Helping her fall asleep... ap/co-sleepers

[stargirl30]

DD is 14 months and has never been a great sleeper. We now partially co sleep which we are happy with.
She has never been good at drifting off to sleep and has always fought sleep. She now seems to be getting worse though! After her bedtime feed she will want to start crawling about, fiddling with my nose etc etc. I end up pinning her down and she screams but she does then give up and go to sleep. This is really not my style though....
I am wondering if we just need to tire her out more but does anyone have any ideas about how I can start to teach her to drift off to sleep?
Thanks
stargirlx

[Adair]

I have one of those wrigglers! I do only put him to bed when he is tired (he sleeps at 10.30/11amish and bed by 7pm - awake at 5.30ish though!). WE were co-sleeping til a week ago (put him to bed in our bed for the evening, joined him later).

Tbh I let him wriggle and writhe, and just lie next to him with my arm nearby/lightly on him. If he stands up/crawls away, I pick him up again, saying 'lie down' or 'it's bedtime' and try again. If he fiddles (his latest is to pick my fingernails - argh), I hold his hands.

Singing works well, and reading stories to him while he is lying down. He also has a bear who 'kisses' him to make him laugh when he is wriggling. He tends to drift off while writhing - seriously, he doesn't stop fidgeting til he is actually asleep .

We have just put him in a bed which is working surprisingly well (has slept all night most nights). I do stay with him til he is asleep, I put my head down and daydream have a sneaky nap while he wriggles.

So routine is - milk & stories (then off to clean teeth - this is new, we did clean teeth first), story and/or songs and chat with him lying down - then lights off. I put my head down, leave my hand lightly on chest, or cheek, and wait with him while he drifts off.

Hope this reassures you - was fearing my ds was the only fidgety sleeper...

[stargirl30]

They sound very similar! How old is your DS?
DD went through a phase a couple of months ago of going to sleep really easily and much earlier but I think it was because she was learning to walk. She's cracked it now though and is back to 8.30 bedtimes - I think she needs less sleep than me!
Glad I'm not the only one who has those sneaky naps too, DH keeps having to wake me up

[Adair]

Is a perk of the 'waiting til they fall asleep' method, dh does it quite often putting dd to bed - not that he always waits now, we have left her awake lots from when she went into bed - but I don't see why you wouldn't if they want you to stay and it takes 5 mins!

Ds is 17mths now, dd is 3.6 and went into a bed at 16mths - I thought SHE was wriggly but nothing compared to ds. She used to go to bed much later actually, but ds is shattered by 6.30pm - maybe worn out by dd?

[stargirl30]

I am just looking forward to her learning to read so that she can read a book until she feels tired enough to sleep! Or perhaps I should just take her for a long walk after dinner to tire her out...