starting nursery, blankies and disrupted sleep

[TJuice]

i posted this in Sleep before I realised it would be better here:

my 10 month dd has been sleeping 7 until 7 for months. she started at her lovely nursery recently, very slowly (going for an hour with me, me leaving for an hour the next day - one day with morning nap then finally a whole day until 3pm). So far, so good - she goes to sleep well there, with her blankie and seems very happy in general - no tears at all, smiley, interactive.

But now she needs us to stay with her while she falls asleep. It only takes 10 or 15mins if we just stay but if we try and leave before, she cries inconsolably. we used to give her the bottle, then put her in her cot, kiss her and leave.

its not a problem but last night she woke at midnight and needed us there to get back to sleep.

is this a normal, separation anxiety type thing?

have any others had the same when their lo started nursery?

how important is the blankie in this ( i forgot it at nursery one day and thought she couldn't get to sleep without it. but the same thing happened the following night, with the blankie)?

thanks

TJuice,

Do you have a blankie that you can leave in nursery? DS has two blankies and I leave one in nursery, picking it up every Friday to wash so he can have a clean one on Monday. That eliminates me forgetting it.

I don't want if this helps but DS's sleep went downhill from about 7 months and I remember around 10-11 months being really bad, where he was waking up and needing to be taken into bed with us (he never liked co-sleeping before). He's almost 14 months now and his sleep improved from when he turned about 12 months and kept getting better. I've noticed as well his sleep is getting better both in nursery and at home.

When he started nursery (around 11 months), he only slept for half an hour the whole day (he sleeps 1.5-2 hours at home, no problem!) and some days, not even sleeping at all (and this boy needs his sleep). Two months on, in the last week, he has slept an hour and 15 minutes in nursery a couple of times a week so fingers crossed this is the way forward! Also he seems to be getting deeper sleep in the day too (i.e. he used to sleep for half an hour tops during car journey but now sleeps an hour and a half and doesn't wake when lifted from car to home. In the last week, he has also taken to take over two hour naps.

Unfortunately I do think their sleep patterns do change a lot at the age your DD is at. I think you need to just roll with it, seeing as she has just started nursery and there will be a period of adjustment... GL! I hope it gets better for you soon...

Ax

thanks angel. i ordered a couple more of the same blankie but that one is embued with its own funky smell!

by the time she gets it back on tues, she may not even be into it anymore.