Child Won't Go to Sleep Until Almost 11p.m.

Bedtime routines are important. No TV is important. No bright lights before bed is important. After bath time and tooth-brushing it is time for a story, snuggles, rubs, and lights out. If my daughters still did not want to sleep, that's OK - but they still had to stay in the bed and play with their dolls or stuffed animals... in the dark (we did have a night-light, but now I know amber is best).

The only other accommodation I made because of a severe sleep disorder, was a long, very soft lullaby music.

It's amazing what a 5-10 minute massage will do to a kid. My almost five year old son brings me the lotion and says "mom, I need my tootsies massaged." He's out shortly afterwards. Works every time...

Yep, she is staying awake to watch the movie. My daughter can watch movies for hours after her father has passed out.

Burn her out physically. Does the preschool offer dance or karate classes? Take her for a walk after dinner and then put her in a warm shower. Then in her bed she goes, even if she just lies there quietly.

I know you need your time to study, but you will have more quality study time while she is sleeping.

There is no reason for a child that young to watch movies at night or go to bed so late. I recommend that you try to have a regular bedtime routine that starts by 7:30 and is finished by 8:00. Your routine could include a bath, PJs, brushing teeth, and story time. Choose a sequence of events that works for the two of you and stick to that routine.

A quiet movie with music often helps my granddaughter to relax but it wakes up my grandson. I've read that the blue light coming from a TV causes a chemical reaction in our brain that make it more difficult to sleep.

I'd try just putting on music or an audio book for her. Put her to bed. Leave a night light on if she wants it. Turn on the music/book and walk out of the room. If she gets up then put her back to bed over and over until she learns that it's time for bed. Don't talk with her. Just put her back to bed. It will just take time and consistency for her to learn that when it's bedtime she must stay in bed.

This is your 2 year old? I suggest that 8 is too late for a bed time. I'd put her to bed before she gets cranky and yawns; perhaps 7 or so. Have a consistent bed time routine. Bedtime needs to be at the same time every night. Perhaps give her a bath, read a book or two, sing a couple of songs; whatever the two of you enjoy that is relaxing.

We cut off all TV for everyone 30 minutes before bed. The light from the TV is conducive for wakefulness. You need to turn the TV, turn the lights down and establish a bedtime routine. After a bath, etc., sit her down and read two (or whatever) books to her, then lay her down. This gives her time to relax and calm down before she goes to bed. You don't have a light in her face that will keep her awake.

HTH!

You don't say how old your child is, so it's a bit difficult to advise.....but I would say you should try to move her bedtime EARLIER. Sounds to me as if she is overtired and that makes it harder to fall asleep. You say she is yawning and cranky by 8 pm so even by this time, you have probably waited too long and she already is acting overtired. And if she's not sleeping until 11am she's also got to be overtired with less hours of sleep at night than she needs. It sounds counter intuitive but the earlier you put kids to bed, the better and later they sleep. Give it a try, what do you have to lose? Given she's going to bed very late right now, you are probably going to want to do this somewhat gradually. Slowly start moving it earlier every night until you hit about 7:30 pm.

And please please PLEASE don't have her naps shortened at daycare. The problem is she is overtired and shortening a nap will not make her more likely to sleep at night, it's going to have the opposite effect. That girl needs MORE sleep to sleep better at night

I've posted before that my 3 y/o definitely needs worn out, we did melatonin for a while cause of safety concerns (I needed sleep too!) but changed sitters and voila she was falling asleep in the car on the way home. I do not do TV at night but include my DD in cooking dinner while DS plays then we go outside (especially now that the weather is nice) or play hide and seek in the house (you get the idea). Its dinner, bath time routine, then story time before lights out, I mean LITERALLY all lights in the upstairs or else she will be up to check what’s going on. I usually spend the next 30 min cleaning up and prepping for the next day which gives her time to doze off. Good Luck

Depends on the kid and the movie! "Kung Fu Panda"? NO! "Bedtime with Elmo"? on infinite repeat? Worked with my kid for quite a while....

If what you're doing isn't working anymore it's time to experiment and try new things....

The movie may be having the opposite effect of relaxing her. I was thinking what Marda mentioned and was reading about it earlier, TV's, computer screens, even digital clocks with blue numbers – they’re all common sources of blue light that can limit our production of melatonin, our sleep hormone, and we stay alert and awake ~ when we aren't exposed at night melatonin production ramps up, and we get sleepy. I had noticed this a few months ago when I let my then 2.5 year old watch some of the "Goodnight Show" on Sprout, he LOVES Nina, lol, but he seemed to be unable to go to sleep afterwards. So, no TV after dinner before baths anymore and he goes to sleep and stays asleep much better.

I'm guessing along with your daughter maybe keeping herself awake to watch the movie she then may have the problem of not-so-good sleep, crankiness @ 8 p.m. is a sign of tiredness so this is probably just past her natural bedtime, whether she WANTS to sleep or not. Why not stop the nighttime movies, make sure her room is darkened with a shade or blinds, have a relaxing bedtime routine with low lighting and hushed talking to prepare her for sleep? A bath, some nighttime lotion and pajamas, a story or two, then lights out. White noise from a box fan also helps in easing little ones to sleep (even works for me!)

No, no, no to the tv! I will let my DD watch tv but NEVER at bedtime. My DD is 4 and we start at 7:30. We clean her room, she takes a bath, then story and bedtime at 9pm. Tv actually messes with their sleep patterns.
I had been giving my little one water at bedtime for the longest time and it was hard to take away from her but we just told her that she's not a baby anymore and she's a big girl. Big girls don't need water at bedtime.

If she pitches a fit, that's fine. It's expected. Don't give in. She needs her sleep. My child only naps about 1/2 the time, but even when she does, her bedtime is still 9pm...
Good luck mama! I know it can be hard to help them regulate sometimes!

I had the same problem w/ my daughter (still do if I am not very careful...she's 5). Every child and household is different as to what work for them. For my daughter, it was that the nap was too late in the afternoon (when daycare gave lunch a bit late, nap started late, ended late, and you guessed it...I had a hard time getting her to sleep and a bear to wake up in the morning). My nephew (month younger than my daughter) will lay still and fall asleep w/ a movie. My daughter...movie keeps her up...she might miss something.

A couple things you can try is to find out what time they lay down for nap and ask that if it is after a certain time, if they can shorten the nap a bit. Another would be no tv after 7 and between then and bedtime only quiet play and/or books. It helps us.

I would ask Daycare to make the nap earlier or shorter. That might help. You don't say how old your daughter is but by 2 years old my son had to stop naps at daycare or he wouldn't go to sleep at night.

I think the movie is probably too stimulating. Try getting ready for bed around 7:30 and reading in a quiet room by 8:00 to see if she can sleep better. Sometimes if they are over tired they don't fall asleep until later. Warm milk sometimes helps my son relax too.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

My suggestion is to read her to sleep. Get her totally ready for bed, pajamas, teeth brushed, everything, then climb into her bed, covers up, lights down except one night stand lamp and then cuddle and read together. As their reading skills got better we would let the child read the voice/s of the character/s in the books. This encouraged reading skills, self-confidence and is such sweet bonding time for all of you. And also, it signals the body to relax get comfortable and allow the warmth of love mixed with being under the covers and the sweet imagination triggered by the book to signal the body that it is bedtime.

If that doesn't work or isn't possible, I let my kids read in their beds by themselves, the rule is they have to be lying down under the covers and could read 10 pages to one chapter, then try to sleep for ten minutes, then if they weren't asleep they could read 10 more pages or another chapter and then try again to sleep for 10 minutes. (The page length varied on the speed of the reader, the length of the book and the number of words per page.) They were never able to go more than 2 cycles of this and they would fall deep asleep.

The last tip that we love because it is natural and really, really does help in helping the kids to relax enough so they can fall asleep is Hyland's Brand -Calms Forte for Kids. You can get it at almost any health food store. They are lactose based very small tablets mixed with chamomile and other relaxing herbs from nature. They are small and you put 3 into the cap and toss them under the child's tongue so they dissolve easily and go straight into the blood stream to act fairly quickly to help my kids relax just enough to let the sleep they need come and take them to ZZZ-land.

On nights I can't sleep I do these same tricks and I get the sleep I need too.

She is probably over tired and at the same time not wanting to miss the exciting activities going on around her, and she is young and not able to say I really enjoy watching this movie and being awake around my grown-ups, but I think it would be better for me tomorrow if I go to bed now and get the sleep I need. You get to teach her that she is a nicer person and a better learner when she has the right amount of sleep for her body.

By the way, good for you for going to school! What wonderful role-modeling you are giving your daughter. Keep up this hard work, it will make a difference in your life and in hers.

Good luck.

My DD was a late night kid, in part b/c I couldn't stop her from sleeping in the car on the drive home.

I don't know what age your DD is, but around 2 we decided that we needed to do better at giving her a bedtime routine. My DD now goes to bed around 9:30 and most nights that seems to be about right. 8PM is too early (I'm a midnight person myself) and she just gets into trouble in her room while she's "not sleeping."

I would avoid movies for a while and see if that changes things. Try bath, book and bed. Calm things.

I've also found that the time change can mess with DD. She's been up half an hour earlier since we went to saving's time.

yes quit with the movie. read a book or start your bed tine routine. heres what i do with my daughter. (since she was a baby shes 5 now bed time has just changed and now theres no bottle)

7;30- 30 min warning
7:45- 15 min warning
7:55- 5 min warning
8- she is to go potty and then give her hugs
then its into the bathroom for a teeth brushing, hair combing and flossing.
after that she is in her room getting her pjs on. i will then have her read me a book. then we read one together (its a set of my first reading type books). then its a hug and kiss. i turn her rainbow on say good night and thats it. takes me about 15-20 mins to get her in and me out.

something like a movie will keep her mind active for a while after it's over.
Especially if it's an active movie, like Tangled. But something like Bedtime with bear , is good. Now she may be over tired, when she starts yawning at 8 I'd put her down then. My kiddos are 7 and 10 and they have to be in bed by 730 lights out at 830 after an hr of reading wind down time. Into bed at 9 would be too late for mine. They'd never get up for school in the morning.