My daughter is 12 months and I have been having trouble getting her to sleep at night since she was 10.5 months. We have been doing BW since she was about 5 or 6 months with great success. Naps are fine, although she usually has 3 x 2 hour naps a day. I know, I know, too many!
Anyway, at bedtime, I do the same ritual, read her a book or quiet play until tired signs, then I put her down, say the usual stuff and I leave. She seems fine but after about 2 minutes all hell breaks loose. By that I mean she is hysterical and she doesn’t know what she wants; I can’t calm her down, she claws at me then pushes me away. Quite often pat/sh calms her down if I can stop her squirming and flipping over but I have to do it until she is asleep. PU/PD is not an option because she doesn’t stop crying unless I take her out of her room but as soon as I bring her back in she starts again. Sometimes I have even taken her for a drive just to calm her down (she won’t sleep in the car), then it’s just a matter of putting her down awake, saying goodnight and she falls asleep after I have left the room. I am sure it’s not her “loose” routine, we’ve been going along just fine up until 2 months ago and nothing has changed.
It’s probably got something to do with the amount and length of her naps but if she shows tired signs what can I do but put her down for a sleep? Do I just ignore the daytime tired signs and make her go for say 2 x 1.5 hour naps at certain times for a while, then wean her onto 1 nap when she is ready? Would I benefit from getting the toddler babywhisperer book or will the problems one help me more at this stage?
