My dd just turned 9 weeks and we have a schedule that we follow....its just not the schedule I would prefer. She will not go to bed for the "night" before 2:30 or 3 am. I've tried keeping her up during the day but then shes so tired by like 8 that she takes a nap regardless and once again is up til the wee morning hours. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't also have a 3 year old daughter who stays home with me too and a 7 year old son in school. Its hard not to be the wicked witch of the west in the morning after 3 1/2 hours sleep trying to get a grouchy 7 year old ready for school. My poor kids are probably ready to trade me in for a new model. I'm also on the depo and its making me feel very hormonal. Anyways, if anyone has any suggestions about changing sleeping habits I would be very grateful!!! Thanks.

I don't think your daughter has a 3 am bedtime. She goes down at 8:00. Her bedtime would then be 8:00. She may wake up to eat every few hours after, but that is normal. A 9 week old baby does not usually sleep all the way through the night. You should also go to bed at 8 or 9 so that you are getting enough cumulative sleep at night. Also, it has been shown through studies that keeping a baby up does not make them sleep better. It actually makes them sleep worse becasue they are overstimulated.

I would have your DD set a schedule of when she is tired. Make note of the times and then put her to sleep at those times. If she wakes at night feed her and then put her back to sleep. Make sure you do it in a very matter of fact way. No talking, or TV or lights. Do it in a quiet room (as quiet as possible). You don't want your DD to get her nights and days reversed.

Then pick up a good book on baby sleep habits. Like "The Happiest Baby on the Block". There are a lot of great useful tips on helping your babies learn healthy sleep habits.

good luck

The problem is that she sleeps from 8-10 and then is up til 3. Thats when she has her longest awake period. I just tried the keeping her up thing like once because thats what everybody kept telling me to do. I do feed her when shes hungry and put her down when shes sleepy.....shes just on her own schedule. Thanks for the advice. I might have to check out that book. I just never had to do that with either of my other kids. Every baby is different I guess and we do have that alone time to bond while everyone else is sleeping.

Do you follow a routine to put her down at 3am, if you do you can change it by moving it back by 15min to 30min every 3 days (so 2:45 then 2:30, 2:15 and so on.) Also when she wakes up at 10pm, have you tried to just feed her in the dark and put her back to sleep? My DS will also wake up around 4am (I put him to bed at 8pm) and wants to stay up, he talks and giggles, but I don't interract w/ him, and if he cries I just feed him and leave him in the crib. Sometimes he stays up for an hour, I'm sure if I picked him up he would stay up for hours. Also when she wakes up at 10 before you get her up, try soothing her and massaging her, whatever keeps her calm, basically prolonging the time she stays in bed. So hopefully w/ time, she will sleep longer and go to bed earlier. Good luck.

I have the same problem with my DS. I know exactly what you mean. They want an evening nap then are up until 2-3 a.m. If you dont let them nap theyre cranky and fussy. In fact, DS usually stays up late even w/o a late nap. The difference here is my son is 7 months old!!! What am I doing wrong!?

Well, I understand totally what you are talking about. My son did this for the first few weeks of his life as well. But then I started a schedule at night starting around 10, and I tried to shorten his nap times before that. If I were to put him down at 8, hed be up at 11 as well. But here is what you can do.

- Feed your baby enough to satisfy them, BUT not enough to lull them into a sleep. You'll have to feed more often, but it's worth it for the sleep at night.

- Start your bedtime schedule at the same time every night, liek maybe around 9 or 10. Keep your baby stimulated until then...play with them, sing, whatever. If they want to nap, let it only be a small cat nap.

- My bedtime routine is a bath, a book and then a HUGE bottle. Whatever the max amount your baby can eat, feed them!

- Then tuck them in...at first alex didn't sleep until 12...now I have him in bed at 11. I am slowly moving it up by a few inutes each time. Now I have him at the point where he will sleep 11-7 every night, and go to sleep on his own.

It did take a lot of time and patience to do this, and finally he is on a good schedule...and he is three months. At first your baby may wake once a night for feeding, but that's pretty normal.

Goods luck! I've been there....and I hope it gets better!

I agree about the big feed just before bedtime. A routine that works for me is as follows:

Put a hot water bottle in her cot to warm the bedclothes and aid a smooth transition to bed when the time comes to put her in bed.

* Bath, massage and dress in nightclothes in a nice warm room

* Feed in a quiet, dim room (though I do have the TV on with the volume very low) until she falls asleep. I'm breast feeding so I sometimes need to change sides after about 20-30 minutes

* When she falls asleep, I hold her in my arms for about 10 minutes, then take her upstairs, take the hot water bottle out of the cot, put her in, tuck her bedclothes around her, kiss her goodnight and shut the door. I don't turn the lights on when I go into the room and if she opens her eyes, I still put her in the cot and follow the same routine. I listen to her on the baby monitor downstairs and although she may make a few 'settling' noises, she does go to sleep. I never believed I would be able to do this with her, but at almost 13 weeks old, we had our first 8 hour marathon sleep last night (7 pm to 4.20 am), which was then followed by another 2.5 hours after I fed her.

* When she wakes up in the middle of the night, I don't go straight to her unless I'm sure she is awake. Sometimes they just make noises and it sounds like they are awake. I did try the 'dream feed' idea, ie that you feed them when they are more or less asleep, but it just wakes my daughter up, so I now wait for her to wake before I feed her. I just switch on a very dim nightlight and keep communication to a minimum, then put her back in her cot when she has finished feeding and follow the same routine as when I put her to bed for the night.

My dd is also 9 weeks and I just realized that even if she is awake, if I leave her in her crib in the dark room, she squirms around for a bit, then falls asleep on her own. Before this, I always thought I needed to pick her up and rock her or nurse her back to sleep. Some nights she gets overly fussy, but most of the time she will drift to sleep on her own.

I am not sure if your nursing or bottle feeding but if she seems especially awake around bedtime I nurse her in bed with the lights out and that seems to put her out as well.

Good luck.. I hope you get some sleep!

If your baby is waking up at 10pm and staying up until 2 or 3 am...that's too long for a 9 week old. At that age they should be awake for not much more than 2 hours at a time without sleeping. I think maybe your little one is getting over stimulated late in the evening and that's what's causing the hard time going back to sleep. Next time your little one wakes around 10...mark the time in your head. Around midnight watch for any little sign of her being tired. the second you see that sign try to put her down. If you can do it right as they begin to get tired, it's a lot easier than waiting until later. Is she sleeping long periods during the day...like she still has her days and nights messed up?

I read in a "parenting" magazine that by this age they can have awake periods for as long as 6 hours although it is uncommon. I guess I am one of the lucky few. We actually went to bed at 1 last night and slept til 6 and then 7 to 9. In the morning when she wakes up she'll usually stay awake for exactly an hour and then take another nap. She usually cat naps and has 2 bigger naps during the day. She and I sleep in the living room right now because I don't want to keep my husband up all night. Also the t.v. helps me to stay awake and helps her to sleep. My older daughter used to have to have a radio playing softly to sleep and I guess thats because I keep the bassinet in the room where I am during the day so they get used to the noise. I don't have a monitor but as soon as I get one I'm going to start putting her in her room to nap during the day. Thank you for your replies and any other suggestions are welcome!

you might also try having two completely different sleepng arrangements for daytime naps and then night time sleep. During the day my dd sleeps in her swing, at night she sleeps in her crib with the night light and no noises.