Seeking sleep help for 11 month old!

[oregon2010]

Hello there! We have been co-sleeping with our daughter since day 1.  We love it but we are considering transitioning her to her own bed soon. After a bath and books, we take her upstairs at 8 pm. She refuses for us to try and lay her down to pat her back to sleep.  She still requires rocking or bouncing and it takes a good while.  THEN she ALWAYS wakes up about 1.5 hours after we get her to sleep for the night.

She is still waking several times a night to nurse, I typically sleep through it. But lately she has been waking up at random hours WIDE AWAKE and playing, giggling, saying "dada".  I am not sure if it is because so much development is happening or teething but it is hard!

I want to start getting her down to bed without rocking her to sleep (for naps and nighttime).  I am her assistant teacher at her Montessori classroom and ALL the children go down on their floor mat with little assistance and she still wants to be rocked/bounced to sleep.  She screams and will not lay her body down.  For all your co-sleepers, how do you get your children to sleep?? 

[mamaforever]

I personally believe in doing whatever it takes to help your child fall asleep.  I just think it's best to avoid crying if possible.  I used to try and get my DS to fall sleep in other ways (I lay down next to him and give him a bottle) but he just cries and cries and asks for bottle.  It's just not worth it and I know one day he will outgrow his bottle and be able to fall asleep without it.  He is 2 years old now by the way.  So if your DD needs to be rocked or bounced to sleep at this age, and if nothing else works for her, then I would continue doing that.  This is just my opinion though. The other children in your classroom may lay on the mats by themselves because they were "sleep trained" by their parents (which I don't think is good for the children).  Or maybe they are just easy-going kids.  My DS would definitely not lay on the mat on his own.

As far as your DD waking during the night and ready to play, it's probably just a phase.  I have heard that many kids do that when they're going through a big developmental milestone.  Is she learning how to walk or pulling herself up?  Anything like that?  That may be the reason- she briefly wakes during the night and knows how exciting life is right now and wants to "practice" her new learned skills!

Hang in there-- oh, and are you transitioning her to her own bed because you think she'll sleep better there?  I was going to try and transition my son soon after he turned 2, but then I read this article which made me want to continue cosleeping.  Just thought you might like to read it if you are also considering continuing to cosleep with your DD:

http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/five-benefits-cosleeping/ 

[oregon2010]

Thank you for your reply! I looked in her mouth and she has 4 teeth coming in and has a lot going on developmentally! What a great article! Hopefully we all get better sleep soon:)

[mamaforever]

Wow, that's quite a few teeth coming in at once!  Yes I love that article!  I should explain though that I understand that cosleeping is not always the best option for a family.  So I certainly don't think it's wrong to transition a child to their own bed/room- sometimes that is what is best for the family or maybe it's best for the child.  I just wanted to add that in there since I know my first post made it sound like "No!  Don't transition her!"  type of response.  Also- you may want to look at the books "No-Cry Sleep Solution" or "No Cry Nap Solution" to help with having her fall asleep without being rocked/bounced if you want to try and ease her away from that.