fighting sleep at 1

[hermykne]

my dd is fighting her sleep in the day. she will not snooze and is wrecked , rubbing eyes, etc., but as soon as i lift her to cuddle or put down, she goes bing and gets a fresh lease of life and sees something she wants. and wriggles to get down and repeats it all over again.
she will not go into her cot and she wails.

night time she goes to bed fine, no problems, into her cot and lies down, asleeo, she still wakes in the night but usually goes back to sleep, she is teething at the moment, 3 teeth neck & neck, but why would that put her off falling asleep? shes had her dose of calpol.

if i go for a walk with her she'll fall asleep pretty quickly, but you cant do that every time they are due a snooze.

any ideas please - the ironing has to get done!

Sounds like she is getting overtired. Can you put her in her cot about 15 mins before you expect her to flake out and let her wail a bit if need be.

I think I could have written your post word-for-word, hermykne. I've tried the letting her cry bit, and it just hasn't worked for us: she just ends up standing in her cot and screaming so hard that she chokes. And she can keep that up for longer than I can take it. The best thing I've found so far is to be firm, take her to the cot, do a very short wind-down and then put her down just like at night. Then I'll stand by her cot and stroke her back (she's a stomach-sleeper) fairly firmly and rhythmically, getting lighter and slower as she settles down, eventually stopping completely. If she complains I start stroking aagain, if not I quietly leave the room. If she tries to roll over or get up, I put one hand on her bum and one on her chest and very gently rock her from side to side. That invariably (so far!) calms her, then I gradually go into the stroking routine. It's time-consming, but works more0-or-less. Now I wish that she would stay asleep for longer than 45mins or 1 1/2h, which is her current maximum during the day. HTH

hi boyandgirl
i had to do c/crying last night at 4am, for 1 and 1/2 hrs, she was determined not to sleep in her cot. so this morn she is doing the same ole thing, have given her lunch and now put her into her cot, she too like your dd never sleeps more than 1hr in the day unless exhausted or a fluke!

does your dd bang herself off the cot if she gets cross and while you are out fo the room?
mine does that which only adds to the crying.

LIZS
i tried putting her in the cot the day before yesterday twice and she just wailed instantly, i left her but it was no use she just wasnt having it in the day.
but i'll keep trying..

i cheated, she had her lunch and some milk from her beaker. then i put some with into her bottle, put her in her cot and not asound.
shes out and didnt finish the bottle.
is that a foolish thing to do?

Sounds good to me, perhaps she is ready to change routine a bit. Our dd tends to sleep either after a late morning snack or lunch depending on her mood and schedule, assuming she hasn't catnapped in the car. I'm sure in time you'd be able to get shot of the bottle, especially if she does without it at night, just take one thing at a time.

oh LIZS, thanks , i felt i shouldnt use the bottle at all, but you're right, she doesnt need it it a night so hopefully daytime will come round.
it was great she slept for 2 hrs and i went back to bed for a rest too! normally i'd dash around trying to catch up , i was so tired from the night
thanks

hermykne, I don't want to dump on your new technique with the bottle, but I have read that letting a baby feed themselves to sleep increases their risk of getting ear infections because milk can get into the eustachian tube becasue of the lying down position.

boyandgirl
just checkinh up on old threads and found your last note, shes no different back to her old routine in the day.
i am trying v hard to stick to a regieme of feeding and sleep , but thanks for the tip re ear indections, i always got them as a child.