Has anyone found a way to make their child go to sleep earlier without using the "cry it out" approach? My daughter, who is 15 weeks, is very unusual in that she is sleeping long stretches at this early age, and does it at night. However, she does not nap much in the day, and it takes her until 11pm, at the earliest, to go to sleep for the night. We're very lucky (and grateful!) for her extended nocturnal stretches, and because of it I'm thinking it's a good time to start slowly working toward an earlier bed time. I want to avoid the cry it out method unless I've exhausted everything else and nothing else has worked. My concerns about actively trying to change her existing pattern are: a) If I start to put her to bed several hours earlier all at once, that this will abruptly break her pattern and she might START waking in the middle of the night, and B) Since she feeds very frequently during the day to make up for her long stretch, I'm worried that if I skip that last feeding it might have a negative effect on both her sleep and her health (however, she HAS been gaining really well - and I think feeding frequently partly for comfort). My thought is to try to top her off earlier and earlier every week, at maybe a half hour a week, and start the bed time cues a little before the top off. Anyone ever tried this kind of thing with success? Or have any other ideas or experiences that worked? I'm just want to deal with this situtation delicately because I feel my husband and I have a really good thing going here and don't want to "ruin" it. However, I do think in the long run it's important for a child to have some structure, and to go to bed earlier. Plus, it would be nice if my husband and I (ultimately) had some time for each other without baby being awake. Although I'm very happy with how it is now, considering her age, I'm really just thinking ahead here.
You may have a child who is prodigy or advanced. You may want to look into books on prodigy and advanced children and Indigo and Crystal children. I would let my child sit on the toilet and sleep if he/she wanted. It really doesn't matter, it has nothing to do with learning boundries or manners. Sometimes too many boundries causes the opposite to happen.
Be well.
N.
I don't have advice but I'm looking forward to reading the responses because I have a similar issue. My 12 week old started sleeping from 8:30pm to 1am, wakes up for a bottle then goes right back down at 1:30am until about 5:30am. 1:30am isn't so bad because I can just stay up but I would still like to get rid of that one and get a normal nights sleep however, I feel like I've got a good thing going so I don't want to mess it up. I can see where you're coming from. It is nice though that I can spend time alone with my husband now after the baby goes down early evening. If there's a way you can get that, go for it! I can't tell you how great that time together is...like before the baby came. Some people have told me to let him cry at 1am but I cannot imagine doing this. I would feel that I'm starving my kiddo!
in my experience, their sleep patterns change so much over the first few months. your daughter's routine will most likely naturally change on its own - she may start waking up more, or not, but i think she will settle into an earlier bedtime on her own. she's still very young, and i think a late bedtime is pretty normal for that age.
i say, be happy with what you have because it could change tomorrow and you will miss these nights! i wouldn't try to enforce an earlier bedtime unless she really does seem tired earlier in the evening.
that's what i think!
Aww, she sounds sweet! Well, when my younger one was that age (he is 13 months) my pediatrician told me "sleeping through the night" at that age is defined as 6 hours. Sounds like she is doing more than that, which is great for you!
I did a painful version of cry it out for a night or two with my older son. It killed me to listen to him cry for 45 minutes. He slept with us for 2 years. Mommy was just a big softy. In retrospect, a little too long.
With son #2, I decided the most I could listen to him cry before I swooped in was 10 minutes. When he was about 6 or 7 months old, I tried to get him to sleep in his crib (was co-sleeping). I would put him in and tell him I loved him and go. Then I stared at the clock. He cried for 9 minutes once. Most of the time it was 3 or 4 minutes. He sleeps better than his brother ever did. My husband and I sleep better. He is so much more cheerful than his brother was, and I think it is because his sleep habits are much better.
Anyway, my point is try moving it 10 minutes earlier a week, for all the reasons you stated. Slow and steady wins the race :)
