My daughter has ALWAYS gone to bed for the night LATE. As she was gradually getting her days and nights straightened out in the first 6-8 weeks, her longest stretch of sleep would be from 3AM to 7 or 8AM. She was fussy at night and had a really hard time letting go and falling asleep in the evenings, even if she had easily fallen asleep for 3 or so naps during the day. The hours between 8 PM and 3AM would be fraught with short short bursts of sleep, broken up by longer bouts of fussing. I would be nursing practically non-stop during that time sometimes, bouncing on the ball or rocking. At 3-5 months, she would fall asleep around 1AM and sleep straight until 8AM, then nurse and go back to sleep until around 11 or 12. This was fine for me because I was staying home and have always been more of a late night person myself. It's harder on my husband. Between then and now (10 months old) we have gone through a few stretches of going to sleep as early as 9:30 or 10, but it always somehow gets pushed back later again. And typically, during those times of earlier initial bedtimes, she is up for 1-2.5 hours in the middle of the night sometime between 11PM and 3AM, whereas if she goes to bed later, she only wakes up to nurse and then falls back asleep quickly. So, most of the time we haven't actually been pushing super hard for an earlier bedtime. Often in the past, I would put her in the ERGO (around or after midnight) and bounce and sing for 10-15 minutes and she'd be out for the night.
Over the last 3-4 weeks sleep has been really difficult in general. She has had a hard time falling asleep and a hard time staying asleep. She had 2 colds in a row, got a new tooth, and is now learning to walk (took her first independent steps last week). So, I know these are typically times of more challenging sleep, but I feel like we're almost through those things and as we get back into a more regular routine I want to set an earlier bedtime. I will start substitute teaching soon and really need to get to sleep before 1AM.
Our typical bedtime routine currently includes a bath, nursing, and then bouncing in the ERGO while listening to sleepy-time music. We try to start around 10:30/11, and she usually takes an hour-long evening nap, sometime between 5 and 9PM. We get her fully asleep in the ERGO, then transfer her to a crib. If she wakes in the night, she comes to our bed to nurse and we both fall back asleep, maybe nurse 1-2 more times throughout the rest of the night and get up. She spends the hours of 12 or 1AM to 10 or 11AM in bed, most of it sleeping. She takes 1-3 naps per day, depending on how long they are, but I try to get her 3 hours of sleep during the day. She hasn't been a big napper since about 3 months old, so this is a goal that often isn't met. We used to nurse to sleep, or bounce on the ball, or take a walk, but now none of those things work (nursing sometimes), only the ERGO and music.
She used to fully co-sleep with us 100% of the night. We moved her to her crib about 6+ weeks ago and it was great at first - she was sleeping 7-8 hours straight about 75% of the time the first couple of weeks. Then she got sick and it all fell apart.
So, how do I get our bedtime moved earlier? I have tried waking up earlier (9ish) and she still won't take a first nap until at least 1PM, then her same second nap happens at 5 or later, and late to bed again (tonight for example - I have been actively trying to get her to sleep since 11Pm and it is now 12:45). So it seems like an earlier waking is just leading to less total sleep. I won't do cry it out. What other options do I have? Sorry for the extremely long post, but I wanted to make sure there was enough details and background. Thanks for any ideas at all!!
Over the last 3-4 weeks sleep has been really difficult in general. She has had a hard time falling asleep and a hard time staying asleep. She had 2 colds in a row, got a new tooth, and is now learning to walk (took her first independent steps last week). So, I know these are typically times of more challenging sleep, but I feel like we're almost through those things and as we get back into a more regular routine I want to set an earlier bedtime. I will start substitute teaching soon and really need to get to sleep before 1AM.
Our typical bedtime routine currently includes a bath, nursing, and then bouncing in the ERGO while listening to sleepy-time music. We try to start around 10:30/11, and she usually takes an hour-long evening nap, sometime between 5 and 9PM. We get her fully asleep in the ERGO, then transfer her to a crib. If she wakes in the night, she comes to our bed to nurse and we both fall back asleep, maybe nurse 1-2 more times throughout the rest of the night and get up. She spends the hours of 12 or 1AM to 10 or 11AM in bed, most of it sleeping. She takes 1-3 naps per day, depending on how long they are, but I try to get her 3 hours of sleep during the day. She hasn't been a big napper since about 3 months old, so this is a goal that often isn't met. We used to nurse to sleep, or bounce on the ball, or take a walk, but now none of those things work (nursing sometimes), only the ERGO and music.
She used to fully co-sleep with us 100% of the night. We moved her to her crib about 6+ weeks ago and it was great at first - she was sleeping 7-8 hours straight about 75% of the time the first couple of weeks. Then she got sick and it all fell apart.
So, how do I get our bedtime moved earlier? I have tried waking up earlier (9ish) and she still won't take a first nap until at least 1PM, then her same second nap happens at 5 or later, and late to bed again (tonight for example - I have been actively trying to get her to sleep since 11Pm and it is now 12:45). So it seems like an earlier waking is just leading to less total sleep. I won't do cry it out. What other options do I have? Sorry for the extremely long post, but I wanted to make sure there was enough details and background. Thanks for any ideas at all!!
) all week this week from now on though. I only have a few weeks until my first scheduled subbing date! Yikes!
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