16mo DD suddenly clinging TIGHTLY when I try to put in crib!!!

[natasgirl]

 Hi eveyone,

My DD is 16mo she has been doing well consistently putting herself to sleep & mostly sleeping through for a long time now. I occasionally do WI/WO for going to sleep or night wakings, but she is usually happy to go in her crib.

All of a sudden she is hanging on for dear life when I try to lay her down. I literally have to pry her off of me. I realy don't know what to do about this new development. She is cutting her first molar, but does not seem to be in pain. I have given her pain meds just in case. The past few nights she has taken hours to put to sleep. And, if you try to lay her down she wakes and it starts all over again.

She has also started asking to "rock,rock" when going to bed. I haven't rocked her to sleep since she was an infant. I do rock her in the afternoon when she wakes as she needs a bit of time to wake up.

I did do WI/WO for her nap just now and she did go to sleep. I lay her down & walk out, if crying I count to 20 & go back in, she pushes me away if I try to comfort or lay back down so I have started saying my phrase and just walking back out. I did that a few times and then she cried/mantra cried for a few minutes and went to sleep. Night time has become much worse. I tried for EVER last night and she just kept going.I had to rock her to sleep as it was the only way I could get her good and asleep to put into her bed.  This is so unlike her. SHe is usually rolling out of my arms to get into bed. SHe has not gotten much sleep the past few nights. SHe was up 4hrs in the night Tuesday night After it took me 2.5hrs to get her to sleep. Last night was better 3hrs to get to sleep, but she went right back to sleep at 2am( with rocking) and then slept till 8:30am.

I am not really sure what to do here. I don't want to start any bad habits as she has been doing so well. How do you know where to draw the line between comforting due to not well, and getting into bad habits.

If it is not teething issue, what else would cause this sudden change?

What do I do? I don't want to start rocking her every night, or holding until sleep.

Her routine:

7-8am wake
1 or 2pm Nap (2-3hrs)
7:30-8pm Bed

Thanks,

Natalie

[Layla]

Natalie, the nap seems too late & she is probably NOT tired enough for bed 3.5-4hrs after the nap has ended. I would bring the nap back to 12.30 (if she is waking at 7am); 1pm if she wakes at 7:30am & 1:30pm if she wakes at 8am & don't let her sleep more than 2hrs (as she might be making up for the bad night during the day & you want to bring those hours back to night time). Do bedtime 5hrs after she's woken from nap & she might settle better for you (so in the cot by 5hrs)

Sounds like she's also going through some SA.... is she clingier during the day?

[natasgirl]

Thanks Isabella&Jasmine'sMum,

She is not clingier during the day. She does tend to want Mama these days, but she does not get upset if I walk out of the room. She usually does come find me though.

I did WI/WO for bedtime last night and she did well. I did not even have to go back in she cried & mantra'd a few minutes and went to sleep. She woke around 2:30am, fussed, but quit before I got to her room & then slept until this am.

I just put her down for her nap & she did NOT grab hold of me this time( she did protest), but she only fussed a few seconds before going off to sleep.

I will try and tweak her schedule a bit. I try to do nap time at 6hrs after waking, but sometimes it doesn't work that way if we are out or she is taking a long time to eat her lunch.

Thanks again, It seems to be getting better already.

Natalie

[yaya]

i agree with the cutting back on the nap but also wanted to add that my DS got SA bad at sleep times and maybe not so much during the day...they feel more alone at night so you may want to try just sitting in the room with her till she goes to sleep for a few days then  doign GW?

[Layla]

Good to hear your day was better . I just wanted to say that I could only push Bella to 6hrs A time at around age 2... see how you go...