My 41/2 month old refuses to go to bed before midnight. Should I try keeping her awake all day?

Answer 1

Does she have a routine? How long is she napping during the day and what time does she wake up in the morning?

Answer 2

Good God no !!!
Babies sleep much better at night if they have adequate sleep during the day . A child this age should be having at least two , maybe three naps during the day .
If she becomes over tired , she will be much harder to settle . If you miss the " sleepy signs " , and she goes into that irritable state , she will fight the tiredness and generally make going to bed a miserable stressfull time for both of you . I know it is hard sometimes to recognise the signs , but they will definately be there . Eg - rubbing her eyes , starting to get whingy , heavy looking eyelids . Things like that . Develop a routine and or sleep association , that is an activity or thing that she will recognise as a sign that is time to have a sleep . My first was a terrible day sleeper , only 3 , 20 min catnaps per day until he was 10 mths .
Couldn't get anything done . My second is 10 wks now and will have a couple of hrs twice a day . I make sure I swaddle him and this makes all the difference .
Sleep deprivation is just a part of having babies . I find it is better to be up late and then hopefully get decent sleep in between feeds , rather than go to bed early and have to be awake for hours resettling during the night . Good Luck .

Answer 3

Fatigue might work but it could make her very difficult during the day, although it is feasible for a 4 year old not to have a nap.

The most important thing is routine, make sure she isn't allowed to sleep to late, and have a winding down time at the end of the day. Maybe after tea she can have a warm bath then get into night clothes and have a story before going to bed. That way she will know that at bath time it is nearly time to get into night clothes, then time for a story and bed. Association is a vwry useful tool. Then be patient, put her into bed and go downstairs, making sure the lighting is right for her and be consistent whether the door is open or shut. Then if she gets up put her straight back to bed with the minimun of fuss because attention is a reward. You might have to ignore tantrums for a while but keep reinforcing good behaviour and reward her when she goes to bed early and stays there.

Answer 4

I wouldn't recommend keeping her up all day. Babies need the sleep to be healthy and thrive. I would suggest maybe keeping her awake from 6-9 or 10 though. Try putting her to bed at 10, once she has been up for a few hours. I would also recommend putting her to bed awake. This is a habit I got into with both my babies. This way they learn how to fall asleep on their own. You could also try putting her to bed 15 min earlier each night. I hope you find a solution. God Bless

Answer 5

Sure, go ahead, if you want to get her sleep even *more* confused and difficult!! It certainly won't help either of you...

What exactly is the problem? Are you ready to go to bed long before midnight, and your daughter's schedule is difficult for you? If so, I would suggest that *you* change to accomodate her needs. It is easier for you to change than for her. You are the adult.

If you *are* up until midnight, just keep her nearby. You can put her in a sling, and care for her while still having your hands available to do other things.

If you absolutely cannot manage the schedule that is natural for her, then I would suggest the following. At your preferred bedtime, get into bed, put her next to you, and nurse her in the dark. She may fall asleep more easily this way than any other method you've tried. Be sure that your bed is a safe place for her to sleep (see sources section below). I assume she's not crawling yet? In this case, you can cuddle with her and just fall asleep, and she can't get into much trouble. If she *is* crawling, you may have to make more arrangements to keep her safe in bed with you.

I hope this helps!

Answer 6

Dont try keeping him awake during the day as the over-tiredness will make it more difficult for him to relax.

Set yourself up a routine and put your baby into that. Give him some times to eat and sleep and try and get him to work with those times. It will take some time but it can take two to three weeks to change a routine so be patient and persistant.

Get in the habit of a bedtime routine and stick with it.

Children of all ages thrive on routine as it gives them things to look forward to and they are able to anticipate what will happen next which in turn gives them feelings of security.

I have had the same bed time routine for my daughter since she was born and she was sleeping from 9pm to 9am from 6 months....Give it a go!!!

Answer 7

Yes. Stay consitent and persistent. Develop a routine that will keep the baby up in the day and teach the baby it's time for bed at a certain time in the evening. Of course the baby has to nap. New babies like yours require 16-18 hours of sleep a day, but make most of that time be night time sleeping; say about 12 hours or so. So, say your goal is to get baby to bed by 7 or 8 pm then wake baby at 8am, even if they just fell asleep a few hours ago, feed and entertain your baby for a couple hours. At 10am put baby down for a morning nap. At 12pm wake baby for afternoon feeding, cleaning and playtime. If you are going to bathe baby, do not bathe with soothing baby wash like laverdar (save that for nightime bath). Entertain for a couple hours then at 2pm lay baby down for naptime. Wake baby at 4pm for feeding and playtime do not allow baby back to sleep after two hours this time. Instead at 6pm start night time routine which could be a long soothing bath in lavendar baby wash. A baby massage with lavendar baby lotion or baby oil. A feeding that consists of more formula, or cereal if you have introduced that to baby yet. Nightime feeding should be heavier so that baby can feel more tired. And then put baby in bed with the monitor nearby and you not far away... If you develop a routine and be consitent with it as much a possible, baby will get it and will be ready to go to bed before 12am because they have become accustomed to the routine and you are keeping them active in the daytime.

I hope this helps, good luck! :0)

Answer 8

A child should sleep for minimum 10 hours a day.Keep the child in an atmosphere of neat and free of sound and keep the child wear a sort of warm clothes and the mothers' hug and pettings for that baby keeps him ready for sleep provided the mother sings or hum a melodious tune of the same nature every day the child gets automatically acclimatised to that environment and goes to sleep. if there is no Brest milk feed the child before you want him/her to go to bed with warm cow's milk .the baby goes to sleep.More over ask the mom of the child to hug and hold so as to create the baby the presence of the beloved mother is also a cause helping for sleep.

Answer 9

no you need to set some guide lines for her. get her up by 7 and make her take a nap around 11 and a nap around 3 and keep her up until 8:30 or 9 and put her to bed. that is the schedual that my daughter is on.
good luck

Answer 10

no.that can make the things even wost.mine at that age(he is now 8 months) was sleeping at 11 and sometimes at 00.30.he/she will get in a program by the time.just try to have a standard when the time to go to bed comes.bath-milk and off to bed.good luck