1 Year Old Sleep Habits

A. as a mom I know where you are coming from. Unfortunatelly letting them cry seems the only option. I am a mother of T. and please take it from me. The sooner you put your foot down the better and easier your sleep will get. Make sure that you and your husband are willing to work together on this issue. Make her enviroment comfortable give her a warm bath just before bedtime. Talk to your baby let her know you love her and it's time for bed. Put her down and walk away. She will cry just make sure she is okay and just let her cry. Your baby is still little and hopefully after T. or three days she will understand once you put her in her crib is time to go to sleep.

With my daughter I did the same thing. She turned 3 until my husband put his foot down took her away from my arms and he put her in the crib. She cried for almost 14 nights until she finally gave up. The longer you wait to do this, the harder it will be on you and on your daughter.

Good luck,
Elisa

Crying it out is probably the best option. You can't reason with her yet, or bribe her. just try going in there and patting her back a little and see if that will get her to go back to bed. But if that doesn't work, then just let her cry a little bit. There is nothing wrong with letting a baby cry. It is actually good for their lungs. I mean, i wouldn't let it get to the point where she is crying for an hour, but just see how long it takes her. Maybe she will go back to sleep quick. If she doesn't, then jsut rock her, but don't take her in your room.

A.,
It can be a bit tricky for two reasons. One, she has enjoyed co-bedding with you and second, she is getting to the age when she is now aware that you are around even if she can't see you (object permanence). What I suggest to do is to do your routine as usual, place her in her crib and walk away. If she cries, check on her, you can rub her back etc. but don't pick her up or talk to her. Just reassure her with your touch or humming or whatever soothes her. (My son liked to have his head rubbed just so.) Then leave the room. Return if she cries again and repeat. The first couple nights it will be hard, but she'll have you to guide her in self-calming. I suggest you try it on a weekend or holiday evening...when you can spare some zzz. My youngest son too, was very ill for a while and I wanted him close just in case. I could not bear the thought of letting him cry it out. We did co-bed for a while but he would kick and I wouldn't sleep. I used this technique and within a week or so.. Magic...we all got a good nights rest. I hope this helps. Oh, and read Dr. Harvey Karp's Happiest Toddler on the Block. I wish I had heard of him before my third child!!!

Your options:
Cry it out or let her sleep with you.

BUT you can choose HOW you use the CIO method. I have four girls, ages 1-5. I've been through this with all of them. The most recently was with my 1 YO. We were in a terribly traumatic car accident and my 1 YO woke up screaming several times during the night. Each time I brought her to bed with us, because I wanted to validate her fears and let her know she's OK. However, when she stopped waking screaming and woke just because of habit, I waited to get her. I waited until she was actually crying, and then I went to her room and held her and comforted her and then put her back in bed- DID NOT BRING HER TO MY ROOM. I told her it was time to sleep, goondnight. Each night this happened less often and within a few days she went right back to sleep on her own.

You can rock her, but try not to let her think this is play time. Don't turn on the light and don't talk to her much. Tell her night night and put her back to bed and walk away. In the beginning she will cry because she is angry, but she will get over it.

I NEVER let mine cry for longer then fifteen minutes and the CIO method still seemed to work OK for me!

I wish you all the best,
S.

Try www.askdrsears.com - excellent source - these docs have been on Dr. Phil - they are up and coming in child rearing - do not do the "crying-it-out" stuff - it is not good for any child - you will see all research on this subject, on this website.

You can get through this - I have a two year old that has never slept more than 3-4 hours at a time. He usually wakes every 2 hours at night, or less when he is teething, etc... Each child has different needs but this website should put much at rest for you - no pun intended ha ha! It should really help you with solutions and acceptance too.

Alli

Yes!!!! Same thing happened with us......We let him cry it out it took less than a week and we should have done this months ago. My son is 13 months now and since we let him cry it out he goes to sleep by us patting him on the back or sometimes just wants to cry for 3 min or so and goes to bed on his own. It is so nice to get some sleep for the 1st time in 13 months!!!!! I know it's hard but she needs to learn how do it herself. The older they get I think the harder it will be. Good luck. You won't regret it. FYI I just went and took a shower when he was crying so I did not have to get upset. Started out 20 min crying and got less and less everyday!!!

I can not stand the cry it out method but it turned out to be my only option .. same thing happened to us really bad reflux at the time I was starting to put him in his crib and then it carried on to a week ago being 10 months old and it was not near as bad as I thought it would be.. I wish you luck in your choice