15 mo. old won't go to sleep on her own anymore (Long, sorry)

[LeesMom]

Hi,
My 15-month-old daughter had been able to go to sleep on her own easily for her naps and at night for the last several months. However,
last week after I put her to bed at night, she started crying about 10 min. after I left. She's teething right now, so I gave her some medicine but it still took about 45 min. for her to calm down and fall asleep (I kept my hand on her back until she did). Then the next 2 days, she started crying as soon as I laid her down for her naps. She did this again last night and today, so I did PD and stayed in her room with her until she fell asleep, which happened quickly both times. I can't figure out what's going on. Could this be separation anxiety? This started when my mom visited for a few days last week, but has continued since she left. Also, whenever she (my baby) woke in the night (happened occasionally), all I had to do was go in her room, change her diaper (if it needed it), and she'd go back to sleep right away. She won't do this now, and will cry and won't fall back to sleep, even if I stay in the room with her. So, for the past few nights, I put her in our bed (I know, big mistake!) and she settled down each time after about 45 min. I'm getting stressed out about this and am unsure of what to do. She also moved from 2 to 1 nap a few weeks ago as she was consistently refusing her morning nap. Thanks,

Jenny

[Leah's Mom]

Since she moved from 2 to 1 naps, how many hours of sleep is she getting? She could possibly be overtired. When my DD is overtired she does not settle well for sleep and needs extra help. What does her routine look like?

[LeesMom]

Hi Christine,

Right now, her routine is something like this:

6:30 or so - Wake
7:00 - 6 oz. milk
8:30 - Breakfast
11:30 - Lunch
12:30 - Nap (anywhere from 40 min. to 2 hrs.) 
3:00 or so - Snack
5:00 - Dinner
7:00 - Bedtime bottle and start wind-down routine
7:30 - bed

She has been waking up about once per night for the past several days, which I think is due to teething pain. It usually takes about 45 min. to get her settled back down and back to sleep. Before making the switch from 2 naps to 1, she was sleeping pretty well (8 pm to 7 am) with about 2 to 2.5 hrs. of naptime total per day.

[Leah's Mom]

It looks to me like she is definitely not getting enough sleep. I never had success with a later naptime. At this age, Leah was going down for a nap at 11:30. If I put her down early she would sleep longer - about 2.5 hours, if I put her down at 12:30 - she would only sleep about an hour. My guess is your struggle at naptime and bedtime is a combo of overtiredness and teething. I would try for an earlier naptime - say 11:30 and and earlier bedtime - say 7 until she catches up on her sleep. Just a thought, worth a try! 

[LeesMom]

Thanks! I will start giving an earlier naptime and bedtime a try tomorrow. Today did not go well nap-wise... we had relatives visiting and I think she was too excited to take a decent nap (only 40 min. and nothing I did got her to settle back down!  However, I did have a small amount of progress putting her to bed tonight. Instead of having to keep my hand on her back until she fell asleep, I was able to just sit by the edge of the crib and soothe her by talking to her quietly for a bit.    Yay! I am trying to use gradual withdrawal and so hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

[Leah's Mom]

Excellent! I hope gradual withdrawl works for you. I think it is a wonderful approach. I know there is a new thread at the top of this forum for mom's who are having sleep issues with little one's your daughter's age. Looks like an excellent thread for support. FYI!
Christine

[LeesMom]

Good news to report! The night before I started trying the earlier naptime and bedtime, my little girl slept all night!     She has slept through the past 2 nights after that as well. I am also seeing progress with putting her down earlier for her naps; the first day was rough because she woke up after 30 min. with a big poop  but then yesterday she slept 2.25 hours! Thanks so much for your help and advice. Hopefully we're on the right track here and it will continue.

Jenny