10month 'scared'? of her bed - horrendous screaming

[chocolatekimmy]

A couple of weeks ago my daughter started screaming when put into bed at night. Well not screaming, just going absolutely 'mental' with thrashing about and then standing up in the cot and screaming and shouting so loud. This can go on for over half an hour every night before she eventually gives up and falls asleep.

If I go in and pick her up she stops instantly only to start again the second I put her down. She has now started doing the same in the day. I now just go in every five minutes or so and lay her back down and tell her its bedtime and time to sleep.

I don't think she is teething and up until recently she has just quietly laid down, found her fingers and gone to sleep without a sound. She is always tired and usually even starts to drift off when I feed her after a bath.

Has anyone got any tips or advice please?

Have you tried moving the cot to a different place? DS is a good sleeper on the whole, but we changed our bedroom around and for some reason we all sleep alot better.

She might just assosiate (sp!) cot with feeling bad - left alone etc. Try maybe playing with her in her cot, make it a nice place to be. It might send mixed messeges though, but it is something I would try. I leave classic fm on for DS aswell as some company most nights until I go to bed too, not every night so he doesn't depend on it though.

hi chocolatekimmy sorry to hear about your bedtime struggles! My dd is the same age, recently I've noticed that the only times we get that sort of performance at bedtime is if she's had her 2nd nap of the day too late in the afternoon. She goes to bed at 7pm, and a couple of times lately she's had a late nap in the pm and woken at around 3.45pm. Even though she seemed tired at 7pm (the usual signs were there) the minute I put her in her cot she went ballistic. She can definitely go for longer stretches awake these days compared to just a few weeks ago. You don't say how many naps your dd has during the daytime but maybe she's reacting like that because she's not as tired now as she was a little while ago - maybe she could drop some daytime sleep or naps altogether? Hope you get to the bottom of it soon.

Thanks ladies.

My heart has just sank as I put her to bed 45 minutes ago, had about 10 minutes screaming this time (didn't sleep this morning) and she is already awake and screaming like mad again! I really thought she would have a couple of hours, she's so tired bless her.

just keep going with the routine,and she'll realise,and settle eventually.don't get down hearted,it's hard not to,but be consistant,and I'm sure it will get better.good luck

Hi Chocolatekimmy, hopefully this bump will generate a bit more advice as I'm experiencing exactly the same thing and really don't know what to do about it! My 1 year old DD has always been a great sleeper, but over the past month or so she has become increasingly unsettled.
Where I used to be able to put her into her cot drowsy and she would turn over and sleep until 8-9am, she now only likes o fall asleep whilst lying on me and wakes intermittenly during the night- again wanting to lie with me. She screams like the world is ending if I leave her, but stops as quickly as she starts if I pick her up. I have never co slept so have no idea why she has suddenly developed this habit. I'm also at a loss as to how to deal with it as she has always slept so well before now. Does anyone have any advice...?