Argh... bedtime!

eisenberg0814

I now I posted about my struggles before... maybe you can help with this one. so, bedtime has been a freaking 2-3 hour struggle for the last weeks. Normally, we have dinner, bath, stories, cuddle/nurse and the DH carries her into her room and and sings to her and cuddles her until she goes to sleep. During the day, she goes to kindergarden from 7:30-1pm, sleeps right afterwards 3-4h and then goes to bed around 7:30-8.

But now she does not want anything for dinner, no bath, no stories, no cuddles. Just playtime. she finds anything to interest her to occupy her to not go to bed. we try choices, we try compromise, we try giving time limits. she usually ends up asking for TV or icecream. and we say no and that leads to huge meltdowns.

I am so nauseated and sick (I am basically now on bedrest) and my DH is worn out. dishes are piling up and we are at a wits end. but we cannot just pack into bed and let her cry. she has never been left to cry. she 22 months old.

Lotte134

I have 2 thoughts:

1) Have you thought about cutting her afternoon nap a bit shorter?  Granted, my DS has never needed a ton of sleep, but he is about the same age and naps for 90 minutes to 2 hours.  We also never let him sleep past 4pm because if we do bedtime is a mess.

2) What happens if you leave her in her bedroom and let her cry for a moment?  Sometimes we have to show DS we're really serious about it being bedtime and when we leave the room he will cry for about 15 seconds, then lay down and go to sleep.  I still hate the crying, but I'm ok with that short amount of time.  If he keeps going of course we go back in and comfort, but still try to keep him in his crib so he knows it really is time to go to sleep and stalling won't work.