Takes an hour to get to sleep at night

[Liam and Shane's Mommy]

It takes an hour from the time I start nursing my 6 mos. old to get him to sleep at night.  He sometimes falls asleep on the breast, sometimes not, but he's always awake when I put him down.  He rolls around for a good 40 minutes or so, rolling over etc. then I have to go flip him.  This is even on the nights where he shouldn't have been overtired.  Bedtime is 7:30PM if last nap of day ended anywhere after 5PM and 8PM if there's an opportunity to get him down for suppertime nap.

Because i nurse him in a quiet dark room , shouldn't this be sufficient windown?  I find its the same after his early morning feed around 5AM.  Still takes another 30-40min. for him to go back to sleep after he's finished eating and there's no stimluation going on at that hour.

[Mypunkin]

Is he alone when he's in there tossing and turning?  If so, does it bother you?  It may just be his way of falling asleep.  Like you said, I doubt it is a overstimulation thing based on your descriptions.  I had a friend growing up who would toss and turn before she got into a deep sleep.  It was always annoying having sleep overs at her house because I couldn't fall asleep from her tossing and turning!   Just a thought

[GG]

My ds does the same thing.  Even when his little eyes are sleepy and you'd think he was going to fall asleep, he is rolling and bouncing and moving around.  It does take a while for him to fall asleep but I just leave him alone and wait for him to "call me" if he needs any additional help falling asleep (sometimes he just wants to touch my arm or get patted on the back for a few minutes as he starts to drift off).  I say put your ds in his crib and leave him be (stay within earshot in case he starts to cry).

Also, if he falls asleep while nursing more often than not, I suggest trying hard to make sure he doesn't do it (again - this was my personal experience).  It may be confusing him.  He may not know another way to unwind aside from nursing to sleep.