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Original poster

struggling to put 5 1/2 month old to bed at night

11 replies

clairetb · 09/03/2007 18:07

I'm struggling to get my little girl off to the land of nod at night, since she has been 10 weeks old we have followed the same routine, bath, massage and story all by candle light in a calm and relaxed environment but as soon as I put her in her cot she goes 'ape' I try playing her mobile singing twinkle twinkle little star about 50 times over and over, as I only know the first verse, all to no avail, it sometimes takes about 1 and a half hours to get her off and only because she has exhausted her self out. Can someone please give me some advice other than 'leaving her to cry' or 'controlled crying' as this route is not for me or even give me a glimer of hope that this is likely to end soon??? BTW once she has gone to sleep she does sleep well during the night and goes down in her cot during the day no problems, it just seems to be a problem for her in the evening. She is exclusively breastfed.

OP posts:
stressteddy · 09/03/2007 18:22

Hello clairetb. What time are you putting her to bed? Go with your instincts on leaving her to cry. If you're not comfortable with it then don't do it. Has it always been like this or is it just recently? I also think that at this age they are quite tricky to get into a solid routine so think you are doing really well anyway

gingerninja · 09/03/2007 19:23

Is she over tired? Or could she be not tired enough? My DD (6months) started to extend her awake time in the last few weeks and now goes about 3 hours between naps.

Lexie100 · 09/03/2007 20:09

My DD has also been hard to get to sleep but now is fantastic. Your routine sounds good but it could be that you need to put her down earlier. It doesn't always work out that the later they go to bed the longer they sleep.On the other hand she may not be tired.

What time is she going down?

My DD grew out of it about 7 months. I don't think i did anything differently apart from playing with times i put her down.

prawnsmum · 09/03/2007 20:12

if you can try to put her down earlier sounds like she's over tired. i did this with my son and he's been fine ever since good luck

TrinityRhino · 09/03/2007 20:14

could she be hungry??

gingerninja · 09/03/2007 20:45

I was in a bit of a hurry before so not sure I explained myself properly but luckily others have said what I was getting at. What kind of 'routine'-and I use that word loosely if yours is anything like mine- do you have during the day? Just trying to work out if she's tired or too tired etc etc.

Has she been doing it all along or is it recent? Do you feed her before bed?

cruisemum1 · 10/03/2007 07:40

hi GN!

cruisemum1 · 10/03/2007 13:30

claireth - agree with othres that you should review her nap schedule/times? I'm sure you are clued up but 3 - 4 hrs of naps per day over 2 - 3 naps is about average. I try not to let my ds sleep past 4pm at the latest and his last nap of the day is only 30 mins. Mind you, I have had awful trouble settling him in the past as he will only nurse to sleep at night and will not take a dummy so I had to be a physical presence to get him asleep. Do you bf to sleep at all? This is defo where my problems lie. Maybe she is getting wired with the singing and mobile etc. Just a thought. MAybe abandon the music for now and see if htat makes a difference. It does sound like she is overtired/overstimulated despite your wind down bedtime routine.

Original poster
clairetb · 11/03/2007 20:41

Thanks for all the advice, so good to have such a great response. She's normally up around 7.30am and would sleep around 2-3 hours during the day either in her cot or in her push chair, last sleep around 2 or 3pm for about 45mins, we don't have a daily routine as such as most days we are out and about! We used to put her down at 8pm but she was deffo overtired at this time so we tried 7pm for a couple of weeks and that didn't work so now we are trying 7.30pm, point taken about the singing, could be over stimulating her. I do BF her before bed and must admit when all else fails and when I am at the end of my tether I let her go on my breast again to calm her, sometimes it works but generally once I put her back in her cot she is off again. She has been at this since we started her on a routine at about 10 weeks old, so about 3 months

OP posts:
gingerninja · 12/03/2007 14:21

I think 7.30 is too late tbh. My lo can rarely cope being up later than 6.30 and I've discovered if we're out too late in the day then she has mega meltdown so I aim to be hope for 4.30 although it does depend on the activity.

You say this started when you instigated a routine? Have u thought about changing it? Is there something in particular that she doesn't like?

gingerninja · 12/03/2007 14:22

hope = home

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