Incessant whinging/notsleeping 12mo

Ok I need your help please on two things!

Firstly, please tell me I am not the only one experiencing the dubious joy of having a 12 month old who lately seems to whinge incessantly?!

What's wrong with her? Is this a stage? She seems to want to be constantly carried or played with ALL THE TIME...which I obviously can't do esp while making dinner (4-6pm is horrid)! My happy wee girl is still happy but whingy if there's the slightest hint of her not getting her own way. How do I stop this? I can't stand whingy kids and certainly don't want to bring one up lol but whats the best way to deal with it given she's not quite a toddler?

She HAS had a bad cold the last 2 weeks as well as an ear infection so have definately taken that into account however she has always inclined toward this sort of behaviour so am pretty sure it's not that  (although it may be a contributing force).

The other issue we're having is Clodagh is 'still' not sleeping through the night. She IS generally a lot better than she was but on a good night she'll wake at midnight and 4am. DF goes in and rubs her back and on a good night she'll take 5 min each time to settle. On a bad night she'll take hours . We have to all intents and purposes night weaned her though so guess thats an improvement. Sigh.

She is also trying her damndest to drop a day sleep despite Plunket assuring me she is far too young to do so.  Um how do I MAKE her sleep if she doesn't want to though???? We have a regular rountine and she is BF before her morning nap, her afternoon nap and her bedtime. That's the theory anyway. Lately its been more like a BF before her morning nap then utter refusal and screaming for an hour before me giving in and getting her up.  Then she's so exhausted she crashes about midday just after lunch. OR it can be the other way where she sleeps in the morning but then thats it for the day.

Aarrrrrrrgh any advice appreciated. I feel like we've tried everything!!!!!

Edited by Emmecat

Mel how long did Jake cry for though during CC? Clodagh can literally go ad infinitum  hours sometimes! She has a real paddy on her and I'm worried that her lungs will explode or something...she gets SO worked up!!! It's quite amazing really.

Jake could go for hours too and he would scream.

We had a 10 minute limit and it took us about 2 weeks BUT you could see improvement after a couple of days.

Now he has even started having 2 naps during the day again.

Daniel was on one day sleep around that age and then every few days he would need a 2nd.

I like CC especially from about a year. The first time I used it properly he went for ages.. my theory was simply because he was use to crying and having me jump immediately. The next day was nothing like the first. We used the baby sleep solution from the sleep store, its on dvd and shows actual families doing the routine and how it changes and gets better.

Hmmm so you guys think it's 'normal' for a baby this age to be dropping a nap then? some days she does have 2 shorter ones but normally it's one of 2-3 hours long. Plunket assured me on my last visit a week or so ago that not only should Clodgah be having 2 sleeps a day but that she 'should' also be sleeping through the night by now . Um yeah that'd be great!

Pfffft to Plunket!!!

C dropped to one sleep on his first birthday (just refused his afternoon sleep altogether!) and had one nap a day for about a month then went back to two naps while we were on holiday and did that for a couple of months and then back to one sleep by around 15 months. He's 18mo next week and some days he will take himself to bed at 9am lol and be up again at 11.30 so I try and get him out of the house all afternoon so he's ready for bed at 6pm or at least he'll have a nap in the pram for 30 mins or so to get him through.

I definitely remember a whingy phase right before C started crawling and also walking and actually when he was getting interested in climbing too Also when I've got him something new, like his stroller and baby doll, it took him a couple of days of steering it into the wall and being grumpy/frustrated and then he would figure it out and be happy entertaining himself/working things out on his own again IYGWIM.

Seriously, take Plunket's views with a grain a salt re the sleep thing. One nap a day is fine at this age. You might even find the night sleeps start improving on their own if you stop trying to push the two naps??

lol I'm gonna take you on my next Plunket visit Mel!  You shoulda heard her when she found out Clodagh was vegetarian lol.... I felt like saying 'nah I don't give my baby any protein at all, that's why she's on the 70th percentile for weight. We just eat vegetables'.

Emmecat - we too have the same phase at the moment (given our chiddliwinks are a couple of weeks apart in age I am not surprised!!) Extremely clingy and whingy - and has started to chuck a few paddies when she doesn't get her own way. I ignore whingy behaviour or just tell her to "stopit" or "show me" what she wants. Doesn't always work but she has improved over the last few days.

 

As for sleeping - we still get occasional wakings but if we leave her she will go back to sleep or I give her a bottle of water and she soon goes back to sleep.

But can totally sympathise!!

Mrs_B wrote: Oh I hear ya sister! C is doing my head in!! I could have written your post, we are in the exact same situation only I am now back to feeding him twice a night He had a tummy bug last week and wouldn't eat anything and only wanted to BF so when he woke overnight I feed him as thought he was probably hungry - bad move! Now he expects it every time he wakes and screams for hours if I don't feed him When he is not whinging, whining or clinging he's getting up to mischief and destroying whatever he can get his hands on. Needless to say I am finding this stage VERY challenging

((hugs)). You are officially my twin Mrs B!!!  

emmecat - i can hear ya on the whinging.... i never liked the whingey type of kid and guess what i have...at the moment anyway, she has just got one molar and can see another coming. i use rescue remedy when she is unbearable and seems to make her calm down a lot.
DD is also only sleeping once a day at 11ish for a couple of hours and then is back in bed at 7pm.
you are definetly not alone and we just have to grit our teeth together and smile!!!