Crying at bed time

[LUCIA22]

My DD is 17weeks and recently started crying at bed time when we put here down. We presumed that she is overtired and have tried putting her down a bit earlier but it doesnt seem to help. She seems frustrated and trying to suck her thumb to soothe herself. She can work herself into quite a state. I found that a drop of lavender oil on the sheet worked but dont want to rely on that. I know that there is often an age window in which to deal with certain behaviour and dont want to miss this one but also dont want to be too strict and start the dreaded controlled crying if she is too young and just needs cuddles. Any advice?

Thought about a dummy? Babies sometimes just like to feel comfortable and soothe themselves. I would say she is too young for the controlled crying myself.

You could try a dummy or it could just be that your bed time routine is triggering her to think about going to sleep (which is good!). Do you give her a bath every night / sing her a song or have some sort of special time that she can relate to? My DD did this and we hadn't changed anything to do with her routine, so in the end we just let her cry for a few mins and then went back in and soothed her etc and then popped out again. She seemed to respond really well to having a song and then a bit of a chat with lots of eye contact (whispered) about what a great day we'd had etc before I said night night. On the other hand - it could be that you're being too stimulating and staying with her when she's just wishing you'd give her some peace?