Another "does baby need to cry to get to sleep" thread

[MrsBone]

So, DD is 8 mo. old. She's teething and I'm sure hitting that "life is too exciting, I don't want to miss a thing so I'm not going to sleep" stage. But I can't help but wonder. She's always very cheerful in the morning, for a couple hours, then gets tired, and used to take a morning nap, like clockwork after awake for 2 hours. Now she skips it half the time, and I can usually get her down for one nap a day( DS was the same way, and gave up naps all together very early). By bedtime though, she's really overtired, and has a hard time winding down. I used to nurse her to sleepy then give her a paci and lay her in her crib. If she was tired, she'd pass out, otherwise she'd lay there laughing and I'd get her up for awhile longer. Now, it seems in the past few weeks, I try the same routine, and she nurses, rubs her eyes, closes them and after she's done nursing, she pops off and looks around and smiles (almost in a frantic overtired way). I had been getting her up, but then she was still cranky and tired, and I'd go back and repeat the process again. Finally asleep by 10 or 10:30, as opposed to her usual 7:30 bedtime. I started just laying her down finally at her normal bedtime and once I leave the room she starts crying. I let it go for 5 minutes the first night and right as I decide to go in and get her she's passed out. The next few nights she'd be out in 10 minutes. let me also say I've ruled out teething pain, using teeting tablets and ibuprofen preventatively, gas drops, everything I can think of before thinking about letting her cry for a few minutes. The only thing that makes sense is she needs to wind down and crying does it for her. She's always slept through the night 12 hours straight or so and even with teething and everything she still sleeps without waking. She's just never needed much comforting from me from the get go. I sort of think it's her personality. What do you all think? I feel bad, but at the same time, I can't think of any other way to help her go to sleep. Once she's out she's out which is nice!

[Mama2ChicknLil]

Have you tried lying down with her? She's coming up on another growth spurt (usually around 9 months, though my DS does them all a couple weeks early) and probably is dealing with some new developmental milestones. It's possible that she may not be ready for YOU to leave her, and taking her back out into the bright rooms with distractions is too much for her, maybe she just needs to be in a dark room with you a bit longer?

Do you ever wear her? If I put DS in the Moby facing me and he's tired he will conk right out, that might help if you can nurse her in it and then wear her for a bit until she is really really out?

Good Luck Mama