Parenting - getting my toddler to bed at a reasonable time

United States
August 21, 2008 8:00am CST
My daughter is 3 years old and for as long as I can remember, I have always had a tough time getting her to bed. I am confident in saying that there is nothing that I have not tried or done to get her on a schedule; however it never seems to last long. There is always something that seems to throw us off our schedule; whether it is a thunderstorm waking us up in the middle of the night, an earache and the list goes on. I also work from home; therefore this is a huge balancing act for me. She is my priority and her needs do come first, however I feel really guilty when I cannot get this very important thing right. At this point in time, I do not know what to do. I have read books to her and sung to her, hoping that she will be soothed by that somehow, however it only works sometimes. In addition, we are out almost every day so she does get a lot of exercise and activity in her day, however, as the evening wears on she just seems to get more energized! I can see when she is fighting the sleep and there are times when she does sleep longer than others, however on average she gets about 11 hours of sleep per day. She stopped napping at age 2, so that is not included in the total time slept. I am frustrated, because I cannot get her to bed before 10pm or 11pm at nights. I would like to know how you would handle this situation and what your approach would be if you were in the same situation. Have you ever been in this situation before or know of anyone who has? What did they do? What would you do? I would really appreciate you feedback on this. Thank you.
1 response
@sunshinecup (7871)
21 Aug 08
Things that has always worked with my own two kids as well as friends are, getting them up early avoiding naps as well cutting off sweets by 5pm. It takes some tweaking to find that right time to wake them up, but when you find it and do the other two things, it works. In fact I have yet to see a child not go to bed at a reasonable time doing that.
• United States
21 Aug 08
Thank you for that. Waking my daughter up at a reasonable time is something I have not been successful at so far, because the moment I take off to go and make breakfast; she finds a way to fall asleep somewhere else in the house. She has a very strong will, so my husband have not been very successful either. Moreover, his schedule does not give him the leeway to work with her the way he would like. Nonetheless, I do need to work harder at getting her up early. Thank you for your insight. It's always good to know what works for others.: ))