How to get a 13 month to sleep!!!

[sazzerbear]

Regardless of what we have been doing in the day, my 13 month old ds used to go to sleep at 7pm without fail. Over the last week he has (as usual) been bathed, had chill out time then story and bottle before being put to bed. He now messes about for 1-1/2 hours in his cot before he will go to sleep, often ending in tears (me and him!) Any suggestions??!!

Is he getting lots of running/crawling about during the day to wear him out? Maybe he needs less sleep in the day and don't let him catch up on sleep during his naps i.e sleep longer because he is tired from the night before?

If he is happy in his cot, just ignore him and let him go to sleep.

Thanks guys, he is getting lots of exercise but he's not quite walking, presumably he will be really tired and therefore go to sleep better once he is walking? I heard any sleep after 2pm is bad as it affects their night-time sleep, is this right?

awwww, I was hoping you had the secret on how to get a 13 month old to sleep

Mine were both fine sleeping in the afternoon for quite a while but once they had stopped sleeping during the day it did affect what time they went to sleep in the evenings (but a lot older than 13mths). Generally, they were (and are) quite happy to amuse themselves in their beds until they dropped off so I used to keep bedtime the same time.

They are definitly less inclined to go straight to sleep in the summer than in the winter

Thanks, fingers crossed he'll go to bed on time tomorrow, if not the babysitter won't get any peace to read her mags and watch trashy tv!!!

Oh no, that's when you want them to stay up. So you get your moneys worth from the sitter!!

too true, nights out are few and far between!!

This is exactly like my DD who always used to go to sleep at 8pm but now sits up and messes around in her cot. She wears a sleeping bag and can't seem to lie back down when she gets tired - she cries - we lie her down and she gets hysterical and over tired!!

We are finding that if we take her out for a walk just before putting her to bed it seems to calm her/make her sleepy. Although we don't always feel inclined to walk out at 8pm with her! - not too bad when the weather is nice though.

She doesn't walk yet and although she pulls herself along the floor and rolls she has never really got the hang of crawling so we're hoping once she is on the move she will be ready for bed earlier.

Good to know we're not the only ones with a 13 month old that doesn't want to go to bed!!...