Community

need help with schedule

My LO is almost 18 months and since she was born we have had a late schedule in our house due to her daddy's work. Now he has changed jobs and I am having trouble figuring out how to get her schedule adjusted. We were eating dinner late (around 8:30) then a little play time with daddy then our bedtime routine of bath, nurse, stories and bed (usually around 11:00). This schedule worked great until he changed jobs. Now we are needing to eat earlier and bed earlier. How do I help her transition to a new schedule? Right now if she eats early with us she won't eat well, she is still up late and then she is waking up again during the night wanting to nurse, which she has not done for a long time. Have we created a permanent night owl? I really need to adjust her to eating with us at around 6:30 and in bed around 9. Can it be done and how? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by misspenguin on August 15, 2012 at 9:48pm

It can be hard to get kids on different schedules and Im dealing with that right now but only on one day where my son wakes up earlier than usual to go to an early intervention group. Its pretty much a consistancy thing so the more you do the schedule the more she'll start getting use to it. Its probably gonna be a little rough for awhile until she starts getting into the new schedule. Also she may be eating less earlier just cause she's not as hungry because of the extra time being up, I mean being up longer she has more time to get hungrier. Also maybe you could try giving her a snack like an hour before bedtime so that maybe it will fill her up before she does go to bed so that maybe she won't wake up to nurse than. But really I dont think there is an easy way to really transition them to a new shcedule except to stick to doing it everyday and eventually it will all work out. Good luck.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by TanyaLeeAnn on August 16, 2012 at 10:29am

If changing that large amount of time is proving to be too difficult, try starting with her normal routine and move the time up by increments, say 30 minutes or so. If she's used to eating at *:30, move it up to * for a few days to a week, then change it to 7:30 and so on until you get her to the time you want. It would be a lot easier than expecting her to just rearrange everything she's known for a long time. Children thrive on routine, and disrupting that routine can not only be a bit aggravating for you, but can cause them confusion and aggravation as well because they don't understand why what they have known has to change. Good luck!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by tkowatch on August 16, 2012 at 11:18am

Thank you both for your responses. I'm going to try adjusting her schedule a little at a time and see if that helps. Hopefully sticking to her same routine will help her adjust a little better also.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by smileymal3 on August 17, 2012 at 6:55pm

One thing that helped with my girl is when she went to bed late, she would also wake up late. So to move her bed time earlier, I would wake her up in the morning earlier than she normally would and then she would go to bed earlier. But if your child doesn't wake up too late then it may not work. And I agree with the changing it a few increments at a time. Good luck!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by probreastPTA on August 18, 2012 at 12:50am

When I want mine to go to bed earlier at night, I wake him up early in the morning. Otherwise I just let him wake up when he wants to. Anyway, you could try it.