I need help

[oliv]

My ds is just about 14 months and refuses to fall asleep in his cot he screams and screams for up to an hour before we give in and take him out! The only way he will fall asleep is in his bouncer with a bottle and blanket watching peppa pig

He also wakes a lot during the night and if he realises hes going back in his cot then he screams again. But he also wont sleep in our bed as he then thinks its playtime.

I have tried everything I can think of. Bottle in the cot, a moving mobile, reading to him, singing to him, rubbing his belly, back, head and nothing.

He was screaming and screaming last night while our 2.5 year old was fast asleep in her cot in the same room

 

[Witchrose]

Our son is thankfully a good sleeper (*knock on wood*) but here's something we do on those rare occasions that he just can't settle. It actually worked for a friend of mine too, so here goes:

We make sure he is all ready for bed (has been changed and is in his sleepwear and sleeping bag). We then put him into his cot. Then, instead of reading to him or something of that nature, we try to physically tire him out by throwing one of his little stuffed animals into the cot. We say, "get piggy!" He crawls over, gets his little stuffed piggy, stands up in the cot, hands it back to us. We keep repeating this game until his movements become slower and slower and then eventually he just lies down and goes to sleep. Because he is already in the cot, he does not have to be disturbed at all by being moved into it. That's what we found is key.

Hope that helps or that you find another solution.

 

[oliv]

Thank ill give it a try. Well he is at nanas tonight where he has no problem falling asleep in his cot up there!!

 

[MindUtopia]

It sounds like movement might be key if having him in the bouncer works. I would come up with a new routine that really helps him to wind down, keeping things quiet and dark before bedtime as you do your bath, getting dressed, cuddles, reading a few books with just enough light that you can actually see them, and then try to figure out how to use movement in the cot to get him to settle. My daughter's nursery came up with the strategy of wrapping her in a blanket, like lying the blanket down in the cot and then wrapping it around her, kind of like a taco, and then they would roll her back and forth while she laid in the cot. It was just enough jiggling and vibration to soothe her to sleep, then when she was asleep, they just dropped the blanket to either side so it laid flat in the cot instead of wrapped around her.

 

[oliv]

So I spoke to a doctor about it and she thinks he might have night time separation anxiety because hes not with me all days and knows im home all night so just wants to be with me