How to get my little girl to go to sleep by herself

Jennifer - posted on 05/29/2010

Perhaps you would have more luck with her in a crib still. As for the crying, she won't hurt herself crying. After a few nights with you staying consistant it does get better. We put our little guy to bed now and say night-night and he rolls over and goes to sleep(he slept in our bed till 15 months). As hard as it is to listen to the crying in the morning she won't remember.

Dannyelle - posted on 05/20/2010

I have managed to keep Kymberley in her own bed and go to sleep on her for three nights in a row now. I have swapped rooms with her. she is now in with her 3 month old brother. she goes to bed at 8.30pm with a bottle (if she drinks it or not is totally up to her) , a lullaby cd and a baby light. I sit on chair outside her door and read book and she is learning slowly that bed time means bed time. Next thing to work on is getting her to sleep all night without waking.

Emily - posted on 05/16/2010

Get into a routine & stick to it!!!
Bath, book, cuddles, bed(with music/lullabies)... whatever you choose, just be consistent. My daughter needed about 3 nights of crying before the routine stuck but now she has clear expectations that she will actually put herself to bed & want to do her routine on her own. Good luck!!!

Dannyelle - posted on 05/15/2010

Wow thank you all so much for your help i ahve not had to time to come and read all the support. It has amazed me how much replies i have recieved. And it just goes to show I am NOT alone thank you all so much

Brittany - posted on 04/12/2010

My daughter sleeps with violet, but she just pushes her little paw to hear the fun playtime songs. She skips through to the ones that she likes. lol

Autumn - posted on 04/10/2010

Our daughter didn't start sleeping in her crib till 14months (she co-slept w/ us while I breastfed). We had to do the crying thing & I hated it but knew that this is what we had to do. The 1st night she cried for 3 hours. My husband & I would take turns going to check on her. We would tell her we love her, lay her back down & walk back out. The 2nd night was only about 1 1/2 hours & we checked on her every 15 mins. & the 3rd night she cried maybe 30mins. That was 6 months ago & she sleeps 12 to 14 hours.
I know she's not asleep that whole entire time. There are times I hear her playing quietly to herself at the beginning of going to bed or in the middle of the night.
She has a floor fan that is on constantly & a ceiling fan for background noise. She also has a thing that plays songs that is hooked to her crib. And Violet, it's a leapfrog doggy, it plays nighttime music that you can choose on the computer. I play the doggy & it plays for 10 mins.
Good luck!!!

Tammy - posted on 04/10/2010

This sounds so de ja vous to me! My daughter used to go to bed so nicely; no crying, no complaining. Drank her bottle, I took the empty and left the room (music and nightlight in place). Then one day, the month before she turned a year, she finally figured out how to roll over, sit up and stand, all in one motion (I was there, I saw it; I was so proud), since she could never do any of that on her own) and that was the end of our peaceful evenings. She cried almost every night for 6 months (only when she didn't nap at lunch time did she not cry much). I tried the no-cry method and it was useless. Then we started taking her to a kid's gym 3 times a week, when she was a year and a half. There she learned how to jump on a trampolene and all that good stuff and the crying before bed stopped within a week. She does however amuse herself with jumping on her bed, which is far better than her crying. She also is learning to look more and more at the small stack of books we keep for her in her crib and is imagination playing with her menagerie of stuffed animals that she sleeps with.

The crying only comes back, I noticed, when there is too much stimulation before bed, such as when my parents make a surprise visit at bed time or when she hears other kids playing outside. I hope our story helps a little. Each child is so different it's so amazing! Something that works with one child, will most likely not work with another. It's all trial and error...

Brittany - posted on 04/10/2010

Let her cry. As long as you know her room is safe and she's ok, she will be fine. My daughter sometimes falls asleep on the floor next to her door. Yes, it makes me feel bad, but she will learn that her bed is comfier soon enough. That went on for about a week, and now she's sleeping much better. :) My husband has to go in there once usually right after we put her to bed and he tells her to get in bed. She does. That's her once chance, if she gets up again we don't go in there. They are smarter than you think at this age. She is probably doing it because she knows Mommy will come in there.

Alison - posted on 04/09/2010

I am having the same issue but my husband and I have done it working so far we put her to bed then we lay on the floor until she falls sleep then we go on with our nite I this idea works for ya I gothte idea from supernanny good luck

Rebecca - posted on 04/09/2010

We used to have the same problems with our daughter. While I was on Mat leave I had no set schedule for her so whenever she felt like drifting to sleep I let her do at her own time. When I went back to work I opted to work the overnight shift so that I didn't have to pay anyone to watch her during the day and I could spend the time with her. Problem is my husband works at 7am so letting her go to sleep at 2-3am in the morning just wasn't practical anymore. We tried a couple of things like letting her sleep in the bed with daddy, but they both move around way too much in their sleep that he was always worried he would knock her off the bed and there had been some mornings I came home from work and he was sleeping on the couch because she had taken over our bed lol. So that didn't work out really well. Since I work at 10pm at night my husbands goal was to get her to bed between 10:30pm-midnight so that she sleeps in till noon so I get some sleep also when I get home from work and then have a nap again when he gets home from work. So now he puts her in her bed and snuggles up to her and reads a night time story (she already is in a twin size bed) and he turns off all the lights in the house and anything causing noise such as the t.v. and what not and leaves her door open. The first couple of nights she wasn't too happy about it and she kept on coming out of her room and he just kept putting her back until she finally got the idea that lights out really does mean bedtime. I'm not a believer in letting them cry it out, but 5-10mins of crying I don't think is really letting it all out. Now today she just rolls over and sleeps, but some days he cheats and gets her to bed by 9pm so she's up when I get home and I have to wait till nap time to sneak in some zzz's or when the hubby gets home....Oh the things we do for our kids lol

Kara - posted on 04/09/2010

I have a routine with my 19 mo old boy. We read a couple of books or play for about half an hour and then I say it's time to go see Teddy. I put him in the cot (crib) with a couple of favorite toys and he waves good-bye. He wasn't ALWAYS this easy, he would cry and fuss a bit but we kept it consistent and unless I thought he might really be hurt etc, we didn't bother. He just wanted attention. I also saw the Super Nanny episode with the crying tot. First time put her back to bed and say goodnight and give her kiss. Second time, "Back to bed" no kiss, third time no talking no affection. Worked! Good luck, I'm hoping my tot won't rebel when he turns 2!

Tina - posted on 04/08/2010

When you say little girl- do you refer to your 19 mth old or the mouse in the picture?
It sounds as though it's the older one...giver her some credit and explain to her that "Tonight she's going to go to Bed like a BIG GIRL"- no rocking...no fussing...tell her that you know that she can do it.
After bout's of being sick my "little" one tries the fuss and cry method...and I go up once and tell her firmly that I love her and it is time to sleep- I also make it a point that I will not be back to check on her as she is fine.

If it's for the baby...a crib noise machine works wonders...we have an Aquarium that makes bubbles...and has light if you so choose...that has calmed my baby many times in the middle of the night and soothed her right back to sleep.

Suzi - posted on 04/08/2010

I had to rock my daughter to sleep till she was 14 months old (my fault, I know!). Finally after one sick sleepless night, I HAD to get some sleep so I put her in her crib and 7 a.m. and went to bed! I woke up 2 hrs later to find her sleeping peacefully and she slept till almost noon! After that, I knew some crying wouldn't hurt her, so I just laid her down and let her fuss some. Now, she goes to bed w/ no problem. There are nights that she'll lay in her crib for an hour and babble, but she eventually drifts off. Life is SO much easier for both of us! If you don't let your child learn how to put themsleves to sleep, I really feel that they'll have problems sleeping for the long-term. And her crib soother is a God-send!

Danelle - posted on 04/07/2010

p.s. if you pose your question at this group, I've seen many others with the same concern and lots of others' ideas/suggestions/help. :) http://www.facebook.com/peacefulparentin...

Danelle - posted on 04/07/2010

Your experience sounds pretty typical and normal for a little one under the age of 3. I enjoyed this article, "Should a Baby Soothe Himself to Sleep?" http://www.drmomma.org/2009/12/should-ba...

And there are many great ideas in "The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers" if this is the age that your little one is. http://astore.amazon.com/peacefparent-20...

There are lots of other resources as well at "Baby Sleep: A Review of Research" http://www.drmomma.org/2009/06/truth-abo... and "Sleep Training: A Review of Research" http://www.drmomma.org/2009/12/sleep-tra...

Christie - posted on 04/06/2010

you just need to perservere wiv it if thats how u spel it lol i watched a super nanny episode where a little girl was the same she told her to put her in bed and say goodnight then leave and if she carried on she said not to say anythin to her and jus keep puttin her in bed and eventually she wore herself out and it worked and after few nights of doing so she got used to it hope that helps x

Dannyelle - posted on 04/06/2010

Thank-you so much i wil try the lullaby cd and leaving her and go back to check. i really hope she settles soon as she has started to wake in the night also and can keep me up for up to 4 hours

Tiffany - posted on 03/30/2010

I always thought that letting your child cry themselves to sleep was horrible but I finally gave it try as my last resort. My daughter cried for an hour the first night. My husband and I took turns going into her room every 10-15 min to check on her. It was a hard thing to do but after the first night the time that she cried each night got less and less. Now she just rolls over and goes to sleep. If we happen to let her sleep with us though like when she is sick, we have to start all over again! Good luck!

Michelle - posted on 03/30/2010

I have that issue some nights too. Has she got a musical toy in her room that could sing to her. Or maybe a cd of lullabies?

I was finding that my little boy would stand at the door and scream for a while and then when he realised no-one was coming he just climbed back in bed and went to sleep. Worked fine until he worked out how to open the bedroom door. Now i put a lullaby singing elephant to bed with him and it works ok more often than not.