What to do with DD?

[HufftheHedgehog]

Not sure where to start really. DD is 15mo, and has never been a great sleeper, has never slept through the night.

She had started to go for about 3 hours between wake ups at the start of November, when she was about 13mo, but then was in horpital with bronchiolitis, and since then has become even more clingy with me.

Last night (a fairly normal night) I had to sit on the floor next to her cot holding her hand until she fell asleep (at about 7:45pm). She woke at 11:30pm, DH went in to try to get her back to sleep, but she schrieked until he brought her into bed with me. She then snuggled in, played about, eventually fell asleep about 1:00am. Then woke just after 5:00am :(

I just don't know how to get her to sleep longer, and more importantly, sleep on her own. If I'm not the one to go in she makes so much noise that I get woken up anyway, and poor DS is also woken up by her.

Any ideas to help her sleep would be gratefully received :)

Do you have a good bedtime routine?.... Something like a warm-bath, warm milk, starchy snack (rusk/toast/banana), low lighting, boring story .... If you stretch it out they get nicely sleepy and will nod off without requiring hand-holding.

Does she have a nightlight for if she wakes in the night? A soft toy to cuddle? If she's not cold, hungry, uncomfortable, in pain, in danger or genuinedly distressed in any other way... if the screaming is just so that she can sleep with Mum & Dad in other words, and you don't want that to happen... then you can try the 'shush', 'go to sleep', and walk away routine. Good luck

Thanks Chil.

Bedtime routine is usually like this:
Dinner 5pm, milk 5:45pm, bath 6:15pm, bed 6:30pm. Do you think it would be better to get her in the bath earlier and give her milk afterwards in her room?

She has a nightlight in her room, and we also leave the bathroom light on so there's light in the hall, she has a radio with white noise, her room's about 18 degrees and she's always warm in her Grobag, she has toys in her cot that she doesn't bother with... Think she just wants me :( Which I'm ok with if she's ill or teething but on a nightly basis it's not working as none of us seem to be getting a good sleep.

We need to do something, and may well try the shush and walk away, but if there's one thing guaranteed to make her angry is someone leaving the room...

I'd suggest putting bedtime back a little to 7-7.30pm if she normally drops off at 7.45... warm milk and story after a bath (say 7pm?) is a nice way to finish the day. Assuming that she's quite mobile at 15mo that bit of extra time to run around and tire herself out after dinner might help.

My friend who's baby didn't like her leaving the room used to stand in the doorway and gradually move away. Sort of half-way house. Good luck

Thanks, we might try putting her bedtime back a little bit then, and also see if giving her milk in her room helps. I like the idea of standing in the doorway :o so will try that too