6 month old still not settling - reassurance please!

[suzi2]

DD is an awful sleeper. Up several times in the night. Catnaps for a few 20 min stints in the day. Almost always overtired but too nosey to actually let herself go to sleep! Most sleeps are a fight, with me feeding her to sleep with white noise loud in the background. She is then transferred to her hammock when sleeping, and a dummy is given an she is bounced to get her through to a deeper sleep. Now I know all of this is 'wrong' but it's all that we can do.

DS is 2 now and was similar, though possibly not as bad when he got to this age. Though he got better daytime sleep I suppose as he didn't have a big brother trying to wake him at every opportunity!

I'm resigned to holding out for her to 'come good' but now an then I lose faith and panic that I'll be in and out to her and getting 5 hours sleep a night max for the rest of my life! Can anyone reassure me that their children just started sleeping well without any real effort on the training front? We do a bedtime routine, have a set bedtime, have done since day 1 but I can't get her to form any sort of a pattern outside of that.

From what you say I think you know you've got yourself into a routine that doesn't work for you but it's going to take a concerted effort for 3-4 days to get her out of it - which is always tough on the willpower when you are sleep deprived. Or you can just hold on because you've done it all before.

If you are going to change things could you try when you are feeling fresh and you've got the time, so maybe get dh to do the Friday night grave-yard stretch so you get a good sleep and then battle it Saturday onwards.

suzi, i haven't got any wise words, as my DS is exactly the same at 6mo, but just to let you know you're not on your own! we've actually just decided we need to revamp his whole routine as it just doesn't work for us, but like heated says it's tough when so knackered, so it's taking me time just to get started on it!