Help - 9mo DS wont let dad put him to bed

[charlieg22]

Advice/suggestions urgently needed - 90% of the time I have given our son his bedtime bottle & put him down/rocked him to sleep. On the occasions his dad has done it in the past he has been fine - however over the last few weeks everytime he has tried DS has started crying & worked himself up so much he makes himself sick. He seems to be OK with dad bathing him & feeding him but as soon as he tries to put him down he kicks off & I end up taking over (usually post sick). We really need help as I'm back at work in a month's time & for one night each week I won't be back until late. Don't want to have to keep him up & poor dad is terrified at the prospect of going it alone. I know people say around 9 mo is a clingy phase & they can get attached to one parent but he is totally fine with dad doing everything else except putting him in his cot. Dreading going back to work as it is! Thanks

I really understand how you feel. My dd, who had reflux which in my house meant I was with her all the time and dh didn't get to spend any time with her, won't let my dh anywhere near her, especially at bedtime and getting up time.

A few great suggestions have been made to me! One way is to see if an out of site out of mind situation might work. A test run. Go out like you would do if going to work, saying bye bye to ds, see you tomorrow. Dad could always mention it again maybe during the time when he's relaxed with him, how lovely it is that it's just dad and ds. If this does work do it once a week until you go back to work. It may take more than once but at least you'd have sorted it before going back to work and therefore you can concentrate on what you're doing. gives you a night off too, which is helpful

Dad has to do this with a positive attitude, that all will go well.

I think part of the problem is that your ds will know, oh to get mummy to come back all i need to do is be sick. This is not unusual, so breaking the habit now is a good thing.

Good luck

I'm hoping to go to a health farm tomorrow, 1st night away from my kids and very nervous about it.