Can anyone offer some advice on getting an 18-month-old to sleep at night?
Until now the three techniques we’ve had are 1) feeding to sleep on the boob, 2) walking to sleep in the sling and 3) falling asleep in the car. Number 3 is only good for naps in the daytime, number 2 is getting difficult as our kid is getting big and heavy (and is a PITA at night anyway, and number 1 is starting to become less reliable/effective.
What have you learnt about getting kids (particularly this age, if relevant) to sleep?
Many thanks!
These have worked in the past.
Holding baby upright, I would bounce-pivot left and right, and be tapping out a random set of beats on baby’s leg or back.
The beats would either be 1,2 or 3 taps, trying to mimic a random-number-generator, with no recognisable pattern.
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If baby was restless, vocal, and possibly overtired (plus you were sure that feeding has occurred and baby is freshly changed), I would sometimes break through the crankiness by increasing the pivot back and forward speed greatly(and safely). Once baby quietened with the faster speed and taps, I would slow it back down.
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Other than that, try driving to sleep. Should be 10 minutes or so.