My 17 month old will not let go of my finger when i lay her down to sleep at night. As soon as i try to let go she wakes right back up and starts to cry. She won't take any teddy bears all she wants is my hand! Does anyone else have this problem?

Patricia - posted on 04/26/2009

Just a theory here but have you tried wearing a glove? That way you could slip you're hand out of it afterwards?

Kristen - posted on 04/24/2009

My daughter is the same way...Except her "self-soothing device" is my hair!! haha She usually lets go of it when she's out for the night though. But she holds it all the time and puts it in her mouth even (gross)! I'm going to take some of the advice you got on here and try and introduce something else to her.

Katee - posted on 04/22/2009

We introduced a "lovey" blanket( it is about 1ftx1ft in size) to my son at 6 months, the same time that we stopped swaddling. This has become his soothing device. At bedtime while we are reading stories, singing songs, etc, we always had him hold his blanket to get him used to it. Now when we are getting him ready for bed and playing in his room, he will pick up his blanket and walk over to you to say that he is ready for stories and songs and then bed. I suggest introducing something (a stuffed animal, blanket, doll, even her favorite toy). Make it a part of the entire bedtime and naptime routine and hopefully she will eventually gravitate towards it. Good Luck.

Ronica - posted on 04/01/2009

Sometimes you have to let them cry it out. Don't get me wrong, my little one hardly gets told no and shes always very cuddly. But when will you say 'no'? You are her self soothing device and she feels she always needs you near by. My daughter is very much the same.... we introduced her to a sleep routine at 13 months. PJ's, Milk, cheerios, cuddles, (20minutes while shes eating), than kisses for Mom and Dad then bed. There are times where this does not work, but you can't always be there to hold her hand, what if your away? So a routine works well, in my opinion. If she starts to cry sometimes you have to let them, Make sure shes comfortable, Coko has a night light and she'll take a few stuffies to bed with her. Shes 17 months so by this time she has realized that she has control when she cries. It's hard to start but it'll be harder when shes 2, my cousin ended up sleeping in her mom's bed til she was 7 or 8 because her mom would give in. Good luck, do whatever works and feels best for you and she'll adapt :)