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Original poster

Help DD wants to stand up in her cot rather than go to sleep!

50 replies

gingerkirsty · 05/09/2010 21:44

Hi All

Some help would be really really appreciated this evening! My 6mo DD has mainly gone off to sleep with us rocking her up until recently (I know, I know Blush). She is starting with a childminder from Oct as I am starting back to work so I have been trying to put her down to go to sleep on her own - obviously the CM won't have time to rock her to sleep and i would rather she learned to go off on her own at home first rather than the hard way with the CM!

However, she is coming along very quickly movement wise, and this keeps interfering with her sleep.

First of all when she was thinking about crawling, every time she woke in the night she started rolling onto her front and assuming the crawling position, then getting upset as she didn't know what to do with herself.

Then she learned to crawl and kept wandering round her cot bumping her head rather than going to sleep.

Last week we had a bit of a breakthrough in that she woke up mid nap but put herself back to sleep on her front, which was a first, and since then I have had some success using shush patting with her on her front, and getting her to drop off that way.

However, this weekend she has worked out how to pull herself up to standing in her cot! I am very impressed with her, she is a clever girl and everything but she hasn't worked out how to get down again safely and keeps toppling over and bashing her head, which obviously causes her immense distress :(

We are now repeatedly trying to lie her down and doing shush patting but she is getting quite hysterical, and continually trying to roll over, get up, climb up the bars etc etc. I really don't want us to be fighting with her as she just gets more and more upset/enraged but I am not sure what else we can do, until the novelty of being able to move around so much has worn off?

Any other ideas?

TIA

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mistressploppy · 07/09/2010 13:37

Just adding my tuppence worth - DS was exclusively bfed (still bfed with solids at nearly 11mo) and I did the same as Pioneer - stopped night feeds at 4.5mo, fed him at 6.30pm before bed and then in the morning.

Original poster
gingerkirsty · 07/09/2010 17:25

I am still going to stick with the dream feed for now though, can't do any harm can it??? (correct me if it can!!!)

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Pioneer · 07/09/2010 17:33

I agree with you - it doesn't seem fair at all to drop two feeds at once. I'd drop the night feed first, and then in a few weeks drop the dream feed. - If it's a bottle then you can gradually drop it by an ounce at a time so she doesn't notice too much.
Eventually once you get to 1/2 ounces, she will hopefully not bother waking for it.

Give her a nice big feed at bedtime instead.

Good luck!

Original poster
gingerkirsty · 07/09/2010 18:31

that's a good idea. She had a good feed just before 6 and then the other boob just now, have put her in her cot and I think she might be going straight to sleep!!!!!!!

She went straight to sleep in her car seat this morn (ie in the kitchen, not when in motion) and in her stationary buggy this arvo, had 40 mins in the morn but only 25 mins in the afternoon - I am hoping the resulting tiredness will lead to a good night's sleep, not the other way round!

Will report back later, thanks for all your support :)

I love Mumsnet too!

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Original poster
gingerkirsty · 07/09/2010 18:57

SHE REALLY DID GO STRAIGHT TO SLEEP!!! Could be down to last nights CC, or sheer exhaustion... we'll see how overnight goes! :)

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mistressploppy · 07/09/2010 19:29

Hooray! Fingers crossed for you all!

Pioneer · 07/09/2010 20:18

Yay! It's utter bliss isnt it when they do that - bet you are walking on air!

Original poster
gingerkirsty · 08/09/2010 06:27

Oh. My. God.

I wasn't woken up until 5 to 6 this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Grin Grin Grin Grin Grin Grin

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Original poster
gingerkirsty · 08/09/2010 06:28

Oops one of my Grins went awry! But you got my drift!!!

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Pioneer · 08/09/2010 13:29

Oh lovely! So pleased for you Smile.

dinkystinky · 08/09/2010 13:32

That's fab. Read your original post and was going to say that DS2 went through this stage at around 7 months - v tiring as was when I went back to work! - but it was just a phase and passed within a month or so. I'd just go back in. lie him back down (in the dark) and shush him (with hand on back if need be) till he was drowsy again.

Hope she continues to sleep well.

Pioneer · 08/09/2010 13:48

Did you still give her the dream feed or was this all night from 6.30pm?

Blu · 08/09/2010 13:51

GROBAG

Pioneer · 08/09/2010 13:57

Good idea Blu, but the problem I had with the grobag was that when ds started standing up, he would pull himself up and then trip on it and smack his face off the cot edge Sad.

Original poster
gingerkirsty · 08/09/2010 17:17

I was going to ask about grobags actually but I thought that was what would happen Pioneer - I dream fed her at 11pm and will continue to do so until we have consistently got her going through the night. And then reduce it down gradually as you suggested. She only took 3.5 oz last night so I may find she weans herself off it!

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mistressploppy · 08/09/2010 19:41

They are all different, my 10mo's in a grobag and has no problems, worth trying out if you can borrow one maybe?

picklesrule · 08/09/2010 21:06

Been reading with interest as my dd is 10mo and doing exactly the same..am just trying pupd with her at mo...

Just thought I'd mention before you get a grobag that she manages to stand up in it easily and walk around a bit..not ideal!!

Original poster
gingerkirsty · 08/09/2010 21:26

No I'm not going to bother, she is very determined so I don't think it would stop her, and she would just get more upset.

Anyway, CC is going well - did take 30 mins to go to sleep for her morning nap, but only about 3 mins at bedtime!

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trixie123 · 09/09/2010 07:28

sorry to hijack but this is so similar it doesn't seem worth starting a new one. Basically my 13mo. DS has been brilliant until this week and now he is doing similar to the op's LO but with an added element of separation anxiety (he started with his CM two days a week this week). Can we really do CC at 3am when we live in terrace? (and have new neighbours??)

Original poster
gingerkirsty · 09/09/2010 09:19

Hi Trixie - I don't know about you but we found DD was crying anyway and in fact the CC has made the whole process much shorter and less painful. Also it is the classic 'short term pain for long term gain'. Could you pop round to see the neighbours and explain the situation? Let them know you are sleep training and things should be better in 2-3 days?

DD was asleep in 3 mins last night, woke at 2.30 and settled straight back down, woke at 5.40am - i BF her, didn't have the heart not to! And then went straight back off again until 8. So literally only say 4 mins of whinging altogether. And we only started on Monday!

@ Pioneer and Mistressploppy - going VERY well thank you for all your advice and support! It seems that she is waking very early though, I would love love love her to go through til 7 or 7.30 but when she wakes just before 6 it seems mean not to feed her. Thoughts?

I STILL LOVE MUMSNET! :) :) :)

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mistressploppy · 09/09/2010 10:03

Hmmm, I managed to stretch DS to wake between 6.30 - 7am by just ignoring him for a little while if he woke up sooner! Also, he used to go for a nap within an hour or so of waking - when we pushed it back to 9am he started waking a bit later. Could you leave her to chat/play in her cot for a bit after she wakes or would she go nuts?

Pioneer · 09/09/2010 10:21

I think at that age my ds was normally up at 6-6.30 as a general rule.

My friend's little girl was always awake at 5.30 though - every day.

Maybe that is just her time to wake up?

They do go through phases - up until recently my DS was sleeping until 8am, whereas now that I've dropped his daytime nap, he is up at 6.30-7 again.

I would just go with it for now if you can Smile.

Glad to hear it's all going well.

Original poster
gingerkirsty · 09/09/2010 10:27

I shouldn't complain really should I! I might try to go to bed early and get DH to do the dream feed so i get a bit more kip. I do ignore her if she sounds happy, she will just chunter away for a bit but I am awake then IYSWIM! At least today she managed 2hrs before getting really grumpy, yesterday she was up at 6 and back to bed at 7 for 2 hrs, hence I decided to put her straight back down after her 5.50am feed this morning. That is pretty workable really, as long as i treat the 6ish feed as a night feed rather than getting up time.

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Original poster
gingerkirsty · 15/09/2010 21:14

I'm back! It was all going pretty well although the time taken for her to go to sleep was not consistent. THEN she got a tummy bug :(

She has been poorly since Sun morn and all bets are therefore off on the CC. DH was thinking we ought to carry on with it but I feel it is really mean when she is distressed from being poorly.

Just wanted some advice from you wise ladies re getting back on track - I fear we might be starting again 'from scratch' and all our hard work the previous week has been undone :(

Can anyone reassure me otherwise, or am I right?

TIA :)

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Original poster
gingerkirsty · 15/09/2010 22:10

Bump - anyone about? X

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