Clingy baby screaming at bedtime?

[minibmw2010]

DS (almost 14 mths) has become quite clingy lately and has started screaming and really crying when I (or DH) put him in his cot. He's always gone in really well before so it's been quite a shock.

Any tips on what to do? Usually if he'd cry it was 5 minutes max so I wouldn't go in to him but tonight was almost 30 mins so I went in a couple of times to pat and shhh him but it made him try to get up and he got more worked up.

What do we do?

Exactly the same thing in this house! Ds is 12 mths and every bed and nap time is suddenly awful. His back teeth are coming though so I am giving him ibru but seems to make no difference. Horrible isn't it.

If going in makes him worse then what other option do you have than to let him cry it out? As long as you think he isnt on pain then it's a behavioural thing.
I made sure that I spent good quality time with my dd just before bed, lots of playing, cuddles and singing in her room to reassure her, then she was a little happier with going to bed. It's something I read when going through the same thing. Then we did just leave her, was pretty awful but like you - going in made it worse. She is better now - it is just a phase. Good luck.

You are right bla he is much worse when I go in and out. He just cries so hard at the moment when left. As my dh says though, he needs sleep more than anything at the moment (ie bed time/ nap time) so it helps to think like that. Cruel to be kind and all that. We also discovered he is better with his door left open, though that does mean keeping everyone else quiet

I put music on his room; classical or radio 4 on low.

I also have a walkie talkie style monitor so I can talk to him, mostly sssh

Might be a silly question but is he actually tired? Might his bed TIME needs rethinking? if you've always stuck with the same routine it might need a tweak as he gets a little older. Is he having 1 afternoon nap per day now? And might that need to move a little earlier? Just a thought...

I did wonder about whether he was going down too early but he does all the eye rubbing and getting whingy so we've kept to his usual routine of starting bedtime at 7.

He has been trying to cut the morning nap but then he goes back to it so we're still on 2. I'm trying to make sure he doesn't have too long in the morning one (no more than an hour) and he generally wakes after 1.5 hrs with the afternoon one.

We'll persevere I guess ...

I have had this with my dd. After bath, bottle, cuddles and story, I lay her in her cot, rub her tummy and kiss her and then leave the room for one minute. Then I go back in, without saying anything, lay her down and rub her tummy for a second or two before going back out. She has kicked off and screamed but I kept repeating, leaving her alone for no more than one minute. The HV told me that this teachers her that mummy is still there, but that it is bedtime and she will not be allowed to get up. I do not pick her up, just laying her down. The first time it took 2 hours, then one an a half, and within a few days 5 minutes. Sometimes she has a bit of a relapse, but mostly she goes down really well xx