6mo with eyes that 'ping' open the minute I lie her down... HELP!

[Somersaults]

DD is just 6mo and has been bf to sleep. I don't even remember getting into this habit. One day I was feeding her, winding her and putting her down, then suddely she was feeding to sleep every night. Anyway, this hasn't been a problem because she has been feeding, dropping off and then I've been able to just transfer her to the cot and she's stayed asleep.

For the last week the instant I put her in the cot her eyes PING open and she screams. A lot. I then have to pick her up, feed again so she will drop back off and repeat the process. It took from 7-10pm to get her to sleep the other night. Any tips? I really, really want to avoid cc if possible. I'm happy to continue to feed her to sleep if that's what it takes to get her to go down, I just need her to stay asleep when I actually put her down!

Hi there, I have had the exact same problem with my 6mo this week too! He used to self settle for naps and feed to sleep at bedtime but now he just wants to be fed/cuddled constantly! I think (hope) its the change in temperature as his room is quite warm (24 degrees at the mo) and that it'll settle back down when the weather cools off a bit. My DH is up with him now trying (unsuccessfully by the sounds of it) to transfer him to his cot asleep. It's driving me insane! If you manage to conquer it please let me know how!

It's a nightmare! She can be sound asleep, all floppy and everything but still ping awake the instant I put her down. I hope it's the heat! She screams now even if I just pop her in the cot while I nip to the loo. I really don't want her to have a cot phobia! Fingers crossed it'll get better when it cools down a bit. And let's face it, we live in England, it won't be long!

hi, ive just posted on the thread about the "at my wits end" my dd did exactly the same, she is 6 months.

somersaults, from what i have read, if you can start now to put your dd down awake it will be better in the long run .dont think you can get them used to this new thing without a bit of crying from all the people i have spoken to and research i have done. i have tried and failed but that was because my heart wasnt in it from the beginning. i think after 3 nights they go down awake quite well, maybe have a test the water moment 5 days in and then go back to being ok.
i ve put a long post on the other thread.
sympathy and hugs though, im going through the same and lots of night wakings..very tired for the last 6 months!!!

I had this with dd at 5 months. Sometimes she would wake as soon as I put her down, sometimes she would sleep for 10 minutes, then wake.

Eventually it was taking up to 4 hours of feeding to settle her each night. It seemed to me that she was feeding because she was distressed at not being able to sleep, but the feeding had stopped helping. I solved it by doing cc. She cried for nearly an hour the 1st night, but only for a couple of minutes the second night.

She now goes down awake, occasionally with a bit of a cry, often without any complaint.

I know you said you didn't want to do cc (I don't think anyone relishes the idea), but it can be effective very quickly. All other methods I tried made her scream anyway, so I chose to tackle it with the quickest method. She never got any phobia about her cot and still loves me.

Does a firm hand on the chest work at all? With firm shushing? Sympathies as DD2 won't go in her cot hardly at all!

Similar thing with us: 6 month old baby used to be a model sleeper, self soothing really well. But now he gets hysterical at bedtime every night. As soon as I even hover above the cot he screams. If I try and calm him it makes it even worse. The only thing that has any effect is breastfeeding him, and even then 90% of the time he wakes up again when I put him down and screams with renewed vigour. We have been trying leaving the room and then going back in after a few minutes to comfort, but the comforting doesn't work. Patting and shushing has no effect and picking him up makes things even worse. He screams louder, goes rigid and starts throwing himself around. Sometimes we have been so drained by the whole thing that we go downstairs, turn on the telly and take deep breaths for 5 or 10 minutes. When this happens we feel guilty and traumatised, but actually he is often asleep or on his way to sleep by then. Is it possible that he's actually better off without us interfering? We could spend hours trying to comfort and actually just keep him awake when he needs to go to sleep? So hard to know what to do and I never thought I would even consider letting him 'cry it out', which is I guess what has worked best for us.