Bed at 2 AM?!?

Question

My 2 year old has never gone to bed at a decent hour. Not even as an infant- thats when she was worst (like 3-5 am)! I can't get this girl to sleep at a reasonable hour. I'm a night owl too, but give me a break. Not napping during the day doesn't make her want to go to bed earlier- it can actually make the night much harder. I can't let her scream it out in bed. Not only do I not have the heart we have a small home and she has to sleep in the same room as her dad and myself. He gets up at 4:45 am for work. Any helpful non-cruel suggestions? The only benifit I see here is that at least we sleep in anywhere from 9 am to noon. (I love my sleep) ... thanks :D

Answer 1

same was with my little angel.. but nowadays i feed her at 8 pm and than at around 9 pm i put her on the bed and close all the lights ( make the room dark).. and sleep with her and pretent to be sleeping..

early this is working she goes to sleep as the lights are off and till 9.30 she is asleep...

but the only problem is that she gets up early in the morning but no hassels,as i also have to get up early in the morning for my office..

try it, it might work for you too

Answer 2

The question you have to ask is, Is her sleeping, or not sleeping effecting you.?

You say she and you can sleep from 9 am to noon. Are you ok with that..?

My daughter has been on my schedule since she was little. Even when she became a teen ager. I work midnights and we are usually up at the same time and sleep around the same time. It works for us..

Instead of trying to either keep her up to get her tired or finding ways to get her to bed earlier but maybe waking her up when you want her awake.

Maybe if you get her up earlier she might go to get earlier. It might work.

Good Luck

Answer 3

Kids are routine junkies. Unfortunately your routine has backfired and you need to get this little one back on track. Let me paint this picture for you. The 6 year old in her 1st year of school who has only even known of a 2am bedtime and sleeptime between 9am & midday. It's just not going to work. You need to step on this NOW. And guess what, you need to follow suit and here's why. If you goto bed at, say, 7:30pm and turn all the lights out in the house guess what...your little one will eventually work out that at night, we sleep. Unfortunately for you though, this is going to be REALLY hard to break. Click below for a great bedtime routine. Good luck.

Answer 4

She is following your pattern. Unfortunately this will be a hard one to break....
My godson used to do the same. Eventually, as he got older, we would play a game with him. We tell him to see how long he could keep his eyes closed for and keep quiet. We would say that it would be him against one of us. We made sure he knew how disappointed we would ne if we "lost." It was volatile and sporatic for a long time but eventually sleep overtook him. Then as he got older we would tell him to close his eyes and eventually he did.
Now on to the not so motherly advice.... My aunt used to spike our drinks with a little bit of benadryl. I don't suggest this since it would be putting unnecessary drugs in your baby's body. But if she ever gets the "sniffles" well....
Then you can warm her milk with a little bit of vanilla and sugar in it. Or do the ground oatmeal in the bottle.
You can try laying with her and doing relxing things all the while dimming the lights.
Do warm lavender baths.
And best of all- don't ask her to do what you aren't willing to do. At least til she starts sleeping. Start going to bed early, maybe even a little earlier than usual. Stress the importamce of it. Make sure she knows you're serious and not playing games. Eventually she'll get the hint. Eventually....
Don't stimulate her much either for about two hours before bed and no sugar for several hours before bed if she gets too wired with it.
Different things work for each child and remember for the future that children learn their habits from their parents. They mimic. They may seem to get some on their own but it usually is in accordance with what he parents show, allow and don't allow.
Happy Camping!
Best Wishes and God Bless!

Answer 5

Your going to have to break this habbit by putting her to bed a few mintues (10-20) early each night and then waking her up a few minutes early. You really need to get her in a good sleep schedule because in a few years she will be starting preschool or kindergarten and she will have to get up early and have enough energy all day. So she needs to get used to going to bed somewhat early and definetly getting up before 9. (7 would be more practical though!!)

good luck!

Answer 6

How about putting her crib in the living room? My son's crib was in there until he was just over a year-old. Leave her in her crib with some stuffed animals, and some books. Don't let her out. Put a soothing CD on. Give her a bath around 8pm and get her jammies on, and read her some books. Get into a routine and stick to it. After a couple of weeks she will start getting tired when she has her bath.

Answer 7

I was the same way. If I were you, I'd handle it the way my mom did:
Allow her to go to bed when she wants, but make her get up in the morning. Don't let her sleep during the day. So when you and your husband wake up, get her up too.

Answer 8

Good luck! I am trying to get my cat to sleep earlier because she has messed up my sleep schedule completely, and by the time I go back to school, I will have jet lag!

And I shouldn't have jet lag if I live 45 minutes away from school ;-p

Answer 9

It's tough when Baby won't sleep, even worse when Daddy has to get up early and can't enjoy Baby's awake time.

The earlier suggestion of moving bedtime ahead by 15 minutes a night is a great one. But that's assuming you have an established bedtime.

Children thrive on routine. It comforts them and makes them feel secure. Make sure you have a bedtime routine to help trigger her body to go to sleep.

Because she's so resistant to bedtime, you'll want to start out with a long routine and shorten it as bedtime gets easier. Make sure you explain to your DD what's going to happen. She's more likely to accept the routine if she knows what's going on.

Start with dinner, or for now, a snack. Follow with a quiet activity like a story, then pop her in the tub for about 15 minutes. Make sure it's a nice warm bath, and don't let her stay in it too long. The idea is to raise her body temp just a little, which will trigger her cooling response. Lowering body temperature is one of the things our bodies do when we get sleepy. Follow the bath with a very precise, but easy to follow routine. Get out of the bath and put on lotion (lavender or chamomille help with sleep), put on cozy jammies, go potty, wash her hands, brush her teeth. WALK to the bedroom (no running) and with the lights down low, sing a song, read a story and talk about her day. Remind her of the good things she did during the day and tell her she can dream about those things. Say prayers together, thanking God for all the blessings and asking Him to help her sleep. Then a hug and a kiss and a promise to check on her in a few minutes.

If she can't go to sleep without you in there, sit near her. Don't give in to the temptation for laying down with her. Sit on the floor next to her bed if you have to. Get a book for yourself and read. Once you've said good-night, don't talk to her anymore. She knows you're there, she'll eventually go to sleep. You may end up sleeping on the floor waiting for her to go to sleep, but eventually she'll be able to sleep by herself. Gradually move further away until she doesn't need you in the room.

Set an alarm in the morning. Make yourself get up to help your hubby get ready for work in the morning. Don't let your DD's insomnia destroy your marriage. Make sure he knows he's important by seeing him off in the mornings with a kiss goodbye at the door. If you have to go back to sleep after he leaves, set another alarm so you can get up on a schedule. Just like you're moving DD's bedtime, you have to move wake up time for both of you. Once you're up, take at least 30 minutes for yourself. Go to the bathroom by yourself, have a quiet cup of coffee, do whatever you need to do to be just you, not Mommy, not wife, just you.

Then go wake up your daughter. Move your wake up time by the same 15 minutes you're moving bedtime. Make waking up a nice experience by snuggling or rubbing her back. Turn on her favorite show or some happy music. Make sure she gets breakfast, or at least juice, right away to get her blood sugar up.

Make sure you don't skip naps during this big change. While a lack of sleep makes adults tired, it does just the opposite for little ones. Being overtired makes it more difficult for her to get to sleep at night. Make sure you use an abbreviated routine getting ready for naps: lunch, story, potty, dim the lights, off to bed. Keep her informed of what's going on, so she's prepared for her nap.

And be strong! It's not going to be easy for either one of you. But in order to teach her self-discipline, you have to do it. Otherwise you'll have an even harder time when it's time to send her to school. You can do it, mama! And your whole family will be better off for it.

Answer 10

not sure!sry