Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

12 month old only falls asleep when held

6 replies

Ambn1 · 19/07/2024 21:44

Hello,

Our 12 month old daughter will only fall asleep when we hold her. In the night if she wakes up, she will usually push up onto all fours then sit up or stand up within seconds of waking up. If she is very sleepy, she occasionally will fall back asleep if I put her dummy back in and lie her down, but usually will need me to pick her up to go back to sleep. If I don’t pick her up she just becomes more and more awake and can then end up being up for an hour or more before I can settle her back down again. On a very good night she will wake up twice, but usually it is around 4 or so times. The only other way she will ever fall asleep is in the car seat.

When looking online about how to improve her sleep, it seems to always say she needs to be able to put herself to sleep in her cot in order to be able to settle herself back down in the night. But how do I get her to do that?! If I put her in her cot awake, she just stands up straight away and either chats away to herself/ plays, or cries for me to pick her up. Has anyone had any success in getting a child of this age to fall asleep in their cot on their own. Or, has anyone had experience of a child who only sleeps when held and how that evolved as they got older. Will she still be doing this when she is 2 or 3? Or do they gradually grow out of it?

OP posts:
DandelionPockets · 19/07/2024 22:00

Just to say, my son who is 11 months is the same. He'll only fall asleep when held and then we transfer him to the cot. Luckily it doesn't take too long for him to fall asleep this way. It is tiring but I don't have the patience or energy to try and train him into falling asleep any other way at the moment. I've noticed a few times he has started to be able to get himself back to sleep after a bit of a wriggle and shout for a minute or two, so maybe this is the start of him getting a bit more settled?

CrumbleTots · 19/07/2024 22:04

She'll grow out of it. I'd just co sleep for now, you'll get much more rest that way.

Ambn1 · 20/07/2024 09:18

@DandelionPockets I feel the same and don’t want to leave her to cry. I hope it is a good sign for you little boy!

@CrumbleTots I wish we could co-sleep sometimes! But she just associates coming in my bed as time to get up and crawls all over, pulls herself to stand on the headboard and climbs on me and DH 😂

OP posts:
TheShellBeach · 20/07/2024 09:24

Presumably she's in her own room now. Just put her in the cot and walk out. She'll soon get used to it.

Make sure it's really dark in there.

Get the Ferber sleep training book for advice. It's a game changer.

Wingingitmum11 · 23/07/2024 01:58

Would you consider any gentle sleep training methods? There will unfortunately be crying....

I did it a lot earlier at 5 months and my little boy picked it up really quickly and has been doing well. Sickness etc knocks us back at times but his sleep has really improved since.

Galoop · 23/07/2024 02:43

Don't co-sleep, unless you don't mind doing it for years and years. Gentle sleep training is the answer. If you can afford it, get a sleep consultant, it will be the best money you've ever spent

New posts on this thread. Refresh page