No Sleep!! - Inver Grove Heights,MN

I would say to try and keep them up just a few minutes longer (8:30 maybe). I have a 9 month old who does the same thing at times, and I try to play with her until around 7:30; once I see that she's is starting to get sleepy, I start to play (or irritate her as she may one day discribe it) with her more instead of letting her go right to sleep. After a long night of mom playing (or irritating) with her, she sleeps until about 9:30, 10:00am. My husband loves it.

Sounds like you children are ready for the next step of either shorter naps or short bed times. Winter Time is hard on kids because they usually don't get as much exercise as they would if they spent an hour outside playing hard. Sounds like your middle child is ready for shorter naps or later bedtimes. I understand that a lot of parents put their children down to bed at 7 which sounds really early to me as I never put my kids down until at least 8. This made sure that they were tired enough for bed and that they would sleep all night and late enough in the morning to allow me to get my rest. You may want to check with your Dr for suggested sleep times. Most kids don't need 12 hours of sleep. 10 is plenty at this age and if they are going to bed at 7.. then 5 would be about 10 hours.

We use the book Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West. She is known at the Sleep Lady. Her book is broken up into sections by age so there is a section for each of your children. It is a gentle approach and you won't have to let them cry it out. Trust me the book is amazing! It has worked wonders with our two kids. I can't recommend it enough.

You have ALOT on your plate! You are a very strong person to be able to take care of your own 3 kids plus a daycare during the day.

Shortening the 2 year olds nap nap might help... my doc says that my 2 1/2 year olf needs 12 hours of sleep (this is sleep at night and nap combined). So try to make adjustmest to the sleep schedule to help everyone including you get a good rest. We put my daughter down at 8pm and she usually is up at 7am and take an hour or two nap in the afternoon. I am not a big fan of waking a napping child BUT after many restless nights of fighting bed time I DO wake up my daughter after 2 hours if napping otherwise she will fight bed time and/or get up WAY to early for my liking.

Best wishes, I hope you find something that works for your family!

Consider getting the kids an alarm clock! Stay with me here and you'll see what I mean: Your 2 oldest should be old enough to pick up on this, and this is what you do. Show the kids the alarm clock in your room and explain that this is what big kids and grown ups use so they know when it's time to wake up. When the alarm goes off, it's time to get up. Do you want an alarm clock just like mommy and daddy? This means you'll be a really big girl/boy!!

Take them to the store and have them pick out a simple but neat alarm clock that they like. Go home and practice with it. Set the alarm (music preferably) to go off in a short time and tell the kids to pretend like they're sleeping in their beds, when the alarm goes off, they can get up. Then, do this for all sleeping times (night and naps), and you set the alarm for when they should get up. Now, you need to explain that they stay in their bed until the alarm goes off, even if they wake up first.

Now, you will know when the kids are waking up each day, and getting out of their beds. And even if they aren't sleeping the whole time, they will at least stay in their beds/room until the alarm goes off. If you want, give an option to the oldest to read books quietly in bed until the alarm goes off if they wake up first. It won't be long and you'll have your quiet time again, and they'll be much more independent!! Yeah - this is good for you and you're teaching them how to be resposible for themselves at the same time. Good luck!

If your kids are going to bed by 7 PM it is fairly reasonable that they would be ready to wake BY 6 AM. I would try to put them to bed closer to 8 or 8:30 and see if that helps....

We don't have a set bedtime for our kids so they just go to bed whenever we do (between 9 and 10) and wake up about 8 or 9 AM. So 10 to 12 hours of sleep is pretty normal. Our kids do nap during the afternoon as well.

When I was doing daycare, I would head to bed by 7 or 8 PM as well. As soon as our daughter would fall asleep (she was 9 months old when I quit daycare) I would go to bed as well... Daycare is a very TOUGH job. It's long hours and NO NAPS (for the provider....LOL.) Definitely go to bed earlier yourself. It made the world of difference for me.

hey B.

i hear you 100%.. i'm a mother of a 7 month old, 1 year old, 2 year old and a 3 year old. i work as a paramedic and i'm a behavioral specialist and i work 11pm to 7 am and i'm only sleeping from 8 pm to 10 pm then i got to work.. i'm not sure what your really asking but if you want to talk i'm happy to talk to you about what we both can do LOL, i just want to say i know your pain and funest thing of any my 2 year old is autistic and aggressive so LOTS OF BEHAVIORS IN MY HOUSE< ____@____.com

You all need your rest, so bring your kids to bed, lie down with them and go to sleep. It will get better. If you are nursing, continue to do so and nurse on demand while lying down with your little one. It makes a difference!

Read Dr Sears Night Time Parenting or go to the Web site askdrsears.com. The book saved our lives when our kids were smaller.

Experiment with a later bedtime and naps. When you do put someone down for a nap and can, lie down yourself and have the older kids have quiet time, if they won't nap.

The days (or nights in this case!) are long, but the years are short. Hang in there and meanwhile enjoy this stage in your lives.

J.