Hi all,
I was wondering if I could have some advice on some issues we have been having with sleep. My dd had colic so the early months were pretty fraught. At 8 weeks we were prescribed Colief for a lactose sensitivity and things improved a little. In the evening I would bath my little one and then give her her last feed in a dark room, swaddle her and hold her until she fell asleep. As she got older I started laying her down awake, swaddled, and putting my hand on her tummy until she fell asleep. Problems arose at about 5 months when she could break out of the swaddle and roll over. We tried the pick up/put down method but it didnt work. She would end up screaming whether we held her or not. I gave it a good two weeks of trying to use the pick up /put down method before going to my HV for advice. I should point out at this point that my daughter, whilst she is the light of my life, is a very bright but temperamental baby. The ladies at her nursery laugh at how demanding and bossy she already is at the age of 11 months and she is brilliant at throwing tantrums. Anyway, the HV said that her night time issues were caused by the fact that she was being temperamental because she was fighting bed times, and we were overstimulating and confusing her by picking her up and then putting her down again. She told me to lay her down, give her a kiss and then leave the room for one minute before going back in and giving her a reassuring tummy rub and doing the same thing all over again. She advised that we should then leave her to cry for longer periods but I never have done because I just cant leave her to cry. One minute almost kills me. Anyway, after about 3 nights of doing this (for about 2 hours every evening before she finally gave in and went to sleep) she began to settle almost immediately. The HV told me that I had taught her that mummy was still there, but it was time to go to sleep. Perfect! She also began, at the grand old age of 8 months, to sleep through the night.
However, she is now 11 months old and for the last couple of weeks she has started to kick off at night again. It has taken up up for 2 hours to settle her to go to bed. Of course now that she is older she is able to stand up and throw her dummy across the room in temper. I know that all of her needs are met, and although she is teething she has popped through 11 teeth in 6 months so this is nothing new. (plus I always give her something for the pain when it is particularly bad). I'm just confused as to why we have taken this backwards step. I have tried staying in the room with her but she cries even more when I do this because I wont pick her up. If I do pick her up she still cries, probably because she knows I am going to put her down again. Does anyone know what is going on? Should I be adjusting her bedtime so that she goes down a little later? Or is she just trying to get her own way now that she is a bit bigger? Is this just a normal part of sleep training? She still wakes occasionally in the night and I admit I still give her a little milk if she wants it. My HV has told me not too but they way I see it, I sleep with a bottle of water next to my bed and regularly sip from it through the night, so Im not going to deny my baby a drink just because its inconvenient to me. However, the last couple of nights she has slept through. Any ideas other mummies? Sorry if I am rambling!!