WWYD? Sleep training for 10 month old

[LilyPilley]

My daughter has never been a good sleeper and at about 6 months I ended up co-sleeping just to get through the nights. I work full time so some decent sleep is essential. Currently her timetable is as follows:
5:30 wake-up (how I wish it would be just a little later)
8:30 nap ? 45min to 1 hour
13:00 nap ? 1½ to 2 hours
19:15 bedtime

We have an established bed time routine and getting her to sleep involves some light rocking, putting her in her cot nearly asleep and holding her hand until she drifts off. If she isn?t drowsy enough, she will roll onto her stomach and attempt to stand and I have to start the process again. The last couple of weeks or so she has really been fighting bedtime ? do you think I?m putting her to bed too early? I have thought about shifting her bedtime but she can be awfully miserable at this time.

Once asleep, she will wake usually at about 9:30 at which point I put her down, hold her hand and wait for her drift off. Sometime during the night she will wake again, at which point I stick her in the bed with me. She may wake again but usually a dummy and a cuddle get her back to sleep pretty quickly. When she wakes and I?m not around, she will get up and cry out for me. At this point she?s fully awake and getting her back to sleep can take a while, sometimes having to rock her to get her drowsy.

She is an extremely determined little girl and teaching her to sleep (on her own would be a plus) is an ongoing struggle. She just wants to be with me all the time and tbh, I am desperate for some me time, even if it is only a couple of hours at night. I?m hoping you experienced parents can offer some advice on sleep training methods you have tried and tested for a child at her age. As much as I believe CC works, it?s just not for me. I would rather prefer to try some long term methods where the impact on her isn?t so drastic. I have found that if she goes to bed content, she tends to sleep better through the night.

The last few months I have just let it be, mostly out of exhaustion but I understand I need to put in the hard work to get results. I need to get into the same bed as my husband again! Any advice is much appreciated.

I have read rave reviews about a thread on here called 'what worked for us, hope this helps' by necterina I think. I tried it with my ds 9.5 but as your dd does (holding her hand etc) my ds would not settle if I was in the room at all. So although it didn't work for us it does work I'm sure.
Give it a read. It sounds great....but wasn't right for my little boy.
Good luck.

I wrote a very similar post to this yday. DD is exactly the same (very determined) and i would love to help her sleep on her own. I have also co-slept but shes too wriggly.

I also read the thread by nectarina. I tried it about a month ago and it didnt work but i tried it again last night and it was ok. She now understands 'lie down' and after about an hour of faffing she will lie down. There is crying involved (for us) but you are still there, just not picking them up.

She woke about 4 times between 10 and 4.30 but i just whispered 'lie down' before she had chance to get up and she went back to sleep - i was amazed. At 4.30 she was WIDE awake so i just shoved her in my bed and let her wriggle until she fell asleep.

Progress.

I stopped letting Baby Goo come in my bed at all. It takes a lot of effort but she would wake and claw at the door to try and get me to take her in my room. Once it became apparent this wasn't going to happen she stopped waking up.

It only took 3 days and I shushed and patted and cuddled but would not put her in my bed.

Co-sleeping is only good if anyone actually gets some sleep.

Thank you for your responses. I have read nectarina's post and I am just not sure it would work with my LO. She gets so worked up and upset if she doesn?t fall asleep in the usual way. Almost hysterical, at which point I have to pick her up and try to calm her. I have tried calming her without picking her up but she just gets more hysterical. Last night was 45 minutes of sobbing and I just couldn't bear it. Has anyone tried a form of pick up/put down method at about 10 months?

Maybe she's just not ready to sleep alone yet? After all it is a very unnatural thing for us to expect our babies to do - the rest of the world doesn't! Some are ready at birth, some aren't ready until 2 or 3....

I agree LittleWavey but I think that if we?re co-sleeping, then she should be sleeping better than she is. By teaching her to sleep on her own, I'm teaching her to put herself back to sleep whether I'm there or not. That's my logic but not sure if it has substance.

Lily I did everything apart from BF her and let her in my bed. I picked her up, sang, lots of things.

Later on I moved to shush and pat, but the first 3 nights were very very hard as she was so adamant that I was going to let her sleep with me.

I know there is an argument for continuing to co-sleep but if the baby is the only one sleeping then that doesn't help anyone either.