how to settle 7 m old for naps - sorry long

[gingernutlover]

am going to see HV this pm but wqould appreciate others advice first

since about 8 weeks we have always let dd grizzle a bit before naps as advised by HV, this always work okay, started oof by taking about 10 minutes, then down to 2-5 minutes - we were happy

maybe I am just partyicularly sensitive to it atm but it seems to be taking longer for her to settle and she seems more distressed. I know seperation anxiety can start this early.

Since we have only ever done it this way, I would welcome advice on what others have done to settle theirs to sleep. She goes down no problem at night, just cuddles her bear and giggles for a bit then rolls over and sleeps, we get a grizzle sometimes but not more than about once a week.

It's really upsetting me to hear her so up[set but I am not really sure what to do. She IS tired as I have tried keeping her up and she is not happy!

This did start to be just the morning nap but now they are all lkike it. I have resorted to driving her or walking her in buggy but this is not always practical so I don't want this to be the only way to get her to sleep.

She starts nursery in spet and I am really keen to get this sorted by then as I know if it carries on,like this they will think I am a really bad mother.

She just seems to grizzle all day atm

should mention that sometimes the crying starts as soon as I lower her towards the cot - so yes I am convinced it is getting woprse. Really can't go on like this.

She is asleep now but took 20 mins

firstly i'm sure they won't think you are a bad mum at nursery. you are a great mum i'm sure but babies do change all the time and often good sleepers have periods of difficulty and vice versa. it could be that her daytime sleep requirements have changed maybe she needs shorter or longer naps or maybe later. i have 1 toddler and a 7mth old like you and i still think parenting is a guessing game most of the time.

i know all the books tell you to put your baby down awake etc but personally i don't think its a big deal if they are rocked, stroked, nursed or pushed in a pram really - as long as YOU are happy with the way your baby falls asleep.

thanks raggy doll

she has just woken up from her nap. Had 25minutes, the am nap has been getting shorter and shorter, although it was never that long but yesterday she was knackered again by half eleven, well I think or maybe just hungry for lunch. It just seems to be girzzling from about 9am right til bedtime at the moment, really fed up with it.

this might help you decide...

ds, I rocked him in my arms until he was about 1 then lay him into his cot. Then from 1 until about 20 mths I lay next to him on his bed. Then at 20 mths I followed dr tanya byron technique for getting toddlers to fall asleep on their own - took 1 night! That was 9 months ago and he goes to bed everynight a 7pm with no fuss at all. With dd (7mths) I lay down with her, it takes about 5-10 mins then I put her in the cot.

Admittedly, ds did wake in the night from about 5mths, at first just once and he was easily settled however as he got older (about 15mths) it did become a problem because he refused to go to sleeo without me and sometimes it took ages and happened more than once a night. This was the reason behind using the TB method at 20mths.

hth

thanks

at night like I said she is fine, tbh i think she is just so knackered but wioll persevere with the day time naps

hello
sorry to butt in but where did you find out about dr tanya byron what technique does she use???

I saw her on tv and liked her approach so bought the book. i think its called little angels and it accompanies the series. There is 2 methods - a softly softly 'rapid return' type method and a more harsh 'if you get out of bed i'll shut the door' type method. The harsh method was used for a mum with 3 children under 3 I think because she had no chance of returning them all to their beds calmly etc. I used the harsher one however benefits for ds far outweighed the drawbacks in my case...

Are you sure you're not making it worse by trying to stretch her to make her more tired? If she's even a bit overtired she will probably take longer to settle. I know it seems to make sense to push her to tire her more, but you may be shooting yourself in the foot. Just an idea. As soon as she displays even the slightest signs of being tired (dd always bats her ears) I would take her to her room, give her a little cuddle, tell her it's time for sleeping, put her down and leave her, even if she cries a bit. Does she have a blankie or something in bed with her?

jambot, think you are right. This morning have read her a story and back in bed by 9.30. She cried for about 2 mins and is now happily chatting to teddy so will see what happens. I think I had myself so wound up that any amount of crying was getting me down so I was avoiding putting her to bed IYSWIM but over the w end dh had a chat to me and things do seem clearer this morning.

I know what it's like. For the first four months of DD's life, I was obsessed with her daytime naps which were all over the place. It used to consume me and totally stress me out. Sometimes you just need to take a deep breathe, have a cup of tea and rationally go through why there might be a problem and what the solution might be. In her case, once she hit 4 months, she suddenly started to settle like a dream. I just make her nap (down to one a day now I'm afraid) so much a part of her routine that she never moans about going in her cot. She doesn't always go to sleep straight away and I often hear her talking away to herself, but I just leave her to it. Even if she doesn't sleep much, it's still a rest time away from all the stimulation of her toys etc.

she settled fine and slept for 25 minutes so not her longest but will see how the rest of the day goes.