Settle and soothe method

[Maydaymummy]

Hello this is my first time on the forums. My 1 yr old little girl is having horrendous trouble getting off for her naps. She used to be really good but without realising it she became dependant on a baby bottle of water to suckle herself to sleep. So realising what she's doing we only let her have beakers now but when I try to settle her for a nap she becomes totally inconsolable I have tried settle and soothe method but she refuses to be soothed and just cries constantly even when I pick her up. Very frustrating. At wits end. Don't think I could really do controlled crying but even if I could there is no way my husband would be able too. Ease help....

Hi May If she goes to sleep happily with a bottle of water then why do you need to change anything? It's only water so not doing any teeth damage - sounds like a good method to me

Sorry I do not understand why she can't continue with her bottle of water to soothe her to sleep?? She is only 1 so it's perfectly reasonably for her to want to continue to do this especially as it soothes her to sleep. It's the sucking motion that seems to help babies drop off and you can't get that from a beaker. This is a very very simple problem to solve. Give her back her bottle and she won't need to cry anymore and can enjoy her naps again. You can get her off the bottle when she is older.

Glad to hear that you both think that it's ok for her to go to sleep that way. We were only trying to stop because we thought it might be dangerous for her. Now I just feel bad for trying when I should have left well alone. Heartfelt thank you for putting my mind at rest.

No problem May - why did you think it was dangerous? Lots of babies go off to sleep with a bottle of milk so a bottle of water is even better IYSWIM.

I wish my DS would go off to sleep that easily

I agree with the others. DS is 18 months and I still bf him to help him drop off for daytime naps. I know some would think this is a terrible habit but the way I look at it is that in the not-too- distant future he will stop daytime naps and then it will all be irrelevant anyway. I think night-time sleep is much more important as that is something they will do all their lives and DS self settles and sleeps through perfectly well at night.