Will NOT SETTLE at all if overtired!!!

[Lucysmom]

Hi - I am really frustrated!!!!  My 5.5 month old dd falls asleep independently and I have her awake time at around 2 hours.  Now it seems that if I miss her window and she gets overtired, she WILL NOT SETTLE AT ALL!!!! :evil:  :evil:  :shock:  :shock: Before, if she got overtired she would settle down after a while.  Now she can be up in her crib for over an hour screeching, grabbing her toes (new highly entertaining activity for her), slamming her legs, etc.  She rarely cries.  When she does, I go up to her and try to reassure her and all she does is wiggle and smile and giggle or she will continue crying.  I even laid with her in her crib for 45 minutes in hopes of her settling down.  She would go into that blank stare stage for like 2 seconds and then snap out of it.  NOTHING IS WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She has now been awake for 4.5 hours and I had her in the crib after 2.25 hours of awake time.  What gives???  Now I guess she will just stay up until an early bedtime and then wake up super early tomorrow (which she has started to do) because she did not rest enough today. HELP!!!!!

[albertasweetpea]

Hi Melissa. I've noticed this with Molly as of late as well. What I do (not very BW but a gal has to survive... :oops:) is swaddle her tightly, hold her close in the dark and sing very quietly into her neck. I think because it's my warm breath and not directly into her ear, it calms her right down, her eyes roll back and she's off to la-la land!
Thank goodness it doesn't happen all the time and when I catch her window she goes down easily so I'm not doing too much accidental parenting!  :wink:

[Deb_in_oz]

how does she respond to pat/shh?

my biggest problem with olivia is making sure she gets to bed before getting overtired.  but when situations arise where she is overtired i find success with pat/shh.  had to use it this morning which went like this:

woke at 6am (recently dropped DF so we are adjusting to earlier wake times when old time was closer to 6:40 or so)
dd1 goes to care on Monday mornings from 9-12:30
she was tired and ready for sleep around 8:30 or so but i had to keep going to get dd1 to care
got home and went to put her to bed around 9:20

 :arrow: she was so tired she was screaming and crying (a real first this time as she was forced to be awake almost 3 1/2 hrs which is not a problem later in the day but for first A time it is too much for her :shock: )
 :arrow: her room has blackout curtains so it was pretty dark (important to remove all visual stimulation especially when overtired)
 :arrow: i held her in my arms and kept shhhing close to her ear louder than her fussing (the shh will be ineffective at calming if not louder than them)  [if not crying or making noise, then just shh and hold her for a minute to get her focused on calming and relaxing into the shhh]
 :arrow: i laid her in cot on her back but after a little bit i could tell she needed more help so rollled her onto tummy and started shh/pat
 :arrow: in less than a minute she was calm and quiet - still awake - and i just kept shhing and then only patting to keep her focus on this (if necessary i hold her in place so if your dd is lifting legs or rolling around, just hold her lower half down with 1 hand while use the other for patting) the trick is getting them to lay still and focus on the shhing and the patting as this gets them past the overtired state...
 :arrow: she was fast asleep within 5  minutes    and i am off to have a shower

[Mom2X&F&V]

Debinoz thanks for your suggestions. Morning naps for my dd are difficult cause dad plays with her till heīs gone and dd has been awake for 2.5 or 3 hours and overtired. Also what has worked for me is holding her really tight before putting in crib and kiss her goodnight whispering in her ear. And of course laying in tummy while patting, no more shhing. She really likes being on her tummy and that way she doesīnīt get distracted by the ceiling or her feet or arms.

Lucysmom... itīs been a while... how is your exact same date as mine dd doing? Mine is soooo cute. She is  not yet rolling over or sitting, but she is too holding her feet while on her back and pulling her socks. She loves to stand up with my help or her activity center. The cutest thing she can do is laugh really hard and out loud with her 3 y old cousin playing around her, she just cant stop laughing and shouting. Hope we can keep in touch.

[Lucysmom]

Hi - Well, this morning's nap was difficult but she did go to sleep finally.  Thanks for all of the suggestions and support.  She does not like pat/shush anymore but sometimes the shushing calms her down a bit.  The only thing that has worked (rarely though) is to look her in the eyes and repeat the same thing over and over and over again like a mantra.  She focusses on that and her eyes start drooping but most of the time she fights it.  I held her legs down today and that just pi$$ed her off.  I thought about swaddling her but I hate the thought of going back to that as she really did not like it anymore.  There must be something developmental going on with her as she has also started waking up around 5 and chatting and screeching.  She does not cry and she can keep this up for 45 minutes.  We just leave her as we don't want her to think it is time to get up.  It is baffling as it is still dark in her room at that time.  I think these early morning parties cause her to already be tired when she is up for the day and then she inevitably gets overtired. 

She just woke up from her nap so must.  Will reply to you Daniela when I get a chance!!!!!  Thanks again everyone for your words and wisdom and empathy!!!!!!!!!