Bedtime with a newborn

oandmplus1

DS is 2 weeks old and DD is 2. All of a sudden she does not want to go to bed at her regular time. I am home alone with the 2 of them for bedtime, and it has been so stressful. DS wants to cluster feed at DD's bedtime. I try to get him settled and then rock DD and read to her and put her down drowsy as always, but as soon as I am out of the room she is back up sometimes for an hour to an hour and a half in her crib. I go back in and lay her down again, but I don't really spend any time in there because DS is wanting to be fed. Any suggestions? My favorite time of day has now become something I dread.

CindyRelluh

With our dd, when she doesn't go to sleep right away we just let her play in her crib. She has a bed time she's sticking to, and if she is not hurt hungry or wet we leave her be. We go in every now and then, tuck her back in, restart her crib toy and leave. I'll be doing the same once DS gets here in three weeks. She also has a stuffed dog named Scout that she plays with. He's programmed to sing songs about her favorite things, and even says her name.

I'd just let her hang in bed, and she will fall asleep when she's tired.

christyjane17

Be consistent!! DS climbed out of his crib at 18 months old and DD was 6 weeks old. It was a stressful transition to a toddler bed, but now that he has adapted to that and new sister, bedtime is back to being smooth again. Hang in there! I was stressed and dh was home for bedtime every night.

meggers102

If she isn't getting hurt or doing something she shouldn't, I would just leave her to play in her crib.  Our DD has moved to a big girl bed and there are just some nights when she isn't as tired as others and we hear her playing and talking for up to an hour sometimes.  I figure, some nights I have a hard time going to sleep so I'm sure it's the same for her.  If you are open to it, maybe give her a book to read to help wind her down for the night.  I would definitely keep the same bedtime as consistency is key!  Good luck!

emnoahmom

I've been through this a few times and I'm also on my own at night. It's hard! I would nurse the baby while reading to my older children in a sling. I would tell them when it was time to sleep that they needed to stay in bed and close their eyes and after I put the baby to bed, I would be back to check on them. It took practice, but it eventually worked.