My daughter who is 2.5yrs comes home from nursery about 6pm. I give her dinner at 6.30 and then its quiet time where we spend time together till 7.30. At this point I start her bedtime routines. Finally we go to her bedroom, she drinks her milk and I read her couple of stories. Then kisses and goodnight. However I find she finds it hard to settle and keeps coming out. She can only go to sleep well after several bottles of milk. I have changed to beakers hoping that might break the pattern. I normally find that she is very tired around 7pm but I find that too early as I don’t get to spend much time with her. Is she going past her sleep point by my making bedtime later? Can I engage her differently and still keep a later bedtime?
Invariably she comes to my bed about 11.30. I have no issues with this but do need that time between her bedtime and my bedtime to relax a bit, do some chores and generally unwind before going to bed. Also we want to try for another baby and this routine just does not allow it.
I am of Indian origin and typically we are quite laid back about kids bedtime and they normally sleep with us when young. I am now in the UK and trying my best to adapt the two cultures as my husband is from here.
It would be great if I can have that window of time guaranteed between her bedtime and mine. If she then stays in her bed till morning that would be a bonus 🙂
Any advice would be great! “V”
Generally speaking when children are having a hard time getting to bed it is all about too much stimulation in their environment and inconsistent bedtime routines. Feel free to read all the prior postings on bedtime routines.
She needs to have plenty of wind down time with relaxing activities. I find the bath time, massage time and reading time usually puts children out right away each night.
M Kay Keller
