How can I change my night-owl habits and get to bed earlier?

[MyNameIsInigoMontoya]

Like the title says really - I have always been an "evening" person, hate getting up early but used to stay up till midnight or later regularly - just pottering, reading or whatever.

Sadly, now we have a toddler and small baby I NEED to get some more sleep as the baby is waking us lots at night, but can't lie in or nap (except occasionally at weekends), so the only way to get more sleep is to go to bed earlier. But after being on the go all day with the two of them, I am even more reluctant to go to bed early when the evenings are the only peaceful time I get to do my own thing!

I always end up doing just "one more" job, or "just a few minutes more reading/MNing/whatever" and suddenly it's got late and I've ended up with another short night. So, any tips for convincing myself to get to bed, even when I don't really want to (but need to)? Anyone else managed to do this? (Had better get ready for baby's feed and then bed now... so must try to stop myself checking for replies till morning!).

As you can see from my post time I;m like you ! also hate going to bed but hate getting up ! - I do however power nap most evenings after dinner - just 20 mins or so but that's all I need to keep me going - only one suggestion for you is telly/computer off, have a nice warm bath and go to bed with a book and force yourself to stay there ! bring the time forward by say 15 mins each evening until you get to what you think is a reasonable time - hey I might try that myself lol - good luck and night night x

I am hopeless too.

I think writing a big bold "bed at 11pm" on a post-it note and sticking it on your fridge door will help.

Seriously.

I am off to load diswasher and go to bed. Should be asleep by 12.30 so thats an early night for me .

I need help too! I love my sleep but am always reluctant to go to bed. DP same (he's currently asleep in the armchair, snoring away).

I tell myself off for behaving like a teenager, and really zzzzzzzz I've bored myself now. Off to bed then.

Me too!

No body reading this will be able to help. You should ask in the morning for the earlybirds.

hey i'm asking myself the same thing. i even have a really really good book on the go and i could be reading that in bed right now.... ok i'm off.

I am exactly the same, I should be in bed as have to work at 7:30 in the am.
I cherish the time alone in the evening.
I also can't nap as it makes me unable to get to sleep when I do go to bed.
I wish I was a lark.

Off to bed now ....honest.

yep I'm another...constantly chastise myself for the selfsabotage of staying up late another night, promise tonight will be different, then find book to flick through, programme to watch, photos to look at, ohhh this is nice, a bit of time to myself, maybe just one more cup of tea, camomile so I'm kidding myself I've got the situation in hand...then oh bugger here we are again. Need serious kick up the backside, will watch your replies with interest.

Actually I have been known to just have naps in the day with DS to catch up on sleep... so no help here!

I tend to stay up really late for a few days and then be knackered and just fall asleep when I am putting DS to bed, then I sleep 12 hours and feel refreshed and do it all again.

But yes reading in bed is a good one. Or e.g. no computer after X time, because if I've been on the computer it makes me more awake.

Actually despite being a night owl I find if I do force myself to go to bed early, and then get up really early (e.g. 5am - you need to wake up gently though, so sleep with the curtains open or get one of those fancy alarms which takes your sleep rhythms into account) then I still get that lovely quiet nobody else is up feeling, and by the time DS gets up I am feeling more refreshed and able to deal with him. And it seems easier to do jobs etc when I have got up, had a cup of coffee and watched an episode of Friends or something, and it gives me time to get dressed properly. Otherwise I end up doing jobs at 2am and taking forever over them and falling into bed exhausted, rather than being able to do them quickly in the morning (for some reason!)

am off now ..really

Things which help though - something like sky+ or just watching programmes through iplayer, on DVDs, etc, so that if I am thinking "Oh I could just watch that programme..." I can be strong and say it will still be there tomorrow!

Still here!

Mum! Put me to bed or I'll start screaming with frustration!

DP awake now, so prob be up for a few mins longer!

Haha well at least I know I'm not alone now!

Yes my DH gets annoyed with me too, he likes going to bed at 10 which just seems ridiculously early to me, especially if it was past 8pm already by the time we had the kids in bed and cleaned up the tea things... He thinks I should just go to bed early and get up early, I think that is crazy though cos I'm sure if I got up earlier the DCs would just wake earlier too, so I would have even more time looking after them on my own and less time to myself! Not to mention there is much less you can do with them early in the morning, you don't find many toddler groups etc starting at 8am...

Maybe I should try the reading in bed thing, though it is a bit tricky at the moment as DD is still in our room so don't want to put too much light on - but then she will probably be moving into her own room in another 2 months or so.

At least I managed to get to bed just after 11pm yesterday, which was not bad especially as it was my turn to do DD's dreamfeed! But then had another rough night with her again, so will have to try and be even earlier tonight, hmmm...