Suggestions on Getting dd to Sleep!

[dd_ani]

DD is 10 months old and sleeps wonderfully - ONCE SHE GETS TO SLEEP! We don't mind having her on a little later schedule (although the neighborhood moms are aghast that she is up past 8pm!), but it seems like bedtime is creeping later and later. Some nights she is still going strong at 2 am. If anyone has any good suggestions, we would appreciate it. I have seen a couple of books like Weissbluth highly recommended, but I don't know if they would apply for getting to bed (most discussions have referenced them for sleeping through the night.)

Thanks,

Michelle

[BethG]

Actually, the Weissbluth book would be a good one. It talks mostly about sleep habits. For your baby, Weissbluth would definitely recommend an earlier bedtime. But I have always taken his advice with a grain of salt. He seems to think every baby should be asleep at 7.

For example, Sarah has very seldom gone to bed before 8. Her normal routine is something like 8:30pm - 8:30am. Along with her naps, she gets about the amount of sleep that Weissbluth recommends in a day.

What can happen is that babies get over-tired and it is then HARDER for them to go to sleep than if they had been put to bed at an earlier time.

What I would personally recommend is starting with your baby's daytime nap schedule before messing with her nighttime sleep schedule. Naps are usually easier to manipulate than night sleep. If she's not on a regular daytime nap routine, putting her on one will probably also help her nighttime sleep.

But I would definitely check out Weissbluth for ideas to help and info on sleep even if you don't want to follow all his advice.

HTH,

[Karenn]

My two favorite sleep books are Weissbluth's and Elizabeth Pantly's No Cry Sleep Solution. Both have ideas about helping kids get to sleep. Pantly's book might have a few more ideas for your situation. All of the sleep books I've read (which is way too many!) recommend establishing a bedtime routine. I think for Colin, that's one of the most important things we've done to help him fall asleep easily. We also try to keep his bedtime fairly consistent and the routine helps with that. I've been amazed at how important our bedtime routine is to him. He has a horrible time going down for naps (I was late in implementing a nap routine), but bedtime is a breeze. I think I could put him down at 12:00pm, and if I did bedtime routine, he'd be out in a minute--of course he'd be up and ready to play around 11 pm :) ! Also, babycenter.com has a lot of information on bedtime routines (and sleep in general.)
Good luck.
Karen