Why does my daughter shout and cry before dropping to sleep?

[MammaGi]

My dd is 6 months old and has always had trouble going to sleep. She has this weird thing going on where she becomes sleepy, with droopy eyes etc, then starts shouting and crying, then goes back to being sleepy, so that you think she's finally going to go to sleep, and then starts shouting and crying again! What's that all about? Is it to do with fear i.e. could she be frightened about going to sleep? Or is she frustrated when she's tired and doesn't fall asleep immediately? Any advice?

My 6.5mo DS does this sometimes, I think it's a release of frustration before dropping off!

I just ignore it. If it escalates I throw in a 'shhhh' and maybe a quick jiggle (he gets drowsy in my arms and I put him in the cot just before he's asleep)

There's a theory that some babies release tension by crying - see here. That means they need to have a little cry in order to wind down to sleep. (Other babies become more tense by crying which is why they don't do this when they're falling asleep.)

My 2mo baby is quite unsettled in the evening and it takes a long time to fall asleep. A friend from France sent me this "Oragne Blossom Water" to use it for her bath and it does help. Unfortunatelly I finished it and I don't seem to find it in Ireland (we moved to Dublin recently). I was told to replace it with lavender essential oil (few drops in her bath water) but I want to be sure that is OK. Does anybody know if this is safe? Any aromatherapists out there? Thanks!

FlowerLady - I read (can't remember where) that you should avoid using aromatherapy oil or other scented things until babies are 3 months old as it messes with their sensitive sense of smell (or something like that). Having said that, I used lavender gel with DS when he was tiny, before I read the recommendation, and he's still alive at 17 weeks.

Unsettledness in the evening is really common at this stage - it's supposed to peak at 6-8 weeks and should moreorless disappear by 3-4 months (unless the cause is overtiredness from insufficient daytime sleep). It does get better!

Ok thanks, that's good advice. I can relate to the idea that she may need to release tension, but having read the article, I think she's a baby that increases tension whilst crying because although at first she cries when I go to comfort her, eventually she does go to sleep. Thanks guys.

Thanks AngelDog! I hope Nadia will be fine with her olfactory senses! I wish I could use something though...I know is relatively common for babies to be unsettled in the evenings but of course as moms we want to try to calm our babies as much as we canThanks for your advice anyway and good luck with DS!

Thanks, FlowerLady. Have you tried white noise? (Hoover/hairdryer/white noise CD?) That can be quite calming, as can baby massage apparently (not tried that one). White noise has to be louder than any crying to work, though. I could never work out whether it helped DS or not!