Do spirited babies grow out of the overtired crying?

[zoemom]

My 3.5 month old is very spirited and she can go from happy, moving, looking to complete hysteria - of course I try really hard to get her to take a nap before this happens - but it is tough and usually never happens without some crying unless in the stroller outside or in the car or with the boob and I am trying not to give the boob - anyway - does this get better?  It just seems like she can not soothe herself at all - and some of the techniques work but not very easily

[Mom to M&M]

My spirited/textbook LO was exactly like that. She's still a bear if she gets overtired and can go from 60 to 0 in seconds flat. What is her general routine? How long is she awake for between naps? Have you checked out the support thread for spirited babies?

[kim&savannah]

I think it can get better, but I have to tell you that my spirited 2 year old still melts down when overtired.  It's a very definate sign that we need to get her into bed pronto.  However, she doesn't cry herself to sleep anymore--so in that sense, its better.  We can calm her down and do the normal bedtime routine and its usually ok, even if its late.  At naptime, if we've missed the window, she won't always sleep, but that's a whole other issue.

~Kim

[binxyboo]

My lo at 14 months still melts down. In fact, there he goes again.....

[Christa]

YES!! Just wanted to send some positive encouragement.... with lots of patience and being VERY attentive to sleep cues and when the routine needs to changed (rather than getting stuck in a rut like I have a habit of doing) it WILL get better. I promise

[zoemom]

she does well at night - the big issue is the naps which I know she obviously needs - what techniques have worked for your spirited babies for calming them down for naps?  sometimes I resort to putting her in the swing where she cries for a few minutes but ultimately falls asleep b/c I know it is so impoartant that she get sleep.  I try a loose EASY but it is hard b/c she is with my MIL on some days when I go to work - I try to make sure she is not up for more than 1.5 hours

[Mom to M&M]

She may need even less A time - spirited babies often take longer to increase A times. I'd start out by making the first A time of the day as little as one hour - 1.25 hours TOPS. And I'd do a long wind-down routine - so maybe 15-20 minutes before you want to put her in her crib start doing calming activities - walk around the house cuddling, sing lullabys, etc.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Ditto to Karen. You really have to be careful with A time with a spirited one. As you're seeing, too long results in a lot of unpleasantness and there's a very fine line there. It does get better though, really! For the time being just be very careful about overstimulation and length of A time.