A dream going to sleep for naps but not at bedtime??!

[boredbuthappy]

DS 10 months old, literally closes his eyes the minute I put him down for his naps and goes to sleep without even a hint of a whimper....but...at bedtime he whinges and whinges, then hollers, then cries and screams until I come back for the umpteenth time and finally rock and jiggle him to sleep. I don't get it. Why are naps not a problem, but bedtimes he needs me to treat him like a 6 week old? Driving me nuts.

Ten months is still so little, perhaps he just needs a cuddle and some comfort from you, is it a problem rocking him to sleep? How does he sleep through the night?

Have you read this? It has some great tips.

I don't mind rocking him to sleep, but I just can't understand why he only does this at bedtime and not at naps. He doesn't sleep well at night at all. Once down at 7:30pm or so he will wake up anywhere from 1-4 times before midnight and then it can be no wake ups til morning (6-7am) or waking up 2-3 times, but that is a whole other issue which we're trying to deal with as well. Naps are great...sleeps like a log for one long nap and one short nap every day. The nights are horrendous still, after 10 months. I'll stop there before I start sobbing.

Think you will just drive yourself insane trying to work out why. You have my total sympathy though as my DS was a terrible sleeper too.

For me, I had to wait until I was less tired before I had the strength to tackle it, if that makes sense. Have you got someone who can help with the night wakings or who can give you a lie in?

Have you read any books?

Is he getting overtired by bedtime? I would try putting him down 1/2 hour earlier for a few days and seeing if that helps (my DS1 had ti gi ti bed at 6.30 at this age, or was a nightmare to settle). Or is his room darker at bedtime? In which case a night light might help?

I've been using a pattern recommended by a friend's sleep consultant which basically goes like this: first awake period of the day is 2 hours, then a sleep, then a 3 hour awake period, then a sleep, then a 4 hour awake period. DS used to go to bed at 6:30 but our days have just worked themselves out that his natural time to go to bed is around 7-7:30. Occasionally, if he's been really busy during the day or napped poorly, I will attempt to put him down earlier, but will all the faffing I've described in my original post, it ends up being 7 or 7:30 or even later before he's actually asleep. As for books, I haven't read any entirely, but I have Baby Whisperer, Gina Ford, and No Cry Sleep Solution that I use for reference.

The awake time pattern works like magic for naps. I don't know....maybe I'll try giving him only 3 hours awake time before bedtime and see what happens. Oh, and he has a nightlight, we worked that one out a while back. He hates a completely dark room.

I swear to god, this sleeping issue problem that EVERY mum seems to have with their baby needs to be a topic that is discussed to death in NCT or other antenatal classes. Nothing discussed regarding childbirth actually happened with me but I sure as hell could have used some serious coaching with baby sleep issues.