19mo (never been a great sleeper) now won't sleep in her cot at all. Help!

[doghouse]

19mo DD has always slept badly. Recently though she can be exhausted at bed time (7.30ish) but the minute she is put near her cot she screams and screams. If we then go to her and either bring her down with us or bring her into our bed she will sleep soundly til the morning.

As I am typing this I know that this is our 'fault' for being too soft but we have tried controlled crying and it just doesn't seem to work as she stands up in the cot, crying to the point where it is impossible (for us) to ignore.

Until recently she has gone down in her cot and awoken around 3am ish and we have theb had her in with us which we can cope with. Although my DH finds it difficult to sleep with her in with us and so for the past week he has started offin the spare room which I know is not right.

Any suggestions or should I go to the HV?

Why don't you buy her a little bed?

We did have a similar problem with our DD around the same age at yours and then she started climbing out of her cot, which became a bit dangerous!!
We bought her a pretty bed and started the habit of lying down with her with a story for bedtime. We had to do a week of controlled crying but then she learnt to love being in her bed and now at 3 yrs old, she adores her bed!
We also bought a side bed for her to not fall out, perfect!
Good Luck!

Ditto. Interested in ANY advice.

Ha ha. No one then??

doghouse - take heart in the fact that dd will go to sleep when she gets in with you. My dd just throws herself around the bed and fidgets for a couple of hours first!

Pinkjenny - oh yes, we have been there too but thankfully more often than not she does settle down quite quickly.

Where do they get their energy from?!

How old is your DD? Does she nap during the day? Mine does sometimes but I must admit that I try and avoid that if I can in the vain hope that she will sleep/settle better at night if she doesn't have a daytime nap.

Maybe that is wrong? You begin to doubt everything you do don't you?!

I think you have two options:

try the CC again but SHORT intervals - 2 mins then 4 etc. and cuddle her each time rather than just opping your head in the door (worked for DS at about this age)

buy a double bed for her room (if there's space) and settle with her at night, then you can always go in with her if she wakes and still get some sleep yourself (have friends who have tried this and it seems to work, though takes longer)

We put dd1 in a bed at 18 months for the same reasons, it helped a little which was great but she never realy slept well until she was doing a couple full days at nursery (3 years old).

doghouse - she naps either before or after lunch for an hour. I don't think it's affecting her nighttime sleep as she must be knackered! She is 18mo on Monday.

We had it cracked (or so we thought) as she was at least starting the night in her own cot, but after a couple of times letting her into our room and back downstairs , even going towards her bedroom results in complete hysteria.

Dd's cot is a cot bed, and I have bought side guards for it, but I don't want to change it yet as I am so worried about her falling out or getting out and wandering about. I feel she is so little still.