what do you do if baby is awake at bedtime?

aliciaroset · July 2012

DD is usually pretty great at going down, falling asleep while she's nursing or when I put her in the pack and play after rocking her most of the way down.

But tonight she thinks it's a flippin party in here. She is laughing and talking. Right now I've just left her in there, but I'm trying to decide if I should go back and try to get her to sleep by rocking and singing to her.

For naps I normally let her do whatever, so if she acts like this she's obviously not tired and I let her get up, but I try to be more consistent about bedtime because she's a terrible night time sleeper. She was getting sleepy half an hour before we put her down so I know she SHOULD be tired.

So, what do you do in this situation? Other than drink wine, because I'm about to start doing that.

HappyAardvark · July 2012

Some nights he's more tired than others after we nurse and I put him down. But he still goes into his crib. Sometimes he plays for a bit and puts himself to sleep, other nights he fusses and cries. I let him go and don't go back into the room unless he's really hysterical for more than 5 minutes or so, which has only happened a few times. I want him to learn that bedtime is bedtime. But that's just what works for us.

dlast09 · July 2012

We put him to bed awake every night anyways. Some nights he is wide awake, some nights he is ready for bed. If he is wide awake, he normally plays or fusses himself to sleep.

kujayhawkgirl · July 2012

dlast09:
We put him to bed awake every night anyways. Some nights he is wide awake, some nights he is ready for bed. If he is wide awake, he normally plays or fusses himself to sleep.

This exactly. Also, we have a 30 minute window of when we lay DD down -- 7:30-8. If she's more awake at 7:30, then we wait until she either gets sleepy or it's 8:00. No matter what, she goes in her crib at 8pm.

Nita2603 · July 2012

dlast09:
We put him to bed awake every night anyways. Some nights he is wide awake, some nights he is ready for bed. If he is wide awake, he normally plays or fusses himself to sleep.

Same here!

aliciaroset · July 2012

hmmm. I'm going to have to give this a try. She is great at playing by herself, so I think she might do just fine.

Why do I always make things so hard?!

I went in there and rocked her to sleep but it took a good 15 minutes. Sometimes I am so dumb. Next time she's not ready I'm just going to let her do her thing.

pearblossom · July 2012

Our two share a room so we usually put them down together, even if someone's schedule is off. They play or talk to each other until they fall asleep.

Mcheza · July 2012

Our bedtime is pretty flexible but usually pretty consistent. If we put her down and she's contently playing by herself, I just let her be. We usually don't put her down until we know she's tired though. It works for us to follow her lead.

KrisM86 · July 2012

DD typically goes right to sleep when we put her down for bed. However, she will occasionally fuss/cry and/or play for a bit. When this happens, I leave her in there and she eventually puts herself to sleep. I only go in to soothe her if she is really hysterical for at least 5-10 minutes, which rarely happens. At this age, I think she needs to realize that when it's bedtime, she stays in bed.

cantalopes24 · July 2012

Mcheza:
Our bedtime is pretty flexible but usually pretty consistent. If we put her down and she's contently playing by herself, I just let her be. We usually don't put her down until we know she's tired though. It works for us to follow her lead.

This. If she is awake awake I'm not going to put her down but she normally is asleep by 8.

FabulousMrs.P · July 2012

As long as she is happy, I usually let her be. She will fall asleep eventually. If she is screaming, then I go in and see if she is okay.

Chunstad · July 2012

aliciaroset:

hmmm. I'm going to have to give this a try. She is great at playing by herself, so I think she might do just fine.

Why do I always make things so hard?!

I went in there and rocked her to sleep but it took a good 15 minutes. Sometimes I am so dumb. Next time she's not ready I'm just going to let her do her thing.

Don't say that about yourself! We are all learning together :-) I put C in his crib at bedtime after his bedtime routine. We do this at the same time every night 99% of the time. Sometimes he'll spend a while in there talking/fussing to himself. But it's important for us to have a routine and a bedtime that we stick with.

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