For a change-- need sleep help. long

Ladies, I am TIRED.

I can't take it anymore. When is it going to get better?

Sasha was doing well for a while-- sleeping 6 30 to 6 15/30. After a 2 month stint of sickness after sickness, and teething-- which we are still in, she is back to STTN, but is waking up MAD early-- like b/t 5 and 6.

She is 16 months and still on 2 naps. I cannot see going to 1 nap anytime soon because she is so tired all the time. She refuses to sleep later-- but needs it.

She naps at 9 and 2 and usually goes down no problems at all. Another major issue is that her naps still totally suck. 45 mins to an hour usually. I will get a good nap every now and then, but it's rare. We start getting her ready for bed at 6, and is in the crib with the lights out at 6 30.

DH has been bugging me FOREVER to push her bedtime back so he has more time when he gets home-- but the poor thing is so tired. Yes, she acts ok when distracted-- but she is so tired. She NEEDS to go to bed that early to make up for the sh!tty naps.

Ok, so in August we are moving to the burbs, and DH will be getting home later. He insists we push her bedtime back. My arguing that she needs her sleep is not enough and he says we should at least try it. On other occasions when we put her down late for whatever reason, she still wakes up at the same time, so my fear is she is going to get less sleep-- and I will have more awake hours on my own to take care of her too. But I am very concerned about her sleep.

What the hell should I do?? I hope that now she is walking (a little) she will take some better naps... but this didn't happen when she started crawling which I also half expected.

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

DS is 15 months and goes to bed at 7:00 and wakes anywhere between 6 and 7

I dont agree with pushing the bedtime later--it just makes for a cranky child

However...I know from my 3 yr old that as they get older the bedtimes do progress to later than 7pm....eg my 3 yr old goes to bed at 8:30 pm

DH will have to wait until your DS shows signs that she could stay up later...you shouldnt force her to stay up IMO

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Randi -

How is she when she wakes up in the morning? Is she awake and crying, or awake and just chilling out?

We have a 7am "rule" in our house. As long as Samantha is content in her crib, if she wakes up EARLY we leave her until 7am. Sometimes, if she is up at 5:30, she will go back to sleep for another 45 minutes to an hour. If she is super fussy and crying, then I get up and get her. But usually that's not the case unless she is teething.

As far as the naps... she also still needs 2, because she is clearly tired come 9:00/9:30ish, but ends up fighting at least one of them. I'm trying to transition to one nap after lunch, but more often than not, she cannot make it that long.

I know she is tired by 6:30, but can you slowly push her a little later? We do bedtime routine at 7 and Samantha is in bed by 7:30, usually asleep within minutes.

How about starting to slowly push it by 15 minutes? Maybe, just maybe that will help her sleep a little later in the morning? I know that's not the "norm" for most kids, but see how it works out.

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

I totally sympathise with your DH. My DH on a good day is home by 7:30, DS bedtime. The one day a week he is home by that time, I will push his bedtime out to 8 just so DH can spend some time, but for me this only happens about once a week. It sounds like you will need to go to one nap a day. Not one 45 minute nap but a good two hour nap. DS would take multiple naps a day but they all pretty sucked. When he went to the next room at daycare at 12 months they all took one nap together after lunch. the first week or so, DS would fall asleep before lunch, but eventually he was able to stay awake to eat then nap. He now consistently takes 2 or 2+ hours nap daily. This helps a bit as DS goes to bed a 1/2 hour later than he use to.

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Chels still goes to bed at 645ish and I get the early comments all the time...if she does NOT then I can hand them over to the ppl that think it's too early and see how they fare with her bc she's a monster if she does not go to bed at that time...My only suggestion is that Chels was taking two 45 minute naps a day and we consolidated it to one nap at 11 and sleeps from 11 to 12:30 now and is much better throughout the day and actually doesn't seem as tired as she was before...I adhere to her schedule like a nutcase and it makes for a happy child...DH always tells me whats the big deal if she goes to bed a little later and he's witnessed it himself...if she goes to bed later she's a nightmare that night plus she usually gets up much earlier than she's used to so he now sees why I'm a stickler...

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

Liam sleeps sked is a little different.

He wakes up at 630-7AM

Takes 1 nap, about 930-1030AM down and sleeps till 1130-1PM.

Then, he goes to sleep at 8PM.

Have you tried not putting her down at 9AM? Maybe, put her down at 10AM and maybe she'll sleep a little longer?

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

for the record, i'm a stickler for schedules, so much that i started a schedule with my DD a few weeks after she was born. i realize how important sleep is not only for her, but for me as well.

with that being said, i would feel HORRIBLE for my DH if he never got to spend time with DD. and, if the situation was reversed, i know i would be DEVASTED if i was at work making money to support the family and i never got to spend time with my DD.

i would definitely start to try to consolidate naps like pp have suggested. if that makes a difference in her attitude (seems less tired like one poster said) i would try to push it back by 15 mins. i know its not about your DH but what is best for your LO, but if it made my DH happy for those extra 15mins, then I would try it and see what happens. Maybe you could compromise and do it every other day. Have him put her to bed when he gets home after keeping her up the extra time, maybe he will see first hand and suggest going back to normal schedule. Just a thought.

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

I hate to be a downer but some kids just wake up early. Mine does - every morning she is up between 530 and 545. She goes to bed at 7 every night. She's about the same age as your DD.

We have tried putting her to bed later to get her to sleep later - it doesn't work. She gets up at the same time, but crankier because she hasn't slept as much. She is not content to play in her crib or hang out - she will cry after about 15 minutes so we go and get her.

Since you said your DD used to wake up later, she might not be wired to wake up that early. The early daylight and the birds outside did not help us - maybe that's part of it? Try the incrementally later bedtime as an experiment - maybe it will work and that would be great, or if not, at least you tried...

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

What about merging her nap to about 11:30 maybe she will give you a 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap then put her in at 6:30 7 for the night.

Re: For a change-- need sleep help. long

I swear by the Healthy Sleep Habits book. But one of their mantras is that we work around the baby's schedule, not work the baby around ours.

I wouldn't keep her up later so DH can see her. My first DD's schedule sounds just like your little one's. She has ALWAYS been an early riser- no matter WHAT time we put her down. If we put her down at 6, she's up at 5:30-6. If we put her down at 10, she's up at 5:30-6.... except she's REEEEEEEEALLLLY plssed off from sleep deprivation.

I think she's still not getting enough sleep. 45 minute naps are just not enough, IMO. My suggestion was trying to put her down even earlier for a awhile to see if that gives her more sleep. At one poiint, we had Maddie down at 5:30 some nights- and she'd sleep til 5:30-6.