8 month old self settles for naps but not bedtime, night time wakings

[zoemcn]

My 8 month old daughter is on the following schedule:

7:30am waking and breastfeed
8:30am breakfast
10 am nap for 1 hr, sometimes 1 1/2 hrs
11/11:30 snack and water
12:30 lunch
2/2:30 nap for 1 1/2 hrs sometimes 2 hrs
4/4:30 formula feed
5:30 dinner
6:45 bath
7:00 formula feed and bed

However, our problem is getting to sleep independently at bedtime. She self soothes beautifully for naps but at bedtime she screams hysterically until she is picked up. We are currently rocking her to sleep and putting her down but she often wakes as soon as she is put in her cot. I would love to encourage her to self settle as I know she can do it but the crying is so hysterical I don't feel I can leave her like that. I have tried for a few minutes but she gets herself into such a tiz that there is no way she will go to sleep. Sometimes she will go through the night once she is down, other times she will wake and will need settling again which can often take a very long time in the night. The frustrating thing also is that on the weekend at her grandparents I managed to get her to self settle at bedtime no problem but as soon as we were home it was back to the bedtime battle!

Recent changes include stopping breastfeeding to sleep and moving to formula. I knew there would be some problems with this but had not anticipated this level of upset!

I would love some suggestions of what might help! Tweaks to routine, increase formula feed, earlier waking etc etc?

Thank you!

[ginger428]

Hi there! Welcome to BW.

As far as your routine goes, you may want to push out your first nap to 10:30. At this age, average awake time is 3 hrs+.  If you wake at 11:30 or 12, try for nap around 2:30 or 3, respectively.  It'll push you night out a little bit, but he may be resisting more bc he's undertired. New BT should be around 7:30.

Also to keep in mind that a transition from breast to bottle is huge for some babies so give lots and lots of cuddles and encouragement throughout the day to set him up for a secure and peaceful night.

Let us know how the routine change works... keep at it for at least 3 days to see if there's a difference.

[zoemcn]

Hello,
Thank you for your help with the last problem.  We settled on 2 1/2 hr awake time in morning and 3 hrs after lunch. It has all been going really well until this weekend where she has stopped self soothing for naps and just rolls over and stands up! It's very frustrating!

I will look for previous advice on this on the site

Thank you!

Zoe