OK, I am one of those people who lurk around the board, reading what everyone writes, and then try them with my 2 babies. Josh is 2 1/2 and Megan is 7 mths. And she is my "Little Princess" and a Princess she is. We are having a very hard time sleeping. Naps, bedtime everything!! We stopped breastfeeding about a month ago. She would fall a sleep breastfeeding, then we would put her in her crib. Now we give her a bottle before bed, and she is a wake when is time to go to bed. For the past 7 days we have been doing a routine, and then put her in the crib. She cries, and cries FOR 45 mins!! I hate it. The only thing she wants to do is suck on me finger. We never had a problem with Josh falling a sleep.( He is a thumb sucker). The over day she had her little lambs leg in her mouth, the day before that she was sucking on her blanket. but it took her 45min to an hour to get to that point. She will cry out a little in the middle on the night, then go right back to sleep. Naps are the same way, 45 mins to get to sleep and she will sleep 45 mins if I'm lucky (some days she will not sleep at all) I hate to hear her cry. Do I let her fall a sleep drinking her bottle? Do I let her fall a sleep sucking my finger? Please help! I feel like I'm a bad mom.
Thank you
Jennifer

Awww, you're not a bad mom! to you! In fact you are a great mom because you are noticing a change in your little princess's behavior and you are concerned... to me that means you really know your little sweetie and that's awesome! Some people just stop there; they notice the difference, but they just shrug and don't worry about it, but you want to help which is great!

Reading the age of your little one (7 months), and then following up with how she is crying unless she has something to put in her mouth (even if it's not nursing - sounds like she just wants anything in there, because if she was hungry, then a finger or a blanket etc wouldn't be enough).... all of those things together sound like someone who is the perfect age for teething, and is trying to get some relief with anything in her mouth, and the comfort of the presence of her mommy. If this is the case, right now is a good time to slow down a bit with your No Cry Sleep Solution "Sleep Plan" while she gets over this most recent bout of needing your comfort during this painful time. This happened to our DS as well, and he was such a good sleeper until 7 months when he just was so wakeful and suddenly needed a pacifier even though he never had one before... It helped (like the thumb helped your DS you said), but it's a mixed blessing because now our DS is almost 3 and a half, and he still wants that pacifier sometimes at night... most of the night he doesn't need it, but it's just that he thinks he does before he falls asleep! Oh well! I've never seen a 16 year old who needs one at night so I guess these things eventually work themselves out.

Does this sound like it could be a possibility? If not, let's continue to brainstorm to come up with other ideas!

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