Any tips for getting a 4 month old to go to bed?

[NewHopePoultry]

Now dont get me wrong, once Kate gets to bed,she sleeps great,but the thing is, she doesnt go to bed until after midnight

My husband goes to bed between 9:30 and 10. I would love nothing more then to be able to go to bed when he does.
Kate goes to bed after midnight and sleeps until after 8.
Does any one have any tips to make her go to bed earlier?

 

[phoenixmama]

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070200.asp

I highly recommend reading some sleeping tips from Dr. Sears.

Other than that...what is your bedtime routine with baby?

 

[NewHopePoultry]

We do all the things they say to do(give her a bath, read a story,etc) and she will go to sleep,but then she wakes back up and stays up until aftermidnight. it doesnt matter what time we try to get her to go to bed. We try to make it so she is in bed by 10,but it never works.
We've tried doing tummy time right before her bath and other things to make her tired, but it doesnt work.

 

[BirdMom]

They come with their own schedules, don't they?

Have you tried soothing music? I don't mean those sappy lullaby CDs (apologies to anyone who likes those, they drive me nuts!) but my kids were always knocked out by Charlotte Church's first CD, or Enya, or Celtic Woman. Worked on my sister's kids too. She didn't think it would, but twin screaming two year olds and a screaming one year old were asleep within a minute of Celtic Woman starting. Awesome music! That was during a visit, and she took the CD home with her for the cross country drive. The kids insisted on having it to go to sleep every night after that, they totally wore out the CD in a year and I had to get her a new one!

Also, do you have the lights low for an hour or so before you want her to go to bed, and then turn them out when it's time for her to go to sleep? The dark triggers the release of melatonin, one of the sleep hormones. Do you rock her for a bit before you want her to go to sleep? Me, I have no problem with rocking a kid to sleep, even every night, I love cuddling them, and they learned to go to sleep on their own when they were ready. I had to rock my son to sleep every night until he was three, as he projectile vomited within 10 seconds of starting to cry hard, every single time, and cleaning up an entire room, shampooing carpet, washing all the bedding, changing my and his clothes, that just wasn't an option every night!

I've never been an advocate of the "letting them cry themselves to sleep" school of thought. Maybe for a two year old, but before that I think they're just not able to understand why this person who is their whole world doesn't come when they're scared/upset/sleepless.

Rock her slowly, play soothing music, have the lights low, slowly and gently rub her back, don't jiggle or bounce her, hopefully she'll get sleepy soon and you can get some rest. Sometimes just laying them in their bed in the dark but keeping a hand on them for a few minutes will reassure them and they'll fall asleep, sometimes even before your arm does.

Oh, and I've got tons more experience than just my two, I'm sixth of fifteen kids, have always been a "little mommy" and mothered all the younger ones to the point of one thinking I was her mommy and preferring me over our mom! I can put nearly any baby to sleep within a few minutes if they're even remotely tired. I've tried all kinds of things, and these are the most effective for me.

Good luck! Hope you get some sleep.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

We always turn the lights off at least 30 mins before trying to put her to bed. We also try to make it as dull as possbile for her to be awake.
We try different music to see if we can find one to help her go to sleep.
I do hold her everynight,but I dont always rock her.

Once she goes to bed,she sleeps for about 7-8 hours, so thats good,but I would like to be able to go to bed with my husband.
I've read tons fo things and tried just about them all.

its 1am here now and she is still awake,but she is in her bed. I can hear her giggling to her mirrior.

How long of naps sghould she be taking in the day? and how often?

 

[BirdMom]

That's cute about her giggling to her mirror!

I love all the things babies do.

At that age, my kids took frequent naps during the day. I never really kept track of them. They slept when they felt like it. Some naps would be quite short, only a few minutes, others would be a couple of hours. At four months they are starting to change their sleep schedules quite a bit as they're beginning to develop faster and do a lot more physically during the day.

If you haven't tried the Enya, Celtic Woman, or Charlotte Church's music, you really should. There isn't much else that comes close. If you go to Enya.com she's got several songs you can listen to on the computer and watch the videos of them too. Doesn't matter what other ones you've tried, if you haven't tried these ones, you may be surprised at how effective they can be.

They really are a very different tone of music than most, from the instrumentation to the actual voices.

If your daughter is happy and entertaining herself while she's awake late, I wouldn't worry about it, go ahead and get some sleep yourself. If she's safely in her crib, she'll cry if she needs something. She may be awake other times during the night when you aren't and you don't even know it because she puts herself back to sleep. Does she cry when she's awake late, or is she just happily amusing herself most nights? If she's crying, it could of course be all kinds of things, hungry, dirty diaper, uncomfortable clothes, uncomfortable position, loneliness, things like that. If she's not crying, I wouldn't worry about it.

How much light does she have? If she can see herself in her mirror, that might be enough to keep her brain stimulated and keep her awake. Or does she cry when the light is off? You might try turning the light off so she's completely in the dark, but then spending a good few minutes by her side with one hand on her or letting her hold your finger, and talking soothingly and very quietly to her to reassure her. A few nights of trying that might make a big difference.

It may also just be a phase that she'll get over in a month or two. The first year is one of rapid development and changes, so most of these phases don't last too long.

 

[Mahonri]

sorry... just reread

I thought it said 4 year old.

nevermind.

just wear her out and feed her well prior to bed time.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

I'll try finding one of those cds. They might actually help her sleep.

When she is entertaining herself I usually do go on to bed,but she doesnt always keep entertaining herself,often she gets bored of it and cries.
She has a small nighlight in her room. We tried shutting it off a few times,but it didnt go well.
She wakes up before I do and she usually plays and then goes back to sleep. When she cant see to play she cries.

 

[pokey]

i feel for you.... mine is 7 months old and has been sleeping through the nite routinely for a few months. i was putting her to bed about 8:30 and getting her up about 5:30 to get her to daycare at 6:30. it took a little bit but what worked for us was keeping her in the routine. if you keep putting your little one to bed around a certain time they will usually get into that pattern after awhile. i thought mine would NEVER FREAKIN sleep. now she is starting to teethe, so we wake up a few times a night, but we are getting some teething tablets and tylenol, and it seems to help. i agree that the bath and getting baby full helps them sleep, you probably just need to get the baby on your schedule, good luck! oh yeah, i forgot to say that although i was trying to get her to go to bed at 8:30, most nights she wants to go around 7 on her own. thank you JESUS !!!!

 

[Chicken Chaperone]

Aw, I miss my DS being just a little guy! When he was a baby I read as much as I could about every baby topic imaginable but especially the ones
about sleep. I remember one particularly cutsie article that asked- "Is your baby an early bird or a night owl?" and it went on to give all sorts of
advice about getting their sleep cycles more synced up with those of the family. I remember reading it and thinking- my son isn't a night owl
or an early bird- he's a vampire!!! What the heck do I do about that?!? lol!
I kept hearing people say-"Oh, he's such-and-such age- he should be sleeping through the night, right?" Well, he's now almost 6 and I'm still waiting
for that 'sleeping all the way through the night thing' to happen!

I wish I had some terrific sage advice to offer you but do know that I think most parents on the planet feel for ya and that from now on I will
be sending some groggy-baby-vibes your way every evening!