[Doodlebugsmom]

Okay, I've been co-sleeping for almost 3.5 years now. Starting at about 6 months old, dd started staying up late and not wanting to go to sleep. Well, here we are 3 years later and it's still going on. She always slept in our bed with us and night-nursed until she was 20 months. A month ago, she moved to a twin bed at the foot of our bed and she loves it, but she still won't go to sleep. 3 out of the last 5 nights she's been up past midnight. We need to be asleep by then. Dh gets up for work at 6 or earlier. Also, ds has started staying up until 10 or later, when he's usually ready for bed by 8 at the latest. This has been within the last week. He still sleeps in bed with us. I've started blaming myself for all of this. I worry that co-sleeping and nursing on demand for as long as they want has done this. My dh promises me that it's nothing I've done. I'm just about at the end of my rope. I need some wind-down time at night. We've tried everything. We wake up by 8am, ds takes a nap between 11-1 and dd hasn't napped since she was two. Please help me!

 

[Doodlebugsmom]

To say that dd is the type of child who has trouble winding down is most definitely an understatement! :LOL We stopped doing baths at night because they seem to really get her going. We do read some books and have quiet time. Well, we try. She usually wants to get up and run around. She chooses who she wants to lay down with her at night. Some nights it's me, others it's dh. She'll lay there for a while and seem like she might go to sleep, then suddenly she gets up and goes downstairs to play. Some nights she'll just lay there and sing and talk for an hour or so. Sometimes she'll comply if we let her know it's time for sleep, sometimes she won't. A cd or tape would only make her want to stay up and sing! :LOL I appreciate all your advice and I might try an unfamiliar cd. That way, she probably wouldn't want to sing along. Deep down, I know that this isn't something I did. It's just something that I think about when it's midnight and everyone except dd wants to go to bed. I should add that midnight isn't the norm. Usually she's ready at 10 or 10:30.