in crèche full time. She naps from 12-1.30pm ish. When she was at home she used to nap from around 12.30-1.30 or 2pm its fairly variable.

To get her to sleep we give her a bottle in the dark while lying next to her then she gets her soother and on a good night she then falls asleep and we transfer her gently to her cot. On a bad night she doesn't fall asleep with us lying next to her bed and after about 15 minutes we transfer her to the cot and sit beside her cot holding her hand.

[FATEdestiny]

It's possibly time to start teaching her to go to sleep in the cot, without milk. Transferring an already asleep child into the cot creates many sleep issues, she needs to go to sleep where she stays asleep.

How about giving bottle downstairs, before even going up to have a bath and getting night clothes on? This completely disassociates milk from sleep.

Then still stay with her to go to sleep, but have her in the cot to go to sleep.

[HT85]

You could try a floor bed instead of a cot? That way you can lie with her until she falls asleep and there's no need to move her.