Katie has always been a great sleeper - like from day one. She started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks. And she would go to sleep, sleep all night, and still take a wonderful nap. Then, around Thanksgiving (as in a couple of months ago), we made the big girl bed transition. Everything started off as expected - she was testing her limits and figuring things out.
I also think the excitement of Christmastime made it hard for her to go to sleep. Or maybe I'm just full of excuses. Anyways, here is the problem...Katie has been taking like 2 to 3 hours to fall asleep! Most of the time she will just lay there and talk and sing. Sometimes she gets up and gets books and brings them in bed (like last night) or goes to get her harmonica and plays it in bed (like Friday night). If we go in, she says she needs to go potty - and she always goes. So I have a hard time saying no (especially since we are still working on the potty training thing). But good GRIEF...something's gotta give! I am so ready for her to go to sleep when it is bedtime! Momma needs to get some sleep too!
Last week, Brad was out of town Monday through Thursday. When it came time for Katie's bedtime, we did our normal routine (bath, get ready for bed, read a book, say prayers, give kisses). And I try to tell her that if she stays in bed, we will do ----- tomorrow (do stickers, go get ice cream, go to Cee Cee's house, play with Stella, etc - it is typically something that we will likely do, but I want to entice her to stay in bed). I don't know if that's a good idea or not - the verdict is out as to if it is working. But when Brad was gone, Katie was asleep within 10-15 minutes. And she didn't get out of bed until around 8 the next morning! That is PRECISELY what I want!
But why isn't she doing it?!? Mommas - do you have any suggestions? We do leave a light on in her bathroom - we were doing the light over her sink area (closer to her bed) and thought that was keeping her awake. So now we do the one over the tub so it isn't as bright in her room. We also use that as a threat if we have to go in there ... "If I have to come back in here, the light goes off!!" That typically works because she doesn't want to be in the dark.
If she's just in bed singing and talking, do we still just leave her? Even if it is 10:30 and we are ready to go to sleep? We have been going in and re-tucking her in (which typically means a trip to the potty) - not sure if we should do that or not.
And obviously if she is up, we go in there and get onto her about being out of bed (which, again, typically leads to a potty stop). A lot of times she will go to sleep after going potty, but not all the time.
Could she just be a night owl all of a sudden? And she does still take a nap - and I was hoping she would until she turns 10. At naptime, there is no issue - she goes right to sleep. I would prefer she not give up naptime for a little while, especially with baby #2 on the way.
I've also tried to make it a point to do things in the afternoon to wear her out. The thinking there is that if she has been super busy, she will be zonked at night. That typically has not worked. FRUSTRATING!
Any help out there is appreciated! :) THANKS!
Hate to say this but when Kennedy started doing that it meant the end of naps was coming. She would be good in her room, just not fall asleep. Some nights she was still awake at 11 and I would open her door when we were going to bed and tell her we were all going to bed and she needed to fall asleep. I tried moving her nap a lot earlier in the day but she just wasn't ready for a nap that early. So, we eliminated the nap and it solved the evening problems. Needless to say, she was exhausted much earlier in the evening but that was fine with us. If we knew we had to be up later or going somewhere that evening I would give her a nap. After a few weeks of this she adjusted to no nap and could stay up later. If no one wakes Kennedy up she can easily sleep 12 hours at night. To this day if we make her take a nap she is up all night long laying in her bed.
ReplyDeleteMaybe try a shorter nap? Wake her up after an hour? I tried that with Kennedy but she was so cranky until bed so that didn't work with her!
Good luck! Even if she gives up naps require a quiet time in her room. An hour that she has to stay in her room, not bug you. She can read, play, etc. It gives you both time away and a little down time.
hate to say it but this is exactly what Henry started doing before giving up his nap....
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