Hello all,

I have a 13 month old daughter. I still have to rock atleast 30 minutes to put her to sleep. Doing this 3 times a day plus frequent night waking, I am tired of this.Some times I leave her and let her play but she never shows any interest to sleep even if she is really tired. She keeps on playing. I really dont know what to do.How do you put you baby to sleep? Do they sleep alone? Somebody plase give me some tips. Should I make her 2 naps to 1? She usually takes 2 naps in the daytime total of 2 hrs and sleeps 10 hrs at night (3-4 times wakes up for bf).

Are other babies like this only? Please share.. padma replied. Hello T&W,

It is indeed tough to rock your child to sleep, as we know from my experience.. The trick is to set a routine for sleep (letting her play is not what i mean).. Get into some bedtime rituals like changing a nappy or a wipedown and lotion massage or whatever. Dim the lights and sit with her and do some quiet thing - thumb through pictures or a songbook..

Once she's relaxed, get rocking..Looks like your rocking hold is a tough one. Experiment and alternate with different holds and try getting her used to pillow-rocking (her on your lap with head on pillow).. Takes time but a switch in the rocking-position gives a lot of releif..

My son too is not the lie-down-to-sleep type (blame only us for this!!) but the duration of rocking/walking required is much shorter now..

Unless they're an exceptional case (which your ped should be able to tell) all kids need to sleep. dont work hard on the naps though...Lot of factors - tummy being overfull, lights being too bright or background noise.. allc an affect a baby's sleeep.

I conciously dont feed him at night (maybe just once) and carry/pat him back to sleep w/o the feed..

As m said - check-with-the-doc is the best way..

Hope you have a better bed-time with you kiddo...

Paddoo maurni replied. Did you always rock your little one to sleep? Is this the sleep pattern that has always been there? Vrisa slept with me until she was 6 weeks old and then I started putting her in her crib and she used to wake up once in the night for a feeding and then I would put her back in ehr crib to sleep. She sometimes used to cry when I left her room but only for a short while and then she would fall asleep.
At 12.5 months old, she sometimes wakes once at night and she is still on the 2 naps for 2-3 hrs each and sleeps 9-10 hrs in the night. When I spoke to her doc at her 1 yr checkup he said that she will drop her nap when she's ready and I should not worry about her sleeping too much. Every child is different and as long as she was eating well, drinking her milk well and was behaving well, then here is nothing to worry about.
Have you talked to your pediatrician about your concerns? That's probably what I would do if I were in your shoes.
~M