Prolems Getting Toddler to Fall Asleep

[mini.beastie]

My co-sleeping 2 year old girl has developed cavities on her front teeth, and our holistic dentist advised nursing her BEFORE bed, brushing her teeth, and then not nursing her again until morning. Gently cutting out the nighttime nursing was pretty easy, because when she is sleepy and relaxed, we can sing her to sleep in a minute or two. The problem is when I nurse her on the couch before bed, and then lie her down to go to sleep, she's a complete nutcase!! She insists on rolling around, playing peekaboo, licking my face, sticking fingers up my nose, etc. My husband or I usually sing to her for an hour until we're hoarse, get fed up, and then give her a time-out until she exhausts herself. At this point, she's happy to close her eyes and relax, and falls asleep in a couple of minutes. Ideally we'd love to get to a point where we don't have to sing to a hyperactive kid for an hour, and we'd especially love to cut the hyperactive screaming fit. Does anyone have any advice? How did your baby or toddler first start falling asleep without nursing?

[rzberrymom]

My DD had a hard time relaxing enough to fall asleep at that age too. So, we often took her out for an walk in an Ergo (I'm sure a stroller would have worked too). The walk relaxed everybody, and it was a much nicer way for her to fall asleep.

[mini.beastie]

A walk in the carrier is a fantastic idea, thank you for sharing! We will give it a shot tonight.

[kirstenb]

DS can get pretty hyper right before bed, and it was taking us at least an hour to put him to bed. I found that it was more distracting to him to have us laying with him as he fell asleep. I would rock him in the rocking chair for a bit to help calm him down. I started out on a chair right next to his bed (often holding his hand) as he fell asleep. As he got used to it, the chair has crept further and further out of the room. It took a bit, but it works pretty well for us now.

[hollytheteacher]

Originally Posted by kirstenb

DS can get pretty hyper right before bed, and it was taking us at least an hour to put him to bed. I found that it was more distracting to him to have us laying with him as he fell asleep. I would rock him in the rocking chair for a bit to help calm him down. I started out on a chair right next to his bed (often holding his hand) as he fell asleep. As he got used to it, the chair has crept further and further out of the room. It took a bit, but it works pretty well for us now.

So he wouldn't get out of bed and run over to you in the chair? That is what I am envisioning my ds (26 months) would do. I am also noticing that me laying with my ds is distracting to him so I'm also looking for a new way to help him fall asleep. Right now my DH has taken over because i've been trying since 8 to put him to sleep and now it's 9:07 and he's still flipping around and singing silly songs, etc.