One year old can't settle down at bedtime

sidey1

DS has been a pretty good sleeper up until just recently. The past few nights it's like he goes into hyper mode at bedtime, he can't stop moving, he flails his arms around, turns from side to side repeatedly, kicks his legs, everything BUT fall asleep. Last night it took two hours to get him down, once he was asleep he slept 9 hrs straight. We have not changed his bedtime routine at all, he has dinner, we read books, bath and then bottle and bed. I know he's tired so I feel bad I can't help him get settled. Any suggestions? 

JENandJEH

Was he fussing or just restless in his bed?  If he was just restless but not crying or fussing, I would have left him and let him work it out himself.  Sometimes DS2 needs downtime to decompress in his bed before he falls asleep.  He wiggles, repositions himself, chats to himself a bit then goes on to sleep.  I know if I were to go in there, he would never settle himself.  

Kids and sleep is always going to be a trial and error type thing.  They go through so many phases and sleep regressions and sometimes you just have to ride it out and be consistent.  

jnnfrrose6

We let DS do his thing. Some nights he just needs more time to settle. Tonight it took him an hour before he finally fell asleep. As long as he isn't screaming and/or crying we let him do his thing. Last night he was out in about five minutes (though that probably had more to do with the fact that he didn't really nap yesterday). Most nights it's anywhere between 15 min to 1 hour. We did push his bedtime back by 30 min a few weeks ago when it was stretching longer than that for him to get to sleep, but we believe the consistency in his bedtime and him learning that he's on his own to get to sleep once the door is shut for the night is important.

sidey1

The rational part of me realizes this is probably a phase, but its hard to see the end of the tunnel when you're right in the middle. 

Last night DH and I tried leaving him, he played in his crib for about 1/2 hour until he threw his two blankies over the side of the crib and had a meltdown when he realized he couldn't get them..