Night Owl!

Hey, don't bother. Fighting her inclinations, I mean. There is so much out there now about "forcing a schedule" onto a baby or child. I have 2 sons, and one is a morning person, the other stays up til midnight and awakens at 9 or 10 a.m. So be it. Mine were strictly breastfed, too. Just let her do her own thing and relax.
Best wishes!

I agree with a couple of comments that children do develop their own sleeping habits. But at 5 months (and being the parent), you do have some control. Establishing a routine is good; just stick with it every night. I don't necessarily agree that changing her last feeding is not an option. If it's important for you to get to bed earlier - yourself and your daughter - then make it an option. I'm speaking from personal experience of strictly breastfeeding two children, and adapting their sleep routines to what I needed them to be. Try giving her last feeding a little bit earlier each night. For example, Monday, even if she is not crying from hunger, feed her 15-20 minutes earlier. Do that for a couple days, then move it up another 15-20 minutes. Your body will adjust it's milk production and your daughter's hunger schedule will adjust too. It's neat that it just kind of works that way. Eventually, your daughter will grow out of a late night feeding altogether. Hope this helps!

Hi K T,

My daughter (who will be 6 months on October 8th) has also been a really good sleeper at night since she was about 8 weeks old. We did have a going to bed issue a month ago. She just wasn't going to sleep at her normal bed time. But I think over this last month we have made great progress in getting her to bed at a decent time. Here is what I have been doing, and it seems to be working for us so far.

One thing I have figured out is that we have to stick to a schedule. If we don't, she will not go to sleep at a reasonable time. By schedule, I mean, we get up at a certain time every day(I work full time, so we have to be out of the house by 7:30 am, which means everyone needs to be dressed and fed before we leave.), and she eats every 2 to 2 1/2 hours. She usually naps 3 or 4 times during the day/early evening. Then at 7:00 every night we start making our way towards the bedroom. Activities become quieter activities and we try to give her cues that its time to start settling down for the night. By 7:30 she is usually rubbing her eyes and showing signs of tiredness. I give her the last bottle for the night at 8:00 and she is usually asleep by 8:30-9:00. She will typically sleep through the night and wake on her own at 7:00 am.

Anyway, the idea is to send cues to your child that its time for bed. I know that at 5 months, they are still making their own schedule, but it has really saved my sanity to have a "family schedule." It takes some adjusting for everyone to get used to it, but in the long run, its been worth it for us. Hopefully we will be able to continue this schedule!

Good luck!

Jenn

I had the same thing happen when my son was around that age. He would sleep all night, but he was up until 11:30pm. I give him a bath every night, put pajamas on, read a book and then bottle (nursed until 8 months old). I think it is good to do the same thing every night because they learn what to expect...he knows he goes to bed every night after this routine. I just started his bath 5-10 mintutes earlier each night. We got away with moving it up a couple of minutes because he couldn't really tell the difference. By a couple of weeks, he was going to bed around 9:30-10pm. He is now 9.5 months old and goes to bed at 8:45pm and sleeps until 8:30-9am.

I know that is late for you to stay up...but I would be happy she is sleeping that long!

It just might be the way she is. My daughter will be five months October 8th, and she is the opposite, wakes up around 6:30 am everyday no matter what time she went down or how she napped, I just want her to sleep in longer! But these kids are Taurus, I have come to the conclusion they'll do what they want! but mine has started teething and giving her either tylenol or baby motrin has helped her sleep better, and go down easier. I was having the late night sleeper for a few weeks until I started giving her tylenol. If your baby seems tired but can't get to sleep maybe she is having headaches or pains from starting to teeth. Otherwise you could try putting her down a little earlier a little bit at a time.

I had that problem with my oldest daughter. I suggest trying a special bedtime routine every night, each night do it a little earlier than the night before. This worked for me but it took about a month to get her to a regular schedule. I hhope it works for you, but, if not, then don't give up hope. She will grow out of it eventually.

my son is the same way use to sleep good at night, but lately he falls asleep around 2 am and sleeps until noon. What im doing is getting him to take his naps earlier in the day, and then keeping him up from 6pm-10 and he stars getting tired around 9:30 and wakes up earlier about 8 am. Try that and see if that will help her. My son will be 6 months old as of oct6.

My daughter is almost 4 months old and she used to do the same thing. She doesnt really nap too long during the day. Which most days is aggrivating, but she sleeps wonderfully now at night. I changed up her bedtime routine a little. She eats her "solids" between 5:30-6:30(with a bottle following about and hour afterwards). Then between 7-7:45ish she gets a bath. Then we read a little bit and play around then she gets another bottle between 8-8:30. She falls asleep and stays asleep until about 7:30 the next morning. Now I understand you BF and this might be alittle harder for you to do. But Maybe you have a pump? Or have used one before and given your daughter a bottle? If you have a pump and she will take a bottle you might be able to get this to work for you. It seems to work for me giving her a bath with the bedtime soaps and lotions before I give her the last bottle. I hope this helps you out a little bit. I am quite new at this myself. Its just what works for me.

Have you tried waking her up earlier for the day?

Maybe if you get her up at 7am (or whatever time works for you) for a couple of days and make sure she is not taking her afternoon nap too late she will be sleepier earlier. It might be a rough couple of days, but who knows?
I have not personally had this problem so take that with a grain of salt :)

She is still very young and not really that established in her patterns, so she may just grow out of it, too.
Lucky you for having a baby that slept so good from so early on!!!

E.

Oh wow, my daughter stays up until 3:00 in the morning some times. It is partly my fault because I am some what of a night owl but beleive me, 3:00 is a little TOO late. Just get her up like a half an hour earlier one day, than a few days later, another half an hour. Keep doing this until she has such a long, tiring day that she goes to bed at ten!
I know it's hard to start doing this, I still have problems! My daughter too is still breastfed and I totally understand the schedule thing. I let her sleep with me to make it easier. I know this isn't the best option for everyone but it did help.
Hope you get some sleep! and Congrats on the baby

Our doctor said it's best to get into a routine that you can duplicate every night. Our is 8:00 bath, 8:15 feeding, 8:30 story time (our son in his bed and us reading to him sitting next to his bed). It only took a few weeks when he was little to get him to understand that after his bath is bed time. We have adjusted his schedule from 9:30 (when he was younger and feeding more often) and we have not had a problem. Good luck.

The biggest and greatest thing you can do for her for sleeping and for everything else is to set a schedule. My son was strickly breastfed for a long time and at 2 weeks old we began his schedule of a short bath at 8:30pm then nurse then swaddle him tight and lie him down awake in his crib and he'd fall asleep. At 8 weeks he slept through the night completely and now he is excited to be put to bed and just lies there with a smile...it's familiar and he knows what's happening. As they grow they will not need to eat at night..obviously...and the only reason they eat at night is that the mom feeds them. At around 8 months they really shouldn't need the night feeding...especially if you have at least started them on some rice cereal or solids along with your breastmilk. You set the schedule and stick with it. They will adjust and be happier too and so will you!

I did the routine thing for my 4 year old because I worked 2nd shift for the last three years, and he never slept in his own bed. I would bring him home as late as 1am from the sitters.Poor baby is right. I did the play outside (fresh air has a good effect on kids) then dinner, the bath, quiet time, maybe a snack (my mom swears by this) a full belly sleeps better than an empty one. Next we would watch a little tv or play card and board games. Then we would go to bed and I would sit in a chair next to the bed and read stories, I would also say prayers, and rub my hand through his hair until he fell asleep. The routine helped me get my night owl up at 7am for school. I slowly week by week moved the alarm clock back a half an hour. Now even on saturdays hes up before the alarm goes off. Even last night I get him ready for bed and all I say is ok go get in bed. Gives him a minute to get the stuffed animals in bed with him, I tell him to lay down if he isn't already, no arguements, either, Oh so nice. Hope this helps.