Parenting: 3-6-Month-Olds Community

What time are you putting her down? Do you have a good sold bedtime routine? How soon and how often are you going in to sooth her. Sometimes they cry out because they know you are just going to keep coming back to the crib( that is what they want). Have you done any sleep training? If not I would suggest you start sleep training asap. Every night increase the time it takes you to go in to sooth her. Start with 5mins, next night 10mins, etc. Do not take her out of the crib just sooth her by singing or patting etc. If you must take her out keep it breif and dont do it often and dont leave the room. Keep telling her she is a big girl, it's sleepy time and time for her to go to bed and you love her and you will see her in the morning. Now if she is teething or sick this can be a little difficult. My son is teething and the other night he woke up every hour or so and was very cranky all do yesterday so last night I gave him a little tylenol before bedtime and he only woke one time very briefly last night. Medication is my last resort. So I hope this helps some.

our evening routien is this:

6:30-wake up from nap
6:45/7:00-eat her supper
7:15ish- put on lotion and pj's
7:30ish- play time with daddy
8:30-diaper change and get blanket
have a bed time bottle and rock
9:00 (sometimes a little earlier if she falls asleep rocking) -put in crib
9:30-wake up and the sleep fight begins....

we normally go in about every 5 minutes or so to try to calm her, and try to do this without taking her out of the crib....a couple of times i have given in and brought her out to the living room and put her in her swing and let her fall asleep that way (after an hour and a half of the crying/SCREAMING)

I use the sleep lady schedule. her suggestion for baby of 6month to put to bed by 7:30pm. Her method is kind of a modified ferber but I did see a big change in his sleep just keeping to her suggested schedule. Depending on what time your baby wakes in morning she may be overly tired by 9pm. she should be in her crib for 11-12hrs at night- of course they dont sleep the whole time- my son wakes up and talks and plays and falls back to sleep. I found the book at the library first and then I bought it and refer to it often. Its called the Sleep Lady.

she doesn't normally wake up until 8-9 so in bed at 9pm does put her ther for 11-12 hours (i am a stay at home mom she she doesn't have to be up by any certain time and is able to sleep in)
she wakes up at between 8:00 & 9;00
nap 10:00-11:30,
lunch and play etc,
nap from 1:00-3:00,
bottle and play etc...
nap from 5:00-6:30,
eat supper, play, etc....
bath at 8:00
start settling down for bed at 8:30 (bottle and rock)
and in bed by 9:00...
just need to figure out how to get her to stay asleep! lastnight she woke back up at 9:30 and at 11:30 i finally gave in and brought her out to the living room put her in her swing and let her fall asleep that way! I know that once she goes in her crib for bed i shouldn't take her out, but by that time i was desperate for sleep and willing to do just about anything!!!

Sounds like the schedule is o.k sense she wakes later. She may just be used to being rocked and the swing. We went cold turkey on the swing @ 6 weeks ago and I just had my husband take it to a childrens re-sale shop this week. My son was very dependent on it and was not very good at self soothing. I know the crying can be killer but I have learned to let him cry some. If im up while he is crying I try to do a bit of house work to take my mind and ears off the crying- he does not cry as long as he used to when we first started the sleep training. I do keep going back in every 5-10 mins to offer him his paci and to just let him know I have not gone far. My next goal is to work him off the paci. He does not take it that much during the day or if he does he chews on the side of it because he is teething, but at night he does awaken and cry for someone to come put it back in his mouth. So in the next few weeks I think the paci is going to disaper at night, which means a few sleeples nights again for a week or 2. I would cut out the swing, I know it will be hard but babies can become dependent on a swing, rocking, etc.. to sleep. I will say on occasion, not very often, but if he has not settled down in 45min or so I will go in and pick him up to settle him down and he will fall back asleep in my arms and back in the crib he goes. But it is rare that he cries that hard for soo long often. Also my son has acid refulx so crying for long periods of time can cause him to reflux or become very gassy and some times he burps as soon as I pick him up and thats all he needed a quick pat on the back to get the air out and then he will settle back down. I would try the quick burp even if she does not have acid refulx and she has cried for 30min or so she may feel better after a quick burp to get the air out of her tummy. I hope this helps some. It will take time but she will sleep.

thanks for the suggestions, we let her cry it out shortly after my first post, she cried off and on for a little less than an hour ( I went in a couple times to comfort her and giver her the pacifire.... which she only takes to sleep, it never leaves the crib....) and we haven't had any problems sense..if she does wake up i go in giver her the pacifire and turn on the mobile and she goes right back to sleep (her mobile has a remote so i can turn it on from the door way with out her seeing me) But no tears sense the first night. Night time is peacefull again...and mommy and daddy finally get some quiet time together again! :)