problems settling 6 month old to sleep

[wemmicks]

Please can anyone help with advice/ experience/ ideas in getting my almost-6-month old DD to sleep. Once asleep, she's fine, but getting her to sleep either in the morning or evening takes between 20 minutes (very good day!) and an hour or more.

She used to always fall asleep on me or dH - either feeding or being carried around; 2 weeks ago I decided to try to get her to settle herself as I didn't want the association of sleeping on me to go on forever, and she's getting quite heavy now to carry around for hours on end. I wait for the sleepy signs - usually rubbing eyes a lot, but also yawning and a bit of a cough when crying - but as soon as I lie her in her cot she's crying. At first it can just be whinging, so I don't mind leaving her to that, but it usually escalates into 'proper' crying with tears and screams. I can try putting the mobile on, using a white noise CD, singing to her, holding her tight in the cot ..... but none seem to have much success. If I do relent and pick her up, she'll calm down after 5 minutes or so of walking about, but then is crying again as soon as I put her down again.

Mornings tend to be better - around 20 mins - but evenings are becoming a nightmare. She'll get sleepy around 8/8.30pm but it then takes an emotionally draining 45/60 mins to get her to sleep; as we're still giving her a 10pm dream feed, in recent nights I've ended up giving her this after an hour fighting sleep, and she'll tend to fall asleep then.

I don't think it's because she's getting too much sleep at other times in the day, as in a 24 hour period she only sleeps for 12 hours so daytime naps account for around 2.5 hours (she usually falls asleep for a lunchtime/afternoon sleep more easily as we're usually out in the car or pushchair).

Last night was particularly bad and this morning's just taken 40 minutes (with her eventually falling asleep on me - so no progress there) so I'd be grateful for any help.

Hi

Not sure hpw long you have been trying....but it does take time. We use a dim room for daytime naps and a cd I got from amazon called 'soothing sounds for babies'. She gets put in the cot with that on, and if she cries 'properly' i.e a scream, not a whinge, I will go in and pick up her and sooth her, and then put her back down again. For us this took around 3 weeks of doing it consistently...and NOT giving in and letting her sleep on us. We do not let her scream herslef hoarse, but she will whinge/cry sometimes.

Hi

Not sure hpw long you have been trying....but it does take time. We use a dim room for daytime naps and a cd I got from amazon called 'soothing sounds for babies'. She gets put in the cot with that on, and if she cries 'properly' i.e a scream, not a whinge, I will go in and pick up her and sooth her, and then put her back down again. For us this took around 3 weeks of doing it consistently...and NOT giving in and letting her sleep on us. We do not let her scream herslef hoarse, but she will whinge/cry sometimes.

thanks - we've been trying for 2 weeks so at least it sounds like it's not too early to give up yet

We had this problem with ds. You have my sympathy as it is a very difficult and trying time, particularly at the end of the day.

We worked REALLy hard to get ds to fall asleep alone. we have a routine of chill out time (swaddled still!) for 5 mins, then go into his dark room with lullabies on. If he doesnt settle straight away, I shh and pat him for a few minutes. Then I leave him for a few minutes (it really surprised me when one time he fell asleep as soon as I left him alone!), then go back and repeat.

It took a couple of weeks to get it so he was settling reasonably quickly. At the worst times, I would sit quietly on the floor of his room playing my ds so I could quickly respond if he dropped off for 30s and then woke up again.

Godd luck!

We had same issues with DS (and DD for that matter 3 yrs ago!) so I did pick up/put down from the Baby Whisperer at 4mths. I was expecting it to take a couple of weeks but after only 2 days he learned to self-settle pretty easily. Now I just give him a little cuddle, close the blinds/curtains, put him in his grobag and he goes to sleep He will often grumble for 5mins but no full-on crying.

Start by putting her in her cot as soon as you see the sleepy signs (cuddle for a few mins 1st) As soon as she starts to cry pick her up til she stops then put her straight back down. Repeat as long as required til she eventually goes to sleep. The 1st couple of times I did this it took almost an hour and was soul destroying, but by day 2 it took only 10mins. Day 3 sorted

HTH

Hiya, I've got a similar problem with my baby and I'm just going through some 'sleep training' from the 'no-cry sleep solution' book by Elizabeth Pantley. Although the night waking has not improved yet, within 5 days she is already settling much more quickly - I now do a 1 hour down time in her bedroom with dim lights and we play and read quietly together. If you do this at the same time every day (approx 1 hour before your baby's usual bedtime) then it might help... good luck!