bedtime battles

[Jem75]

hayden is totally resisting bedtime (7:45/8pm usually), is not tired and stands yelling/talking in her crib. Then asks for milk, etc. Anyone experiencing similar issues? She is going to bed at like 9/9:30!

[Irish741]

We are in the same boat. It seems that more often than not Jack cries when we put him to bed. Some nights we are suckers and pull him out (I know, bad habit) but most nights we let him cry it out. It only takes a handful of minutes and he is quite. We miss those nights of asking him if he wants to go to bed and he literally walked to his crib and waited to be put in. I presume many other things are bound to get more difficult. ;)

Now that we are back on daylight savings time we are trying to get him back to a 7:30 bedtime. I am not looking forward to changing him over to a big boy bed where he can escape. Augh!

[Jules31981]

Haha I love that Leighton signs to herself.  Mady has jusy learned if your happy and you know it and jumps around in the shower singing that.

We put Mady to bed every night at 7:30 she plays and talks in there for about 20 mins but thats it.

[ovaz129]

Whitney... that is a good idea about tape recording her... I hadn't thought about that!

[Whitneylauren]

Oh yea- Ovaz that is so stinking sweet that Leighton sings in bed. You should tape record that so she can see it when she is older!

[Whitneylauren]

We put Mark to sleep at 6:45 and he is out like a light until 8:30 am (he then takes a 2 hour nap at 12). Kids are really smart, and will try to find any way out of bedtime. My suggestion is to put her down and walk away- even if she asks for things, cries or whines. This is what we have done with both of our children, and each quickly learned that they weren't getting out of bedtime.

[toes33107]

Depending on when we eat dinner, Brock has a snack before bedtime.  It's usually yogurt or fruit.  We wake him up at 6:20 a.m., so he is in bed at 7.  He gets way too crabby after that with a full day of daycare.  I did read about shortening the nap if bedtime because a problem.  Brock is great with bedtime, but I think he is really tired by then!  
I wish Brock could sing Twinkle Twinkle and ABCs...now that would be awesome!  
Good luck with the bedtime routine.  

[ovaz129]

That is what I would also suggest... although it sounds weird to put them to bed earlier if they are already resisting their current bedtime, it works!  What our pediatrician explained to us was that if they get just a hair over tired, their bodies basically go into over drive and their brains go into over stimulation  mode wehre they just want to keep theemselve up.  So, try putting her to bed at 7:15pm or 7:30pm.  

Leighton goes to bed at 7:45pm-8pm religiously every night.  But, most of those nights she will sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or ABCs in there for 10-15 min before she actually falls asleep.  If Hayden isn't upset in her crib, just let her go :)  Ohhhhh how sometimes I feel like we have the same exact child!  haha  

[kele1129]

Have you tried putting her down earlier or later? When Phin started resisting we tried a bit earlier and now he is down for the count at 7:30 every night. Or giving her a light snack about 45 minutes before bed? Maybe a smoothie or something.