DD is about to be 7 months and, try as we might, we can't get her to go to sleep until 10p.m. She is up once during the night and then up for the day generally at 6:30, sometimes 7.
At about 7:30, I give her a warm bath, rock her and give her a bottle but then she screams bloody murder if I try to put her to sleep and if we let her stay up, she plays happily for at least two hours.
What's the deal? I keep trying to find some hint of a schedule and go with it but her needs / schedule seem to change everyday.
Makes for a very long day with pretty much no alone time for DH or I, seeing as how we are up at 5:30 to get to the gym, showered and ready for the day before the kids wake.
Also, she takes 3 naps a day currently - (2) 45-minute naps and one that is generally 90 to 120 minutes. The last nap (one of the shorter ones) ends usually at around 5p.m.
Re: Anyone Have Tips for Getting Child to Go to Bed Earlier?
I'm struggling with a late sleeper too. DS suddenly decided that 12 would be a very good bed time. I have finally go him back to about 10 but who knows how long that would last.
But I would maybe ditch the last nap and just keep her up. See if that does the trick.
at 7 months she should be up for at least 3-4hrs before you want her in bed.
So do your best to knock out the last nap.
Try a 2-3-4 schedule. When she wakes up keep her up 2hrs before Nap #1. Aftr she gets up- put her down 3hrs for nap #2. When she is up 4hrs until bedtime.
This is pretty much the type of schedule DD was on (without knowing there was a 2-3-4 schedule) at your DD's age & it worked great. She was just starting to sleep through the night too. So try & kick the last nap of the day & see how that goes. The bath always got DD excited so we didn't bath her at night.
DD's bedtime was 11pm until we finally tried to do a motified CIO at 1 1/2. Until then I would rock her to sleep starting at 9 pm. I know CIO is not for everyone but we finally did it. I feel bad it took that long to realize her chronic sleep deprivation was actually causing all her sleep issues lol!
I always recommend the book "The Sleep Easy Solution". We let her learn how to self-sooth and now she sleeps from 7:45 pm - 7-8 am every day and is a much happier toddler.
Your Dd is alot younger but maybe the book has some tips. I know pushing bedtime back in 15 minute increments is good so as to ease them into it. Also, really stick to your schedule. If I read DD's book too fast etc, or changed anything about the schedule she would have a harder time falling asleep and be up forever. Good luck to you!