Question on sleeping issues for toddler

My one year old requires either walking or rocking to sleep and with a
pacifier.
I was trying to get her out of this habit and was trying to keep her
down on the bed for few minutes so that she can sleep on her own(after
ofcourse I have rocked her for sometime).
But as we know babies donot like changes - the end result was that she
took one hour to fall asleep.
I donot mind walking or rocking her to sleep..she falls asleep faster
and better.
But we are thinking of sending her to a daycare this spring..who will
do this to her over there?

Nikki...

I nursed mine to sleep and obviously dad and the daycare couldn't do that
:-) Hunter did not nap well for dad or daycare and did not nap well for me
when I quit nursing him. Luke actually napped longer for dad and daycare
and they both did it a bit differently - they just found what worked for
them. Based on my experience my advice would be to not worry about it,
they'll figure out their own way!

How will she get her sleep( i mean daytime naps) there?
Als I am worried with time - when she weighs more - I will not be able
to walk or rock her to sleep..then what will happen?

Nikki...

Luke's dad was able to just lay him down and he fell asleep on the couch.
That transition happened slowly and painlessly. I had to basically hold
Hunter down in my lap until he quit fighting and fell asleep and then when I
quit doing that (at 24mos) he just quit napping. The Luke was a little more
normal and he fell asleep at night with me sitting or laying beside him and
for naps I rocked him in a chair. They outgrow naps before they are to big
to rock in a recliner :-)

How do kids fall asleep on their own? without any cry-it-out or
external procedures? do they start sleeping on their own as time comes?
Do I just continue the way it is and things will be okay naturally with
time as she grows older?

Sidheag McCormack...

I suggest separating out the two issues, daycare and the long term.
Depending how soon you'll be sending her to daycare, you might *not* want
to do any disruptive changes at home right now. If you have plenty of time,
then it might make sense to see if you can help her to learn to go to sleep
on her own now. My experience - and there's lots of variation, YMMV - was:

- DS started nursery at 10.5 months, at which point he was still routinely
nursing to sleep at home. It took a couple of weeks, during which time he
did cry (on the lap of a staff member), but he learned to nap using the
nursery routine, which is basically just that all the kids lie down and go
to sleep! For a long time after that, he still nursed to sleep at home,
including for naps. Different places, different routines.

- Around 14 months he did just "magically" start coming off the breast
awake and going to sleep on his own. Not quite overnight, but there was a
very noticeably change over a couple of weeks. I'm not sure what it would

dkhedmo...

But yeah, it might happen like

look like from a walking/rocking routine: you might want to think about how
you would *know* if she was ready to go to sleep on her own, and make sure
your routine allows her to demonstrate this. But yeah, it might happen like
that.

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003

dkhedmo...

Both of mine were/are nursed to sleep. DS1 (now age 5.5) started
slipping off but not asleep at about 2 1/2 and going to sleep on his own
after looking at books on his own. It happened pretty consistently, as
Sidheag said, wihtin a few weeks time. Around 18-19 months ds2 (now 20+
months) started doing the same thing.

No one here has been in day care, but dh was/is able to get people to
sleep as necessary, whether resorting to driving around in the car,
dancing in a dim room with music, etc with dh1 or in the case of ds 2,
he just traps him with his own body into the sidecar crib by our bed and
dims the lights and puts on music and white noise, and voila, they're
BOTH sound asleep!

-Karen, mom to Henry and William-

Nikki...

Some just up and start sleeping on their own. Others, like mine, take a
little more time (years as a matter of fact) and a little more nudging but
they do eventually get there and as long a you are OK with it everything is
fine. Hunter, who had the most trouble, sleeps great now.

By nudging I mean that I took things very slowly and one step at a time.
They weren't always happy with it but it did work with minimal drama. Once
they are older they can throw a bigger tantrum but it is easier to believe
that they aren't scared/lonely/etc. With Luke the worst stage was getting
him used to me sitting beside him in bed or in a chair rather then laying
down with him. He was between 2.5 and 3yo then. He did cry but it wasn't
like leaving him in his crib as a toddler either.

Your advice /thoughts will be very much appreciated.
TIA -

tedneeley...

I commiserate. My dd was like this for a very long time. Then she
started going to day care. They put all the kids to bed for a nap after
lunch. They close the windows, dim the lights and play soft music to
help them fall asleep. These days on weekends, after lunch she'll nap
just as well. Kids behave very differently with different caregivers.
My younger one won't go to bed without nursing but with her daycare
lady or with my husband, she won't even raise an issue.

For us, her day time nap got a lot better once she started going to day
care. Also, daycares have rigid schedules for meal/play/nap, it helps
us tremendously. Don't worry, it will only get better.