Great sleeper, now a terrible sleeper

[riley&haileysmom]

In the last 3 months my 18 mo old has become a terrible sleeper! She was a great sleeper up until now. Starting about 6 weeks old she slept clear through the night and went to sleep for naps and bedtime on her own every time. All of the sudden it's like a switch has flipped. I put her in her bed and she throws a fit, becomes hysterical, gags and throws. I tried crying it out and she screamed for 1 1/2 hours. She doesn't want me to rock her to sleep. If I try she points to her bed and cries. I lay her in her in her bed I have to sit next to the bed to keep her from climbing out. I've got it down to about 15 minutes now before she just gives up and goes to sleep. Will this continually just get better? Am I creating a monster by staying with her until she falls asleep? Please tell me that one day I'll be able to put her in bed awake and walk out of the room and she'll fall asleep on her own again! I would love to get to a place where bedtime is a smooth process rather than a dreaded task.

[alex]

i had exactly the same problem with my daughter at the same age! i had to sit in her doorway so she could see me until she fell asleep!! i then put a baby gate on her room so then if she got out of bed she couldnt get to me!! cruel....but it worked....
it will prob last a few weeks or maybe a few months....she will settle down, its a phase! i know how u feel tho, i was tearing my hair out!!
alex

[thetallbloke]

I agree with Alex that it probably is just a phase that she'll grow out of fairly quickly but I'm sure it's not much fun for you!

Do you still have a good bedtime routine in place though? It can really help if you follow the same routine every night - maybe with food, a bath, gradual dimming of the lights etc ... all to show that bedtime is coming. Also, make sure you're being 'boring' with her in the half hour or hour prior to bedtime. In other words, if you're being fun with her, bouncing her around and keeping her excited then it will undoubtably take longer for her to calm down and drop off. Be boring!

Chris

[tammy 123]

When children is very small then they sleep very well but, when they got little older then they feel trouble in sleeping like they dont want to sleep mainly in nights and wants to play for a long time. This is like, we have to take care of this thing when to make them sleep so that, they will sleep in time and we will also not get much trouble.

Thanks