Before I start, I know I am lucky, my DD is a smiley, happy, bright, inquisitive 7 month old and a star to look after with one exception... sleep problems in the daytime. She is so curious she will only sleep when we are at home, alone and I hold her in a certain position which she likes. Even when she is heavily asleep and wrapped up she wakes when I gently put her down and won't go back to sleep. This means me frozen in position for hours at a time. She goes down at night after her bedtime routine with no trouble with her dad and sleeps through.
This has been continuing for about 2 months now (since her dad returned to work after summer), before that we would put her down awake and she would sleep anywhere. Now she won't sleep in the car, in a swingy chair, in her cot, in her pram or for other people except her dad sometimes. If she misses her sleep she becomes grumpy and cries or grunts/moans constantly until she sleeps. She's lovely to cuddle so I don't mind this occasionally, but she sleeps for a couple of hours 2 or 3 times a day and it makes it very difficult to do anything in the house, including getting my own lunch or preparing a bottle.
I am 5 months pregnant and so will be going back to work in Jan for a couple of months before my next mat leave and am worried how her grandparents will cope if she won't sleep and how she'll cope "sharing me" with DC2 when she needs to sleep.
Recently DH and I tried putting her down in her cot after she fell asleep and then just comforting her there, not picking her up, when she woke over an hour period at the same time each day for 4 days but she just got more and more hysterical each day to the point of shaking and wailing which took 30mins of cuddles to settle.
I'm wondering if this is just a phase and I shouldn't worry, just wait it out? Should I try to introduce a comforter (she already has a dummy)? Should we be strict and have her cry it out? Any other tips/ideas?
PS.Thanks for persevering with this long post! :)