At my wit's end with sleep and schedules

DCKate

Ok. DD has always been a pretty decent sleeper. She still wakes up once a night a few days a week, but just for a drink, diaper change and cuddle. It could be much worse and I don't mind. DH usually does MOTN wake ups anyway.

The problem is that after what seems like two months of colds and teething and other sleep disruptions, we just aren't on a schedule. I will get her back on one for a day or two, and then she skips her nap, or refuses to go to bed until 12am, etc.

She's over her cold and not teething now, and we are still awake at 10:30 after she fell asleep at 8 and woke up at 10.

I would love your schedules so that I have a template to work with. I just feel like I'm losing the sleep battle with her and it's really awful.

Help!

OhBaby+2013

7am (if I'm lucky) wake up. Breakfast happens almost immediately. Snack at 11. Books at 11:30, nap by12 and he wakes up usually between 1 and 2. Lunch immediatly after nap. Snack and milk at 4. Dinner at 5/5:30. Hard playing then 1-2 cartoons. Upstairs between 6:30 and 7. Bath and books then bed. He is in bed no later than 8 but usually around 7:40. I agree with @clarypax I'd keep bedtime the same regardless and if she is quietly in her room that's ok. She will eventually figure out that it's bed time. Good luck.

spainy17

Up between 5 and 7, usually 6.
Breakfast, play.
Snack around 930.
Lunch at 1100.
Wind down.
Nap 1200 to 2 or 3.
Snack, play.
Dinner at 500.
Play, bath at 0615.
Books, wind down.
Bed by 7.

I agree with consistency. Bedtime never varies beyond half an hour. If nap is short I aim early. I wake her up if a nap extends longer than 3 hours unless she has been sick. She is up often at night and I hear her play her music but I never go in unless she is crying and I only stay to cuddle for her ten minute music songs.

ReeceFamily

Have you read the No-Cry Sleep Solution?  It's mostly for younger babies, but one of her main points that has been super helpful for us is to focus on developing routines (based on sequences of events/activities) rather than trying to enforce schedules (based on timelines)...because babies/kids are notoriously shitty at being on schedule!

My most important routine is bedtime routine (get pjs on, then milk/cuddle time, then brush teeth, then story time, then lullabies).  I'm not really a schedule person but on average I aim for starting the routine between 7:30 and 8:00 and she's usually asleep by 8 or 8:30.

Our biggest sleep challenge right now is weekend naps at home.  We are co-sleepers, but I've learned she won't nap in our bed.  So what I finally got to work is a modified version of the nighttime routine followed by mandatory "quiet time" in her crib (i finally found a use for her freaking crib that we never use!).  I put her in with dolls and books and she has to stay there for 30-45 mins whether she sleeps or not.  Usually partway through she'll cry and call for me, and I'll go in and lay her down and pat her back and then she's out for an hour or two.

Good luck - that sucks that she has been sick and so off her game!

this decaf life

DD goes to bed at 630 PM but I think she's usually awake for a little while. She doesn't cry though, just sort of talks to herself for a bit. She sleeps until about 7 on the weekends, 615-630 on weekdays. I think on weekdays she hears us getting ready and wakes up a little earlier. She naps 1130-130, I'm going to try and push it to 12-2 because she starts school in January and won't be home until 1130 so her lunch is going to get pushed back.

She runs around so much outside during the day that she's really worn out by 630.