little girl doesn't want to go to bed

Dear All,

we have a small problem with our youngest daughter (two and a half). Every
evening she refuses going to bed until very late about 22:00 to 22:30, while
our older daughters (8 and 6) go to bed normally at about 20:30. In the day
time the youngest one goes to a kindergarden where she sleeps after lunch
for about 2 hours. Do you have any good suggestion? Thank you very much in
advance.

ET

PS: The youngest sleeps everyday from 22:00 to 7:00, that is 9 hours, plus 2
hours napping at the kindergarden, together it makes 11 hours.
The older children sleep everyday from 20:30 to 7:00, that is 10 and 1/2
hours which is only 1/2 hours less sleep than the youngest who was only 2
and a half year old. Is it normal? While I say she refuses to go to bed she
wants to play and wants me and/or my wife to play with her, otherwise she
can be very aggressive, crying, yelling etc.

"ET" wrote in message
. ..
Dear All,

we have a small problem with our youngest daughter (two and a half). Every
evening she refuses going to bed until very late about 22:00 to 22:30,
while
our older daughters (8 and 6) go to bed normally at about 20:30. In the
day
time the youngest one goes to a kindergarden where she sleeps after lunch
for about 2 hours. Do you have any good suggestion? Thank you very much in
advance.

ET

PS: The youngest sleeps everyday from 22:00 to 7:00, that is 9 hours, plus
2
hours napping at the kindergarden, together it makes 11 hours.
The older children sleep everyday from 20:30 to 7:00, that is 10 and 1/2
hours which is only 1/2 hours less sleep than the youngest who was only 2
and a half year old. Is it normal? While I say she refuses to go to bed
she
wants to play and wants me and/or my wife to play with her, otherwise she
can be very aggressive, crying, yelling etc.
With #2, age just 3, and I've been doing this for the last half year or so,
who is not the best sleeper in the world, it goes:
bath,
story
words (her reading)
Light out
Tuck up.
(Hopefully) Sleep.
If she's not tired then she can sit up in bed and read. She then tucks
herself up and goes to sleep, sometimes as much as a couple of hours later.
We don't often see her once we've gone, although she occasionally needs a
drink, or the toilet.
If she gets up, then she gets what she wants (as long as it's reasonable)
and then goes straight back to bed. If she makes any fuss then she gets put
in her bed, and as she'd prefer to climb in herself, that's enough of a
threat.
Once or twice when she started going down awake she tried getting up to
play, so we told her that she'd have a stairgate put on her door so she
couldn't get out of her room. We never had to carry though the threat.
If she cries then we just leave her. It doesn't take long before she decides
it's not worth it.
Debbie

Debbie,

Thank you very very much for great advice. Can not wait to try some of them
this evening.

ET


"Welches" ...

"ET" wrote in message
. ..
Dear All,

we have a small problem with our youngest daughter (two and a half).
Every
evening she refuses going to bed until very late about 22:00 to 22:30,
while
our older daughters (8 and 6) go to bed normally at about 20:30. In the
day
time the youngest one goes to a kindergarden where she sleeps after lunch
for about 2 hours. Do you have any good suggestion? Thank you very much
in
advance.

ET

PS: The youngest sleeps everyday from 22:00 to 7:00, that is 9 hours,
plus 2
hours napping at the kindergarden, together it makes 11 hours.
The older children sleep everyday from 20:30 to 7:00, that is 10 and 1/2
hours which is only 1/2 hours less sleep than the youngest who was only 2
and a half year old. Is it normal? While I say she refuses to go to bed
she
wants to play and wants me and/or my wife to play with her, otherwise she
can be very aggressive, crying, yelling etc.
With #2, age just 3, and I've been doing this for the last half year or
so, who is not the best sleeper in the world, it goes:
bath,
story
words (her reading)
Light out
Tuck up.
(Hopefully) Sleep.
If she's not tired then she can sit up in bed and read. She then tucks
herself up and goes to sleep, sometimes as much as a couple of hours
later. We don't often see her once we've gone, although she occasionally
needs a drink, or the toilet.
If she gets up, then she gets what she wants (as long as it's reasonable)
and then goes straight back to bed. If she makes any fuss then she gets
put in her bed, and as she'd prefer to climb in herself, that's enough of
a threat.
Once or twice when she started going down awake she tried getting up to
play, so we told her that she'd have a stairgate put on her door so she
couldn't get out of her room. We never had to carry though the threat.
If she cries then we just leave her. It doesn't take long before she
decides it's not worth it.
Debbie

Hi --

A two-hour nap can be too long for some 2-year olds. See if the
kindergarten will limit the LENGTH of her naps. If she's not tired,
she's not going to sleep!

If they won't, start teaching her to engage in independent activities
(quiet ones) after her sisters go to bed. Then you can get some quiet
while you wait for her to be tired enogh to sleep.

--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would
like me to reply.

I'm mom of three, and my first instinct would be the length of the nap.
None of my kids at that age needed a huge amount of sleep - a two hour
nap in the afternoon would give them the recharge to stay up much later
than I wanted them running around.

I'd cap the nap at 1 hour, if that is possible, and see what happens.
I'd also have a very regular bedtime ritual, ending with her in bed at
the desired time.

Mary G.

wrote:
I'm mom of three, and my first instinct would be the length of the nap.
None of my kids at that age needed a huge amount of sleep - a two hour
nap in the afternoon would give them the recharge to stay up much later
than I wanted them running around.

I'd cap the nap at 1 hour, if that is possible, and see what happens.
I'd also have a very regular bedtime ritual, ending with her in bed at
the desired time.

Maybe, but look in the opposite direction as
well. All three of mine slept a lot more than that
at 2 years old. They were in bed by 7:30pm, up around
7:00am, and still had at least a two hour nap in the
afternoon. This kid seems like she's going to bed
*very* late by those standards, and contrary to
what seems like common sense, being overtired often
leads to *worse* sleep, not better. Also, timing
can be very important. If you miss the window of
opportunity to get kids to bed, they can stay up
for hours longer, even if they'd have gone to bed
nicely if you put them down earlier. Finally,
a lot of screen time (tv, etc.) at bedtime can
muck with their internal clocks and make it
difficult to go to sleep.

Best wishes,
Ericka

In article ,
"ET" wrote:

Dear All,

we have a small problem with our youngest daughter (two and a half). Every
evening she refuses going to bed until very late about 22:00 to 22:30, while
our older daughters (8 and 6) go to bed normally at about 20:30. In the day
time the youngest one goes to a kindergarden where she sleeps after lunch
for about 2 hours. Do you have any good suggestion?

We had this problem with our child at about age 3 and we asked the day care to
only let him sleep for about an hour (unless he had had a very vigorous
morning).

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Thank you all,

Yesterday evening is a good begin, though she cried a lot, and got up to
look for my wife several times. At last, my wife lay down with her for 5
min. and she fell asleep. We will continue this way, hoping gradually she
will fall asleep without my wife by her side.
Unfortunately the kindergarden cannot shorten the 2 hour nap time.
Routine - fixed bed time is very important, we realized. Thank you again.
PS. We don't let our children watch tv for long time, normally it is 10 to
20 min. daily work days. In Weekend it can be longer (up to 1 hour)




"ET" ello.sk...
Dear All,

we have a small problem with our youngest daughter (two and a half). Every
evening she refuses going to bed until very late about 22:00 to 22:30,
while
our older daughters (8 and 6) go to bed normally at about 20:30. In the
day
time the youngest one goes to a kindergarden where she sleeps after lunch
for about 2 hours. Do you have any good suggestion? Thank you very much in
advance.

ET

PS: The youngest sleeps everyday from 22:00 to 7:00, that is 9 hours, plus
2
hours napping at the kindergarden, together it makes 11 hours.
The older children sleep everyday from 20:30 to 7:00, that is 10 and 1/2
hours which is only 1/2 hours less sleep than the youngest who was only 2
and a half year old. Is it normal? While I say she refuses to go to bed
she
wants to play and wants me and/or my wife to play with her, otherwise she
can be very aggressive, crying, yelling etc.