I could really use your advice on how to handle this sleep challenge. . .by tonight. :-) - Page 2

[sapphire_chan]

Well, for my DD, it's a horrible horrible idea to put her in bed before 10pm. It must be lovely to have one of those kids who go down for the night at 7, but some kids just aren't that way and there is no way to force it.

(or maybe there is, since I was told to do so in another thread :, still waiting to find out how that'd be possible without drugs.)

If it's any comfort, dd makes up for the relatively shorter night sleep with a loooong nap during the day.

[lilysmama1124]

I second the sunshine suggestion! Also checking into other reasons she may struggle with sleep (ie food allergies etc which literally changed my children when they were removed). What happens if you stay in bed with her at 700pm? Does she still get up after 10 minutes? As much as it sucks you may have to just go to bed with her which either means she stays up later or you go to bed earlier. Also as much as you need time to yourself at night if she will stay asleep with you at 7 it may be nice for you to catch up on some sleep that way. With dd one I either when to bed early on nights when I could or I nursed her to sleep in the living room and just let her sleep on me while DH and I had some time...and there she would stay until we were ready for bed With the twins(1 year olds) we just slept in shifts and had no routine at all until recently. For example I would go to bed at 8 while dh stayed up with one or both babies and then he would get me up around 1 or two and I would stay up until about 6am if needed(or sleep in the recliner holding them) then get him up and sleep until about 10am if he didn't work or worked second shift. We just did this automatically on the nights when he didn't work in the am instead of waiting until 11pm to figure out they weren't sleeoing that way we maaximized both of our sleep.

[dollyanna]

I agree that it sounds like she might be trying to nap at 7pm. I think at that age DD was napping 2 or 3 times, but more like 1-2 hours at a time. She'd usually take her last nap around 6-7pm, wake up around 8 or 9, and then we'd put her to sleep "for the night" (haha though she usually woke up 4x) when we went to bed, around 11pm. It gave my husband & I a few hours to relax, at least.

FWIW, at 9 months everything changed again