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hi there! I feel for you!!! My DD is 28 months and my son is 7 months and it was night and day between their sleeping habits. My dd had acid reflux AND colic and never slept for the first 6 months. At 5 months I read a book called "healthy sleep habits happy child" and it was a lifesaver. Of course, they use some of the CIO but I kind of tweaked it to suit us. Basically, my dd was overtire because I never knew how to get her to nap or when to do it or how much to do it - throw in the reflux and it was a mess. I couldn't lay her down or she'd cry. She would not nap for me and I was a wreck. We had her in our room until about 11 weeks and I had enough. She actually transitioned pretty good. What we had to start doing was working on getting her to nap in HER bed first. 9-10am and around noonish-1pm and the late afternoon nap is optional. My son doesn't nap late in the day but goes down by 6 or 6:30. Anyways, I'd start with the napping first. THEN, work on evenings. Try to get her down at 6pm. She might be really tired and will need some extra sleep for a while. I would recommend a really soft fuzzy blanket instead of the fuzzy toy. Both my kids loved the blankets. Babies R Us sells these ones that are really fluffy/soft. They like it rubbed up against their cheeks when they sleep. Anyways, I would recommend the book first -then try working on getting her to sleep. I know that a lot of people don't like it, but CIO works. We did it for 2 nights at bed time and that was about it. It was really hard and I hated it but it helped. Especially at 6-7 months, they really know what they are doing. :) They do a lot to keep you with them. My son was easy to get to sleep ok because he is a natural sleeper - he loves it. My DD was work. She was getting up all night to eat. 10pm, 1am, 4am...ugh. My dr told me at her 6 month appt that if she was still eating at night than it was MY issue not hers anymore, she didn't need to eat at night. He was right too. We started with the 1am feed and I would comfort her - NOT pick her up or talk to her. Just comfort her until she went back to sleep. It really only took a couple of nights. Then we worked on the 4am and then the 10pm. Within a couple of weeks at the most she was all good. It was amazing what a sleep schedule did for her - I will swear by them. :) She also used a pacifier - don't know if you are or not. I didn't want to before I had her but after 5 weeks of screaming I gave in and it did help. So...daytime sleep was 9-10am, 12-1:30 and 4-5pm approximately. Bedtime around 6 or 6:30. The earlier you put them to bed the longer and better they sleep too by the way. I think you will see improvement if you can give it a try for a while and try NOT to feed her in the middle of the night. I know it's hard to do when you're tired and all you want is for them to go back to sleep. :) If you aren't firm about it she will revert or not change. Trust me, I screwed up a few times. :) What else....oh, my dd is still hard to get to sleep if we are in the room. Babies may not be able to SEE you but they can SMELL you. Makes it really hard to sneak in to bed. Honestly, I'd do what you can to get her to sleep in her own bed for your own sanity down the road. My dd will not sleep in my bed with me -she'll try to play, no matter what time it is. It's nice because we have a bed to ourselves. In your situation though with her having to be in your room it's tough. I hope I kind of helped??? If you have more specific questions let me know - I'll help all I can because I went through hell with my dd. My son got started on a schedule early on and he's been a dream. But like I said, he also likes his sleep. haha He has been sleeping through the night since 3 months old. We got him up at 7am to start his day and he's in bed by 7 at the latest, usually 6pm.

Thank you fefer! This helps a lot...it sounds like we have similar situations minus the reflux. My dd doesn't nap for anything. She ONLY falls asleep when I'm nursing her on the boppy in my office in my office chair. When I go to move her to her bed she wakes up and cries. I'm reading this no cry sleep method book and want to get through it first. It basically has all of the ideas here and talks about getting her to nap and also get a prebedtime routine. I am going to start doing a bath every night and then jammies, book and nurse. I will try to keep her awake when nursing and then lay her down while awake. She has taken a pacifier since birth so she has that, but actually is starting to reject it when I give it to her to get her to sleep. It's like she's wise to my game, lol. I started putting toys in her crib today for her to play in there and get comfy with it so maybe naptime in there won't seem so bad. I thought about putting up her pack n play in my office so that she could nap in that but then I'm afraid she'll only nap in that and not her crib. We have 2 bedrooms, but one is my office since I work from home and the other is the bedroom we all share. We can't move u ntil our lease is up in July unfortunately (or there is a huge penalty fee). So, I am going to try these things first and see how it goes. It is a slower method than the CIO as it takes roughly a month to get into the groove. The only thing I worrieda bout CIO is that I read that if there is a change, like vacation or illness or something like that you often have to do the 2-3 nights of CIO all over again, is that true? I know every baby is different too so it's hard to categorize them all together. Oh, and on the bedtime, I read 7pm is good, but I'm probably going to have to go for more 8 or 9. I don't want to but I have meetings at night that are vital to me. I know her sleep is of top priority, but there are some things that are of more importance to both her and I and I can't cut these meetings out. I am trying to rearrange my schedule as much as I can right now to accommodate the new sleeping arrangements. My dd doesn't even seem tired until after 10pm most nights so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I know this is going to be tough because when she wakes in the night I try to comfort her without picking her up and her wimpering gets more insistent and then becomes wailing. She even starts to hyperventilate sometimes. Its really the only time she cries. I'm so torn because I really am for the attachment parenting route and I feel like having her cry that forcefully for any amount of time is detrimental to her. I know she can manipulate at this point, but sometimes it just seems more like she is disoriented and scared when she wakes. It could be because I put her down in her crib while she is asleep so she was somewhere else (with me) when she feel asleep. Anyways! Agghghhh, enough rambling....thanks for your help :)

hey, do what you need to do. :) I hate the CIO method but it worked but I know it's hard and not for everyone. BUT, you can do a lot with out it too. My dd didn't have any issues traveling or on vacation. We were always going places - weekend trips, several airplane trips - you name it we did it. From my own personal experience it's better to get them comfortable with change so that they don't have issues with it long term. Also, a bed time routine is good. We were a bit less strict with that (until she got older) and I never did a bath every night like I know a lot of people do. She wasn't that dirty for one - and I just didn't have the time to do it. ugh...it's so much work taking care of kids! Try having a second one so close in age! My son is great though - we feed him, change him and play a little bit and right before his starts to fuss we put him down. I know that it works better to get them in bed BEFORE they get fussy. I don't understand your evening schedule? Meetings? Are you home for them or do get home later? Maybe she can take another nap later in the day to help her with the sleep she misses? You are right though, they are starting to KNOW what they are doing and able to manipulate parents at this age. :) The crying to get what they want - it really will only last a little while if you try to retrain them. I have to go through it with my dd every now and then - for different reasons. She's only 28 months but tests everything from breakfast to bed time. The more I give in the more she does things. If I say no I have to mean it. :) I know, 6 months is too young to know NO but they do know how to get what they want. It's quite amazing sometimes. haha If it makes you feel any better, my dd had some really good scream fits and I can't say she has any issues that I know of. She's a pretty happy kid - as long as she's rested. I did feel horrible when she was screaming murder though - my husband made me wait it out and it was hard!!! I did go to her when she woke up at night - after a while and not immediately - and did my best to comfort her. Right now your dd might be having teething issues as well. My son is going through that and I've had a hell of a time the last few nights getting him to sleep or nap. He screamed for 2 hours last night - nothing helped. It's miserable. Poor guy. And...they wake up a lot when they teeth -well, some do. If you ever have any questions or if you just need a place to vent from lack of sleep or frustration, you can email me too. :) I haven't been on here as much not that both kids are super active. hcralston at comcast dot net
Good luck and keep me posted!

Thank you! I think I need to relax too as that would help some, lol. So I think I am going to first get her into more of a routine by doing a bedtime routine and then attempt to put her down when she starts to look sleepy during the day. I dont' think I can force naps at certain times if she is not tired. I think that will have to evolve based on when she is tired, right? After I start doing some of those things if she is still waking a lot at night I might just do the CIO where I come and check on her every 5 mintues. That is actually what her pedi suggested. I'm going to keep an open mind. This book I'm reading called the No Cry Sleep Solution is great, but it sounds like it could take months to work. and it is basically a lot of just keep plugging away trying to break habits like falling asleep at the boob, etc. I may get fed up with that one night and be ready to let her cry for a bit, so we'll see. I also am worried about doing too much right now b/c I feel that teething and starting solids is a part of what is going on with her too. In that case her sleep is going to be disrupted some, I think I'm going to make the changes I can on myself first and then if that doesn't work then try to just let her cry for a bit. I'm so tired today....she didn't nap at all. not once all. day. long. How do they do that? Now she is nursing to go to sleep and its after 9pm. So much for my bedtime routine tonight, I guess I could still try to take her off my breast before falling asleep and try to get her to lie down in her crib awake and play her aquarium or something. If I at least keep trying everynight its bound to catch on eventually, lol?