The best way to deal w/ 16mnth DD at night!!!!

[pookie81]

How can I deal with my screaming DD as soon as I put her down to sleep at night??? She can't just go to sleep without screaming and holding her arms out to me and DH. Have tried the control crying but it may not have been for long enough. I dread bedtime!! We have put her in with a beaker milk which she just guzzles, throws and begins her episode.Help.

my dd, (18mo) needs to wind down to sleep so she has 3 soft toys and a taggie in her cot to play with and an hour long lullaby cd with a heartbeat sound in the background. The screaming and shouting of mumumumumumumumumum has stopped apart from one isolated shout of protext when I close her bedroom door. she used to have a very repetative lullaby machine which plays the same 45secs of music over and over but now she's older she needs music she can actually listen to I think.

oh and I put her to bed a bit earlier now with the expectation of her taking 30 mins to settle on her own.

what sort of bedtime routine do you have? With ds (also 16months) we do jammies on downstairs, watch In the night garden and then come up for stories - he brings a lidded beaker of milk with him and drinks it during story time. He gets some stories and teeth brushed with dd (4) in her room and then we go to his room for one last story and get him into his sleeping bag. After his story he goes in his cot with his 2 taggies, his iggle piggle and upsey daisy soft toys and a gloE bear and then we switch on his music box that used to be part of his mobile. He rarely protest at bedtime and normally goes off quietly to sleep. Maybe you need a longer wind down or to change your routine a little.

I think wind down is very important at this age. She used to go to bed quite happily after stories (this after several weeks of a gentle withdrawal type approach to help her settle on her own) but is now utterly bonkers about books, and gets really into them. So after stories we switch the lights out, and just cuddle and talk to her very quietly for a few minutes in the dark, before putting her in to bed. Sometimes she drops off quite quickly, others she talks to teddies for a while...

i used to do quiet time with my ds at this age bath and snuggle id read a book then pop him into cot maybe sit on floor reading softly to him still and give him his milk settled lovely

they really do need a wind down time what time do you put to bed and does she nap in day if she has 2 naps you may need to cut later one out

maybe not fully tired when in bed

Maybe that is where it is going wrong! I do what you do seona1973, put pj's on and watch night garden then take her up with her milk although everytime I begin to read to her, she starts bouncing and giggling in her cot just ignoring me completely (who's the adult?!)I carry on until I just have to leave the room and let her settle herself. That is when the screaming begins until she starts to cough and splutter. She even made herself sick the other night.

"everytime I begin to read to her, she starts bouncing and giggling in her cot just ignoring me completely"

Do you think the winding down/story time might work better if you read to her somewhere where you can give her a cuddle at the same time? On your bed perhaps or on a chair in her room? This is what we do and it does work well for us (daughter 17 months old). I think the cuddling helps her to get more ready for sleepiness and being left on her own.