Training Candra to sleep - Big headache

Parents out there will definitely know what I am talking about here.

Candra's been put on a routine since her birth. Feed - Wake - Sleep cycles...this is to help her establish day and night pattern so that she will be able to sleep through the night at some point.

Feeding hasn't been much of a problem, save that for the past few feeds, she has been rather fussy because of her tiredness. As her mother, I got to be patient with her to ensure she gets her full-feeds.

As for wake-time, my little one has little trouble with that. In fact, she has TOO MUCH of wake-time I think. Based on our observations of her pattern over the past few weeks, this little girl likes to stay awake for as long as she can. Take the past few days for example, she can be awake for up to 8 hours without sleep. That's quite a feat for a one-month old baby. Even the confinement lady finds her incredible in this aspect.

Now..for sleep-time, this little girl challenges everyone in the house. I have sort of decided not to use the "cry-it-out" method to train her to sleep, because I don't think I can tolerate her extensive crying. We have tried to use all sorts of methods to settle her to sleep when she shows signs of tiredness:

1. Carrying and patting her until she is drowsy, put her down in her cot before she falls into deep sleep, then continue patting her until she becomes really drowsy, leave the room

2. Letting her cry for 10-15 mins to let her know that no one is going to carry her or play with her, give her the pacifier, then leave the room

3. Letting her cry for 10-15 mins to let her know that no one is going to carry her or play with her, give her the pacifier and pat her until she is really drowsy before leaving the room

So far, none of the above methods have really worked on her because SHE JUST DOES NOT WANT TO SLEEP!!!! We have concluded that this little girl is probably an active child who likes to play more than sleep.

Just now, we were at our wits end (myself, the confinement lady and my domestic helper). We decided to stay in the room, let her cry and know that all of us were in that room and WERE NOT going to carry her or play with her. After 15mins of crying and us conveying to her the clear message that she had to sleep, she decided to stop and eventually fell asleep while the 3 of us were chatting away. This little girl understood what we were all saying. We thought that was really funny. haha :)

Well, I have not found a consistent method to settle her to sleep. I hope she doesn't force me to use the "cry-it-out" method on her. But one thing we have all decided on is to avoid carrying her to sleep.

Let me tell you this, little kids like Candra are very clever. Haha.. as her mother, I got to learn to outsmart her!