My older son was never a good sleeper. He needed parental contact to fall asleep and stay asleep. He never took a pacifier, I was his pacifier (weaned him at 12 months). I remember the no-sleep part. At one point, I almost fell asleep behind the wheel because I was so tired. That really scared me. Hubby convinced me to cry-it-out at 11 months and I hated it. I cried too. It worked for a month or two but then we were back to bad sleeper. In hindsight, I'm sure he was showing signs of anxiety even as a baby (he was diagnosed with SPD and anxiety at 6 years old).

As I mention in the other sleep post, I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth and got several good things from it. I do recommend reading it even though I wouldn't follow it exactly. But all the stuff about set bedtimes and the importance of children getting enough sleep, I agree with wholeheartedly!

When he was 2-3 years old, I had to rock and sing him to sleep. It still took a long time for him to fall asleep, but once he was asleep, he'd stay asleep for the most part (unless he was sick). Then around 4 years old we tried stories on CDs. That wasn't too bad. But he would listen through the whole thing 2-3 times. Then we tried a CD with ocean waves and that was better.

He went through cycles of good sleeping, bad sleeping, good sleeping, bad sleeping... The worst was around 1st grade when it took 2-3 hours a night for him to fall asleep and that was with my husband and I taking turns sitting in his room until he fell asleep because his anxiety was so bad. But luckily that was the turning point for him. He started OT in school and privately. I learned to do joint compressions. He started going to individual therapy and social skills group. By 8, it took him an hour. By 9, it took him 30 minutes. My older is 10 years old now. It takes him about 15-20 minutes to fall asleep, but we still sit in the room because otherwise his anxiety peaks and he calls to us every 5 minutes. It's hard to tell if he got better with the therapies or with age. Probably both.

Things to try with your daughter--joint compressions, white noise CD or white noise machine or fan, heavy blanket (my younger loves his), consistent bedtime routine.