Problem is FALLING asleep, not staying asleep

[kalishea]

My 1 year old has been increaseingly harder to get to sleep at night and even for naps. He used to fall asleep at the breast or by being bounced. Lately nothing works. From start to finish it usually takes us 2 hours to get him to sleep once we start trying. Any tips or suggestions? Once he is asleep he sleeps wonderfully. He just wants to play, day or night.

[Louisep]

How many naps is he on? Does he need to drop to one nap?

[kdescalzi]

My 1yr old dd is the same way. She used to nurse to sleep but now she is just too busy. The only way we can get her down for bedtime is to put her on our back in the ergo. Sometimes by dh will take her outside like that until she passes out. No matter how tired she is at night she is too busy to settle down. If I tried to nurse her to sleep it would take hours and I would get way too frustrated. Maybe try a carrier of some sort like us. You could also try going for a walk in the stroller. For some babies the fresh air and movement will lull them to sleep and then you could transfer your lo to their sleeping spot. Personally, my dd would just love being outside and would not fall asleep, but maybe you are luckier then me! Good luck

[lkmiscnet]

I'm in the same boat with my 12 mo old and posted a similar post. I have to lay there for up to 2 hours as well waiting for him to fall asleep and I have been losing my patience lately.

Someone asked if the room was pitch black. Our's is not, plus I turn the night light on before we both lay down. I have room darkening cellular shades that are interior mounted so I could minimize any gaps, but the light still comes in through the sides. And with the longer daylight hours, he goes to bed when it's still light out, so the room still gets light.

So, I'm going to experiment and see what I can do to make it completely dark. Perhaps if he can't see there is no incentive to play, and he'll realize it's time for sleep. It's a theory I'm going to test.

I'm not sure how in the heck I'm going to block out the light on the both sides of the cellular blinds, as I can't do curtains because I have a window fan due to no air conditioning, so I can't block that.

I am going to check out window film or maybe some type of wider shade I can put up behind the cellular blinds.

So, just wanted to suggest the idea to you as well.

Good luck to us all!

[mizzoh]

Originally Posted by Louisep

How many naps is he on? Does he need to drop to one nap?

my thoughts exactly