My daughter is 4. She sleeps at 10:00 pm everyday. It seems pretty late for a 4-year-old. She actually goes to bed around 9:00 pm. Then she tosses in bed and play with stuff animals for almost an hour. She naps for an hour at daycare during the day.
What can I do to make her sleep earlier? Thanks.
BTW: She gets up 7:00 to 7:30 am . So I don't think she sleeps enough for her age.
I would like to thank everyone that responded to the post.
I have tried several things.First, I tried to let her skip the nap. But she would get tired and cranky around 5:00 pm.
Then, I made up a schedule with my daughter and hanged the schedule in her room (learned it from Supernanny). So I can make sure we finish story time and get into bed by 9:00 pm. It helped a little. She falls into sleep a bit earlier than before.
I have no advice to give, however, my 21 mo old does something similar. Regardless of when I put her down she often tosses and turn or talks or just relaxes for, some nights, up to an hour. I am interested to see the responses you get!!
I have had sleeping problems like this since I was little. My mom tried all sorts of things and nothing helped. It has continued into adulthood. I think some people simply don't sleep well. I take a sleeping pill once a week to get a good night's sleep. I am starting to see the same problems with one of my sons. I'm sorry I can't offer great advice, I can only sympathize. My son stopped taking naps at around 2, he's 10 now. I try to make sure he gets plenty of exercise and does something calming like reading a book before bed. Sometimes it helps, but most nights not. He too lays there for an hour or two after bedtime at 9. The pediatrician hasn't had any good advice I didn't already hear, no sugar, no caffeine etc., the whole time I was growing up with the same problem. If anyone finds a good solution it would be wonderful.
I have a four year old daughter who does this same thing (plays with her "babies" at night). If I really want her to go to sleep faster for some particular reason, I move her night-light further away so that there in little to no light on in the room and then limit the toys she takes to bed to just one small one for comfort, or none. She'll get board and fall asleep. I do not, however, do this every night, but then I stay home with her so getting up early isn't mandatory for us. I just do this when we have an early morning ahead. But perhaps it could work for you all of the time, or at least as incentive for your daughter to learn to fall asleep with her babies and not stay up playing with them. Good luck to you.
So she gets about 10-10.5 hours of total sleep per day, right? That sounds normal even if it's on the lower edge of normal (10-12 hours). I don't know how you'd force her to sleep more. If she didn't nap and you started her bedtime routine earlier, maybe that would help.
My daughter has never slept 12 hours straight in her life (she's 4 too). I spent lots of time worrying about what she was "supposed" to sleep until I realized that 10-11 hours total works for her. Any less and it shows in her behavior. How is her behavior? Does she act well rested or is she cranky and prone to melt downs? If she acts ok, I wouldn't stress too much because she may be ready to sleep earlier when she starts doing longer no nap days at kindergarten.
My 4-year-old is the same way. He gets up between 8:30 and 9 am, which is obviously going to have to change when kindergarten starts in the fall.
Yesterday I started reading him the Chronicles of Narnia instead of the usual picture books in the hope that it would make him sleepy, but he just sat and listened until my wife yelled from the other room "it's 10:15 already!!!" :)
I recommend that you try forcing her to get up earlier in the morning - she might be cranky for a couple of days, but she'll probably get sleepy earlier at night. I have insomnia myself and that sometimes works for me.
A great book on sleeping is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It has good info for people of all ages.
We have a late schedule also. I get home between 5:30 and 6 and my husband doesn't get home til 7:30 or 8:00. Dinner is not usually til 8:00 most nights. We sit at the table eating/talking til about 8:30-8:40. Then it's cleanup time for one of us while the other one plays with/supervises the girls (5 and 2). I've been trying to do the bath before dinner so we do have that playtime after dinner but even that is hard. If we start heading upstairs for tooth brushing, reading, etc., it's about 10:00 by the time we get lights out. Our pediatrician said that she would like to see them in bed by 9:00...and I know that they need more sleep. However, it has been so hard to do that. We've been trying this past week and the earliest we've been able to get them in bed is 9:30 but at least it's a little earlier...(My girls get up around 8:00 most of the time...and my 2 year old takes a 1.5-2 hour nap.) I'm trying my best. I do think that the more sleep they get during the day the better they sleep at night (i.e. skipping a nap does not necessarily mean they sleep better at night; in fact, they are often so overtired that the nighttime sleeping goes way worse!) Sorry this does not offer any advice but just trying to let you know you're not the only one struggling with this.
Make sure there is no sugar, soda pop, white flour in her diet, and she'll sleep.
best, k
What time does she get up in the morning? What time do you need to leave? She should be getting 10-12 hours of sleep per night.
Start her bedtime routine earlier. Around 730, start the routine so she will be asleep by 8 or 830.
Different kids need more or less sleep. As long as she has 10 hours with the nap and does not seem tired, your probably fine. Daycare should ween her off naps pretty soon, in preparation for Kindergarten. In the mean time, you can ask them to let her look at books quietly while the others sleep so she is tired enough for bed earlier. That worked for us. She either was not tired enough to sleep at daycare or was not tired at bed time, so going without the nap helped. Just start the process on the weekend and you should be fine.
I always liked the book How to Solve your Child's Sleep Problems. It is in paperback and has a red cover. It gives lots of good info (like what is the "normal" amount (range) of sleep for each age, and suggestions on how to change your child's sleep patterns. -- What time does your daughter wake up each morning? If she sleeps in then you might be able to shift her sleep schedule. There is probably nothing that you can do about that nap at daycare. But the book will suggest a relaxing bedtime routine, maybe an earlier dinner hour, etc. Good luck. It is hard when you don't have any down time after your child goes to bed.
She's getting what seems like 9 hours a night, plus a nap during the day. Some peoples' clocks vary from the "norm"...As long as your child is rested, just let life take its' course.
