jetlag + cralwing + separation anxiety = wit's end

[jumpjockey]

DD is 7.5 months.

Problem 1: We just got back from Canada on Sunday and she's still 7 hours behind - waking at 2,3,4 to play and won't sleep. Then confused as heck during the day - looks sleepy, rubs eyes and yawns but refuses to nap.

Problem 2: she's just learned to crawl so when she does wake in the night, pops up onto hands and knees and crashes around hitting her head on the cot and/or falling off our bed (see below). In a grobag so mostly rolling and shuffling but still able to get far too close to the side of the bed for safety.

Problem 3: she's got massive separation anxiety and won't sleep unless in physical contact with me. Before we went away she was sleeping pretty well for the first part of the night on her own in bedside crib (in our room, us in spare room ) and would take a feed at 3 or so then back to sleep. Now she takes an hour + to settle, only the boob will help her sleep otherwise it's absolute rage screaming and flailing around. I've been lying down to feed her to sleep on our bed but can't leave her (if she wakes she'll head off the side) or move her into cot (she wakes and screams and then refuses to settle without boob) and lying in bed with her means we both get a dreadful night anyway. She spent 2 hours on the boob last night on the verge of sleep then decided that being 4am it was up time anyway, so I feel like utter death (hence sounding so enormously negative about the whole situtation)

Any ideas as to how to get her back on UK time and sleeping in her own cot asap?!

Have been looking at various 'help your baby sleep' books and they're all "when baby wakes, soothe her back to sleep in her cot". How exactly?! She just gets enraged and screams and screams and not even cuddles and singing and rocking will calm her down. We're hoping it's just the jetlag but she's still massively confused 4 nights later - have been trying to put her to bed progressively earlier by an hour or so each night but she isn't having any of it.

Oh and our laptop disappeared while we were away so I'll be checking back some time later in the afternoon from an internet cafe...

jumpjockey - I know it's not much help but we live in Singapore and when we got back here after flying back from the UK (7 hours difference too) it took a good week for DS (then 9mo) to get back to normal sleep routine. He'd go to sleep at the usual time but wake up a couple of hours later and then want to party till about 1-2am. It's horrible when you're jet lagged too - can you get any help so that you can get some sleep too?

We didn't try moving bedtime by one hour we just tried to go straight to Singapore time but eventually he got the message.

I know it's meant for adults but they do say that it takes a day per hour of the time difference so that means 7 days to readjust your body clock.

thanks for reply - happily enough she does seem to have just about settled back by now so looks like you're exactly right. Other problems still there, but at least she's doing them on UK time!

Sorry I can't help with the other problems. Definitely not the right person to help you with sleep issues

JJ - I am having the same problems with my 10mo DD she will only sleep stuck to me and preferably cradled in my arms not lying on the bed and she has just started standing and walking around pushing things. I find her fast sleep crying with her head caught in the corner of the cot, head on the matrass(sp? too tired to care) bum in the air feet down flat like she's trying to stand but is stuck!

I am just trying to getthrough a night at a time with the this too will pass manta. A week ago she was a fab sleeper who went down awake and slept 9 hours, fed then slept another 2 or 3.