Getting DD to sleep earlier and wake earlier

[EyeballsintheSky]

DD is 8 mo and a bit of a pickle when it comes to sleeping. She will not entertain going to sleep before 9.30pm but consequently, she is content to sleep in the morning until 10am if I let her. How do I get her to shift the times? BTW, even if we're up and out early which we are on some days she still doesn't sleep any earlier that evening.

And what can I do to get her back to sleeping in her cot? She wakes at about 2am and then won't go back in the cot at all and ends up sleeping with me.

Any tips appreciated

What times does she nap in the day roughly and how long for?

Also - do you have a strong bed time routine e.g. bath, milk bed etc?

Once she's up in the morning she will usually nap in the car for the duration of any journey which tends to be about 30 mins. She'll do that for as many journeys as we make.

If we're home, she might get 30 mins max but only if I'm holding her and probably only once or twice. I suppose it sounds from that as if she doesn't know how to put herself to sleep so will only go if she's totally shattered or something like the car sets her off.

Bedtime routine is not bad. Bath is not every day as she absolutely detests being changed so she screams blue murder! DH always takes her up, dim lights, reads story, bottle etc. If he takes her up earlier she just jumps on the bed till the 'normal' time

That's tricky. How do you feel about shouting it out (either cold turkey or the pick up put down routine)?

Other things you could try are to treat it as a form of jet lag and put her to bed at 9:15pm for 2-3 nights (ie working with her natural tired time) and wake her 12 hours later and then bring it back by 15 mins for the next 2-3 nights and so on.

I personally would absolutely insist that she stays in her cot but I do understand that people like to co-sleep! I would start dealing with that issue on a friday night or a niught when you don't have to do anything in particular the next day.

The car driving is a huge issue - they always mess up my LOs naps and chaos occurs! Is there anyway that you could avoid using the car from lunch time onwards? Can you take her out in a buggy for a walk (via a large sit down outside a coffee shop!) that lasts an hour ish instead? Would she stay asleep for longer?

If they sleep well in the day, they sleep better at night too (generally speaking of course!). If you can get her day naps sorted, that should help the night time and vice versa.

I think I would be tempted to try the jet lag approach coupled with some stern 'once you're in your cot you stay there unless you're ill' approach. For the day - if you can avoid the car and use a buggy instead, I would as it's an easier 'prop' to work with and / or make sure the journey time lasts long enough for her to have a full nap, so sit in the car when you've stopped with the engine running if you have to!

I just have to do something and will pop back in a sec...

I think for that age, it's roughly up to a 2 hour sleep finishing about lunch time and then another hour 3-4pm ish is 'ideal' They don't always do that of course!!

I wonder if you worked at helping her to sleep for a couple of naps (or at least one) of a minimum of an hour per day and then did the jet lag thing until her body clock is sorted and then you can work at removing the props....it would take longer but might be easier on you all?