How can I get my 17 month old daughter to go to sleep the same time every night?

Question

Once she falls asleep, she's out for 12 hours, no problem. Lately she has been staying up later and later; often up till 2-4 am. We are generally night people and like to stay up until at least 11 or 12. Which has always been fine, because she just slept in until noon to get her 12 hours. I am tired and ready to fall asleep at 12 or 1, but she is just avoiding sleep at all costs. She will actually start pulling her hair, throwing her head around, and other things to wake herself up. I don't let her have any caffine and only small amounts of sugar (mostly in juice form). She never took falling asleep that great, but it was usually a 30 minute affair, not several hours trying to put her to sleep. Baths seem to wake her up, so that wouldn't help. Tried reading her stories, she enjoys that but it seems to keep her awake too. Tried turning out the lights; she just jumps around in the dark. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

well since you are night people I would lay her down and turn the lights off and watch a movie that may seem crazy but if the house is dark and you are laying down on the couch then she may be pressed to lay down with you.

Answer 2

maybe if she takes a while to fall asleep , put her in the crib at 7:30 or 8:00 ,  just put her in the room with lights of door closed ad ignor the crying .

Answer 3

give her childrens binidryl about 8 but just temporarily like a week.Then she'll get into the routine.thats what i did

Answer 4

Honestly, in my honest opinion, if she is in her room, it is baby safe, and its time for bed, let her jump.  She will get the hint.

When my son turned 1, we started his routine.  Dinner.... snuggle/play time.....bath.....hugs and kisses.... bed.

He really fought it for about the first week.  Crying.... which made me feel terrible.  

We have found that if we stick to the routine....things are fine.  If things are interrupted, its a little harder for him.

We also invested in a tv/dvd player and play a baby einstein video for him (they are less than 20 minutes long), so this gives him time to wind down... and sleep.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I think your best bet is to get her in bed MUCH earlier. If she continues to go to bed at 12 it will be an extremely hard transition when she has to start school (unless you plan to homeschool her until she is out of high school).  As she gets older (into the teens) she'll naturally want to stay up several hours later and if she doesn't fall asleep untill 2am now it will be a much bigger problem later.

If she gets into a habit of falling asleep at 8pm or so (basically when the sun goes down) she will have a better rythem: sundown means she's down is much easier for a 2 year old to understand than looking at a clock and telling the difference between 12 and 2 (especially since she is too young to understand time)

The hair pulling head banging is just because she is sooo tierd If you can get her back on schedual it should stop for the most part

You should also have a steady bed time routine

Answer 6

Do you not have a cot for your daughter? That way if you had one she could just content herself inside it andit would be beside your bed so you can go to her quickly if she needs you. Keep her up during heday and have her occupied so that she would be tired and end up sleeping. Hopefully this is just a phase. My neice had the same problem. I'm only 17 but my family is really big and there are lots of babies that keep on coming ;)

Don't worry, from the sound of it you seem like a brilliant mother. If you do end up getting worried take her to her local doctor as a last resort. I hope it helps.