My 13 Month Old has stopped going down awake...

[CazFev]

Recently my 13 month old has stopped going down to sleep awake. Previously I could feed her (breast) lay her in her cot, say goodnight and leave the room. She would sometimes cry for 10 seconds max, but then settle. This has been the case since she was 7 months old... All of a sudden this has changed and I don't know what to do! Now, I have to lay with her until she is asleep, then try and put her in her cot, but I fear I am making a rod for my own back, and wonder whether I should leave her to cry... Now she is standing though she just stands in her cot and gets into a state if I try the old routine. Any tips / advice appreciated!!!

Hi, sorry don't really have helpful advice, just sympathy. DD1 did the same thing, she was actually fighting to go to sleep even on us and it often took up to 1.5 hours before she fell asleep. She then sometimes woke up again when we transferred her to her cot. In the end, we took the side off, got a foldable bed rail and held her while she was actually lying in her bed. Though it was a very awkward position for us to kneel or sit in front of her cot for such a stretch of time, it was much easier that way to withdraw and slowly we managed to wean her off us and she became happy to just fall asleep again, without fighting it. I reckon it's a phase and it will pass. Was never convinced by letting them cry. Had considered sleep training as our evenings were ruined and we were exhausted but was glad in the end that I never did it and it got better on its own (and with the help of the adapted putting-her-down routine and change to the cot). Hope it gets better soon!

Improvement! Tried a calmer before bed routine tonight. I think as she gets older she is more sensitive to the bedtime routine, and although it was the same time every night, it was not always as calm as it could be, especially when daddy and music on demand were involved (don't ask, she loves coldplay!) Anyway, tonight, she watched Cbeebies, asked dad not to get her too excited, and she went down awake but sleepy an hour earlier than normal. I also did not want to do the 'cry it out' thing as I don't believe this works for all children, and I hope that by being structured this will stick!!