Need Help - Phoenix,AZ

wake her up earlier in the morning so she is more tired at night. Cut back on naps so she is more tired at night. make a set routine every night, wash face, brush teeth, read a book, lights out, at the same time every night.

Hi you could try bathing her bfore she goes to bed, try that and or reading her a story before bed. hope that helps L. a

Hi J. I know what you mean it is hard tryig to do a lot on your own. I have two little ones. My son is 3 and my daughter is almost 2. I noticed that when they play hard out side the fresh air just does something and they sleep. My husbad and I put them in there room at 8:30pm and they do sometimes cry but they finally fall alseep. You do have to get into a routine. It will take time if she gets out of her room put a childproof door knob on so she cant, and once she relizes she can't get out she will fall alseep in her bed or on the floor. Just hang in there you will conker this have a positive attitude and smile:. I hope this gives some help.

My daughter started the same problem around 2 to 2 1/2. It is very tiring and I was getting so tired of fighting a battle with her. Some of the things that worked well for us is having a consistent routine. Same thing at the same time. Don't give in. It is very hard...sometimes I had to listen to her cry for up to an hour, but the supernanny techniques mentioned in the other response do help. My daughter would use things like I need a drink of water, I need to go potty, etc. etc. Finally one of the things that worked best for us is a sticker chart. I started simple with just one task, staying in bed...if she did that all night, in the morning she got a sticker. That was reward enough for a while. Now we have worked up to she earns a sticker for cleaning up her toys, then for putting on her pajamas, and then for brushing her teeth. She earns various rewards for the number of stickers. Five stickers, (take a walk) ten stickers (trip to park) 15 stickers (trip for ice cream) whatever rewards work best for your child. This has really helped us establish our routine and now we don't use the sticker charts at all. She still tries to fight sometimes but we have established such a routine that when I say no or I don't give in she actually listens without fighting. It took us several months to establish this though, so stay patient and stay strong. You can do it.

When my daughter was 3, she would want to stay up too late, so I made her nap shorter, then she was tired earlier and eventually took her nap away!

I know that it is hard to do this on your own. You have to be strong, for your daughters sake.

hang in there!
T.
www.tesabartell.myarbonne.com

Have her take an earlier nap and limit how long she naps for. Also get her outside playing in the fresh air in the afternoons and get her worn out so she will be ready for naptime.

Im not sure what time she goes to bed or wakes up or if she takes a nap but i know my daughter stopped taking naps very early i now have a 2 y.o. boy who gets up real early and goes to bed at 7 pm if she takes a nap maybe try not doing a nap or is she can get up ealier wake her up so that she is tired at night and maybe start a night time plan you know eat dinner take a bath brush your teeth tuck her in and read her a short story but i hope this helps he took me time to get my kids to go to bed at 7 now i have a 2 month old who dont want to go to bed then lol

I don't know how much advice anyone has given you about getting your daughter to bed, but if you haven't watched "SuperNanny" on ABC, I'd highly recommend it. Her bedtime technique is really great.

I would say first make sure you have a bedtime routine. You could give her a bath, brush her teeth, read a story to her, and then off to bed (or whatever works for your schedule that will allow her to calm down and recognize that bedtime is coming up). Start this process at least 1/2-hour before bedtime, and try to be consistant.

Then take her to her bed, tuck her in, tell her it's time for bed in a confident and sweet voice ("It's time for bed sweetie."). If her problem is that she gets out of bed, then take her back to her bed, and tell her, "It's time for bed" (drop the "sweetie" part). If she continues to get out of bed, just take her back without saying ANYTHING to her. Continue doing this until she falls asleep. The first few nights will take some time, and probably test your patience, but keep doing it.

If her problem is that she stays in bed but cries or fusses because you are not there, you might need a slightly different approach. You can start with the routine as described above. Then after you lay her down, you can sit by her bed, but face sideways from her (DON'T look at her or give her attention). After a little time, you can start to move closer to the door, but don't give her attention. Just lay her back in bed if she gets up. Each night do this starting your position in the room farther away from her bed, until you are able to lay her down and be completely out of the room.

Anything you try is going to take some time. The biggest key, even if you choose to try something different that someone else may suggest, is to be consistent! Kids are masters at pulling their mother's heart-strings and pushing their buttons. Remember you are in charge.

Hope this helps.

sleepy time tea worked for my son, he never wanted to go to bed before anyone else.

Here is a method that I read about in a book. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to when our baby is old enough:

(1) Get your child ready for bed (bath, snack, book, brush, etc., whatever your routine is). Put to bed.

(2) When she gets up the first time, say "It's bedtime, darling" and put her right back into bed.

(3) When she gets up the second time, firmly say "Bedtime" and put her right back. No other interactions.

(4) Every time after that, don't say anything - just pick her up and put her right into her bed without any words or interaction. Supposedly they get the point, although it may take some time!

I would try two things together, I would limit her nap and make it a bit earlier in the day ( an hour earlier) then I would increase her activity level, especially out door play. NOthing makes kiddos sleepy like a good outdoor activity in the sunshine! It'll be good for both of you.

A lot of good suggestions already. The other thing I would strongly suggest is having a consistent get up time (in the morning). This will help support the bedtime and all the effort that you are putting in. Get up the same time every day (including weekends)and go to bed same time every night. That helps her melatonin cycle in her body. Also I don't think I saw making sure that her room is dark at night and make sure it is light when she wakes up.
K.

create a bedtime routine. bath, read a book, then bed. explain to her that this is how it's going to be and follow through. she probably will not 'want' to do it, but you have to put your foot down and make her. at first she will probably fight it, then when she sees you are consistent she will just fall in line (a little easier at least)

Hi J.,

Is there a reason that you want your daughter to go to bed at a certain time? It can be difficult for one to fall asleep if one isn't tired. When my kids (now 3.5 and 7) were small, I would turn the lights out if I needed to go to sleep and they were still awake. They were free to stay awake, but it would be in the dark! Now, if I want them to go to sleep for some reason(I'm a single mama, too), I just get in our bed with them and snuggle, and they're asleep in minutes. Otherwise, they almost always go to bed on their own around 9, which works for me.

How set are your evening routines? I find when I stick to mine (to the letter), my kids do fine. But, it's when we deviate from time or the order that I have trouble.

If your daughter is napping during the day you might want to consider shortening the amount of time she naps or not having her nap at all. She will be tired sooner and may get to bed at the her scheduled bedtime. Making bedtime a fun routine might also help; read a story together, listen to some quiet music with her, try messaging her feet to help her unwind. Establishing a bedtime routine especially as a single mother does take at LOT of work, but if you stay with the same routine over a period of two to three weeks your daughter will begin to fall into a regular bedtime schedule.

Hi J.,
I would suggest trying to get her ready for bed earlier. Maybe she is actually over-tired and has gotten a "second wind" by then. We've noticed this with our 2 little ones. You might want to try starting the bedtime routine 15 to 30 minutes earlier and keep inching it back until you get less resistance. Everyone is different, but we find that our 2 1/2 year old does much better if we can him in bed by about 7:30 (also he doesn't nap anymore, so we could probably get away with an even earlier bedtime for him). Also if you have a set routine that you follow at bedtime every night that should help get her in bedtime mode (bath, jammies, teeth, clean room, book...etc.). If you're having a problem even getting her into bed and getting her to stay there, you can also try to make sure she knows that's not acceptable by taking away book-time etc. Good luck!

Hi J.!

When I was going through the same problem I learned that Routine is what really helped me. We did the same thing every night. Bath, brush teeth,, story then bed. As long as I stuck to the routine she would go to sleep anytime (even the time change). I also cut down her nap or went to one nap. By the time she was four I cut out the nap and she slept from 7pm to 7am. That isworked for me! Good luck!
Marsee

J.,

God Bless you! Way to be there for your little one. Bed times are so important to us as parents, and I'm sure you're anxious for your own, being that you are parenting alone. One suggestion is to make sure you are winding down within a hour of bedtime. Avoid activities that get you daughter wound up and excited...start the bed time routine of getting dressed, brushing teeth, and maybe reading and praying. We tried to cut off the playing. Routines are great, and they know its coming. I think reading worked the best for my kids. Often we cuddled up on the bed together, and it made for great memories too. My littlest one was quieted by music. When it was time to lay down, she listened to some quite classical music. Keep up the good work! - N.

I was haveing trouble getting my 1 yr old to sleep through the night. I love Super Nanny for the strenght she gives the parents on her show. I just thought if they can do it I can do it. So I picked the routin and stuck to it. I just imagened Super Nanny in my head telling me I could be strong. You can do this, Good Luck.