Mommies of toddlers.. anyone else not have a bedtime routine that sticks? I've been trying.. and trying.. but I can't seem to get my 21 m/o on a routine bed time. We co-sleeped for 18 months, and she's had her own bed since 18 months, but comes to ours in the middle of the night. That's not an issue for me, it's just the fact that sometimes she'll be raring to go until 10 or 11 at night and that is just too much for me! Any suggestions? She gets a routine tub every night between 7 and 8, but never falls asleep at the same time.
Re: What's the latest your LO stays up?
We have a hard time getting DD down, too. We always start winding down by about 7/7:30 and I get her in bed by 8, but sleep often doesnt happen until 9 or occasionally later. If we put her in her crib she screams and screams (at least 30 mins) until she falls asleep and then awakens in less than an hour and it starts all over again.
If we co-sleep, I have to go lay down at 8, which still daylight and not fun, and DD tries to climb off the bed and tosses around.
We're stuck
DD2: Lucia (Lucy) 07/13
I had to do CIO with DD when she was about 20 months old. The first night was awful, the second night wasn't as bad, and the 3rd night she just went right to sleep in less than 5 minutes, no crying at all.
Her bedtime is 8-8:15-8:30 ish, but it's not firm. And I do let her stay up for fireworks, family bbq's, etc.
My LO's are in bed around 7. I didn't co-sleep at all, though, so I did CIO a very long time ago and routine has been in place since. I do put books in each crib and let them read for as long as they like. Sometimes I hear DD flipping pages and talking for a 1/2 hour. DS is usually down within 10 minutes. Also, they know that once we brush our teeth, it's right to bed. I include them in as many things as possible: they put thier own milk cups in the fridge, get their chairs to stand on to brush teeth, say night night to everything downstairs, and then pick out the books they'd like to have in their cribs. Having an active part in the routine seems to help signal that it's bedtime.
GL!
I would definitely bump up dinnertime. I save a portion of our dinner from the night before, and give that to DS between 430-5. He goes to bed between 7-8. We also do bath in the morning instead of the evening. It helps a lot.
Have you tried using those large, easy to rinse off plastic bibs so not as much food gets on her body? Then you just have to wipe her hands/face which isnt too bad. It's a fight in our house too, but not too bad.
How are your LO's naps during the day? Going to bed at 10 or 11 pm is really late for a child her age. It sounds as if she may be overtired which only complicates bedtime.
Bedtime is at 8 pm. Sometimes we stretch it a bit, but she never goes to bed past 9 pm (and that is only in very special circumstances).
Sometimes Lily doesn't fall asleep at 8 pm, but she knows that she needs to stay in her bed. This is very rare however...normally she is asleep in 15 minutes.
Consistency is the key. If you enforce bedtime you LO will adapt and eventually you will not have any problems. If you let her decide when she wants to go to bed you are never going to get her on a schedule.
I find that many times overtiredness can lead to high energy. I would bet a small fortune that is what you are dealing with when she is up till 10 to 11 am.
You can do this. Toddlers are very good at bedtime manipulation.
Lily has tried every trick in the book to keep from going to bed, but we just stay strong and stick to the schedule.
For example, a couple of months ago (in the winter) Lily went through a phase where she would take all of her clothes off right after we left the room and then cry that she was cold. For the first couple of nights we went in and put her clothes back on until I realized it was just another way to delay bedtime. The next night I told her that we would not be coming in to put her clothes back on, so if she took them off she would have to sleep that way. Surprisingly it worked, but even if she had taken off her clothes we would have stuck to our guns and turned up the heat for that night.
Edit- I should say that I have no problem employing CIO at this age...however we don't need it because we have this bedtime routine for so long.
DD no longer naps so she is in bed between 7:15 and 7:30 and asleep in 5 minutes.
At 21 months DD was still napping 1.5 - 2 hours after lunch. She was in bed by 8 and asleep by 8:30.
I am assuming that your DD is still taking an afternoon nap (which is a good thing!). What time does she wake up from that? How long does she sleep? It could be that you ned to move her nap to an earlier time or perhaps shorten it so she is tired by bedtime.
Just some thoughts! GL!
m/c at 13 weeks - March 23, 2011
I agree!