I've been working with my lo ( almost 6 mo) for 5 weeks now to get her to sleep on her own in her crib. It began beautifully. I don't know if I caught her off guard or what, but when I first started putting her in her crib for naps (instead of her swing) she would generally settle, without any intervention from me, within 5 minutes. However, she started protesting going to bed and now it's at the point where it takes an average of 30 minutes to get her to sleep, everytime! I will put her in her crib when she starts to show signs of sleepyness but because she's taking so long to fall asleep she becoming overtired in her crib and then the real battle begins.
For example today:
Awake at 6 am.
Nap 1 at 7 am. 10 minutes to settle (I know this is very soon after waking but she was starting to show signs of being tired and I decided to go with it) Slept from 7 to 9 am with a short wake period at the 45 minute mark.
Nap 2 at 11 am. It took me 65 minutes to get her to sleep with screaming (she's discovered her voice)whining, some crying, playing with her feet, a little more crying and me patting her belly, playing her crib aquarium thing, etc. Slept from 12 to 2 pm with brief awake period at 45 minute mark.
Catnap at 4:30. Finally settled at 5:00 with all of the above replayed. Slept until 5:30 pm.
Bedtime at 7:00 pm. Got her to sleep at 7:45.
What do I do? Her A time is only 2 hours right now and I'm careful not to be too stimulating within 1/2 hour-45 minutes of sleep time. How do I get her to fall asleep before she becomes overtired and she really gets upset?
