how do i get her to understand that........

[[M]umma[M]ia]

bedtime is NOT playtime!

The past 2 nights Mia has decided that when she goes to bed she will lay there and smile and toss and turn and thinks its a big joke. To me its not.. 3 hours these past 2 night just to get her to sleep in beyond rediculous. Ive tried rocking..patting and all the above. And trust me, shes tired... very tired... she fights it something shocking tho. Tonight i have turned out all the lights to try and trick her that its the middle of the night... but no.. DP is in there now with her.

I dont want this to turn into a bad habit IYKWIM... so how can i help her realise its sleep time now?

TIA

[Enchanted]

When Oscar went through a phase like that I just made sure I made no eye contact and just "Shhhhhed" and didn't say any words. He seemed to go through that stage fairly quickly thank goodness. Hope it's the same for you.

[[M]umma[M]ia]

thanks danielle.. we did try that but 2 hours or so of going "shhhh" makes my mouth quite sore.. Persistance in the key i guess! how long can i expect this "phase" to go for?

[Charlyfrog]

does your little one nap during the day? we are having to cut back how long DD#2 naps as she will do the same thing. I don't mind them having a little wind down time, even up to 45mins I guess, but with a shorter nap during the day, she never seems to get to the 30min mark before she's out like a light.

ETA: oops *blush* just saw how little your little one is, sorry. my scenario may not be helpful now......... although, we did do probably more routine style napping with our little ones which in turn, imo, helped for night time settling....... and although I shouldn't say this as you are finding yourself settling for hours, your little one sounds like a massive bundle of cute joy!!

[[M]umma[M]ia]

yeh she doe nap during the day but if she doesnt she screams murder until i put her to bed.. its now 9pm but shes been awake since 3pm!!! For a 10 week old she would be exhausted.

[BekZ]

This can be really frustrating..hugs hon.

Make bedtime really boring for her and be consistent. If bub is not crying but just playing then leave her be. Only go in when she gets upset, but don't over fuss. No eye contact and limited speech. Eventually she'll get it. If DD was upset I would go into the room pick her up cuddle and put her straight back down.

Your bub may also be going through a major time for developement and her sleep patterns may be temporarily distrupted. HTH

Oh yeah try and stay calm. If you are getting angry just put bub down and walk out for a bit.

[*Lisa*]

Aaaargh I'm going through this at the moment with DS it's so frustrating He was a great sleeper he would have 3 naps in the day and then sleep 10-12 hours at night, now he fights sleeping in the day and night, and I've tried everything. I know how you feel it's exhausting and sometimes I get so upset because DH has been away for work for the past two weeks

Anyway I'm just trying to be consistent with our usual bedtime routine and hoping that he'll get past it soon or exhaust himself either would be great.

Good luck!

[Pandora]

At 2 months, it cant really turn in to a bad habit, and you cant spoil her. Up til 12 months even, its more when a toddler starts doing it that its a habitual thing.

sometimes DS would be awake and unhappy for hours at a time. 10 hours, even 12 hours straight once with no sleep. For either of us So I do feel your ehxaustion and frustration.

8 weeks is actually really good if shes going down at 9pm for you , DS ddnt start regularly going down earlier than around 10:30 til he was about 7 months old.

Even though he was sleeping 8+ hours at night from 8 weeks, he didnt go to bed "early"/
then all of a sudden on night he went to sleep at 8pm ad slept for 12 hours, and that became his normal sleep time from that night onward, without us even trying.

[Olive]

have you got a set night routine for her???
i.e bath, bottle, bed?

[[M]umma[M]ia]

have you got a set night routine for her???
i.e bath, bottle, bed?

Im TRYING! but she keeps throwing it out of whack!

[Olive]

what time is she up from her last sleep? DD went to bed at 5.45pm from about 3-9 months!!! id bath at 5pm then feed and bed

[[M]umma[M]ia]

well it goes sorta like this... from her arvo nap which is about 2-3hours she wake around 4pm she then has a feed, has a play and then daddy gets home at about 5ish. She then jumps in the shower with dad around 6ish and then around 7 she has another feed and this is when i try and get her to go to sleep. Im trying to keep her up during the day but she also has colic and it makes daytime very stressful (hence the shower with dad, i find this brings up alot of wind).

[[M]umma[M]ia]

i forgot to add.. 90% of the time i will wake her around 11pm and try and get atleast 60mls in (shes not a good dream feeder) but I feel better knowing that shes not going 12 hours without a feed.

[luey]

what time is she up from her last sleep? DD went to bed at 5.45pm from about 3-9 months!!! id bath at 5pm then feed and bed

My DS also had an early bedtime.

It is so easy to miss the 'tired signs' and have them go from tired to overtired quickly.

I feel your pain, my DS Had major sleep issues at around the same time. He would scream if we tried to put him in the cot. I ended up rocking him to sleep and then feeding. WE have been having issues on and off since then but I am sure yours will quickly resolve. DS now quite often does put himself to sleep. Most of the time getting him to sleep now is not the issue, it is keeping him there.

Hang in there. It will get better. You will have ups and downs but it won't be awful all the time. Do whatever works and just hang in there. There is no right or wrong just whatever you feel comfortable with. For more ideas or suggestions Karitane have an information sheet on their website of ways to settle. Though it does sound like you are doing all the 'right' things

[sneakysparkle]

maybe im in the minority here but if shes happy then keep her up a bit longer - i think its pointless trying to set a sleep routine till bub is at least 6mths. (by that I mean a set bedtime, not the routine before bed if that makes sense?!)
just put her in a bouncer, or on the floor with some toys for another half hr, then try bedtime again.
I know its hard when youre tired etc, but I think its worse to try and force sleep if its not working.
Sorry hollye, I know its prob not what you wanted to hear?!

[MrsFabuloso]

How long does she go between sleeps. From what you said above, maybe she's up for too long. My DS is 4 mths old now and is still only going 1- 1 1/2hrs between sleeps. If they're over tired, stragenly enough it makes them sleep less....

[Olive]

i was going to say the same as kellie in that she is over tired/stimulated, maybe try actually putting her down by 6pm, so shower/bath by 5

[[M]umma[M]ia]

but when shes going down she wants to play.. so i didnt think she would be over tired??