Please help I’m exhausted 😩

[Mccomb11]

Hey everyone I’m new to this ! My 10 month old daughter didn’t sleep through til she was 7 months old. She weaned off night feeds by herself and all of sudden went to sleep by herself with lullabies etc after her bottle, it was blisssss!! Until she reached 10 months 😔 she now fights naps and sometimes it takes me 2 hours to get her down as she will stand up in the cot and play (I never let her play in her cot she only goes in there to sleep) recently she’s been waking up crying in the middle of the night and I have to rock her then put her back down. I’m aware she’s going through a developmental leap right now but I have no idea how to get over the bump. Do I cut down from 2 naps to 1? So she’s shattered and sleeps in the afternoon ? I feel I could be doing so much in the 2 hours I’m trying to get her down but can’t. I have a routine in place for night time and she knows to go to bed at this point but it’s getting her to sleep that’s the problem just now, any suggestions would be appreciated xx

My DS is 18 months old and still fights the bedtime every so often. There will be good nights when DS will sleep well and this will make up for the nights when he doesn’t. With my DS I wear him out as much as possible with loads of playtime throughout the day, take him outside at least once a day (weather permitting) which usually means he naps once and will be less grumpy towards the evening. Some babies cope well without a nap whereas others (like my DS) need a nap When DS is fighting bedtime I try sitting him in his room with the lights dimmed and read some stories together. He has a lava lamp and some fairy lights to give it a sensory feel which seems to work. We’ve been putting a hot water bottle in his bed the last week or so before he jumps in and he seems to like the warmth and gets all cosy! In the past we tried white noise, sitting in a dark room, playing lullabies, singing nursery rhymes, rocking to sleep, going for a walk- there’ll be something that will help you

I would let her play in the cot. Just make sure it's empty, no toys and the room is dark. She can sit quietly or play before napping. Otherwise, you're entertaining her.

Yup, cut the nap. She needs to sleep from 12-2pm, one solid nap only.

It’s very hard when they suddenly stop sleeping well, but she is still very little so it’s totally normal. I found shifting my focus from ‘i should be getting x done’ to ‘I am doing a good job of mothering DC’ helped me. Lose all expectations of doing anything else and it relieves some stress.

It sounds as if you are doing everything right. It may be a little young to drop a nap, getting overtired won’t help things.

OP hope you’re okay, can you let your baby chill out in her cot at bedtime, nothing noisy or boisterous, but try not to “force” her into sleeping. She needs to feel relaxed in a darkish room in her cot and she’ll fall asleep better if there’s no fighting from her or pressure from you.

My son didn’t nap, he would fall asleep for 10-15 mins if I was lucky! By the time he was two, I noticed him falling asleep after swimming in the afternoons, and I let him. It was amazing for me.

Go with the flow as much as you can - I learned that the hard way! Everything is a phase. This one will pass.

Drop a nap. Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions ! Last night I let her play in her cot before bedtime and she went down after about 40 minutes , I only had to intervene once as the baby monitor camera wasn’t facing the right angle 😂😂 if she wakes super early she gets a nap in the morning but recently she’s been waking up mabye 8 o’clock but I think this is when she’s had an unsettled night and is tired, will take your advice on board ♥️ You are all amazing ladies xx