Late bed, early to rise and up in between

[kitkat321]

My dd is 2 1/2 and to be fair to her she's had a bit of disruption recently - we removed the bars from her cotbed and then a couple of months later we ditched her dummy.

Add to that the lighter nights and mornings and it's a bit of a nightmare.

We cannot get her to bed before 9pm. If we start earlier we end up fighting her til 9pm. It was easier when she couldn't get out her cot as she might have cried for a bit but would settle quickly.

Now that she can get up it's a nightmare. She's up as soon as you put her back in bed and wants you to lie beside her.

She also wakes up during the night sometimes - not every night but a couple of times a week although she's generally easy to get back to sleep.

Then come 6am she's up bright as a button.

We were thinking of cutting out her nap - she usually naps for an hour/hour and a half but even on the days she's not napped she doesn't go to bed earlier.

I'm shattered - we get no time to ourselves by the time she goes down and we tidy and get organised it's bed time for us.

We've tried night lights etc so it's not a fear of the dark - more like a separation anxiety as she's very attached especially to me.

How do I go about trying to get her settled earlier?

TIA

[FATEdestiny]

Why have you rem9ved the sides of her cot?

Lots of children get a huge amount of security from the enclosed, safe, secure feeling the side of the cot gives. I don't see the point in forcing the issue of moving to a bed until the child is emotionally ready.

All of my children have been at least 3 years old before the sides of the cot came off. At that point, once emotionally ready for the "exposed" feeling of the bed, it is then no stress or hassle to make the change.

So my first suggestion would be the most simple - put the sides back on the cot. If that is not possible, try to recreate the enclosed feeling of the cot sides. You can get bed-dens that enclose the bed, or mosquito net type things.

[kitkat321]

Because she tries to climb out therefore it's too dangerous.

[kitkat321]

Will look at the den type thing though - I'm sure I've spotted something in ikea

[FATEdestiny]

Yes, IKEA do a tunnel den. I've seen that too.

The climbing is a behaviour issue. Like all unwelcome behaviour, you just teach child that while you can do something, it doesn't mean you should. Most toddlers physically can run across the a road, but you don't let them do it. You teach them that particular behaviour is dangerous as so must stop and not happen again. Same with cot climbing.

[kitkat321]

I agree to a point however while my child is never without adult supervision near a road, I can't supervise her while she sleeps - for me I'd rather not run the risk - she's a very tall child - bigger than most kids a year older than her so even if she leans on the bars there is a risk she'll topple out.