A late-bedtimer toddler means a cranky one the next morning


Bella is sound asleep as I am writing this. It has been a while since I had more time for myself at night. These nights I either fell asleep with her until morning, or even if I woke up I was too sleepy to stay up (and I wondered where has my time gone?)

Back when she was sleep trained Bella used to sleep early, around 8.30pm we were already in bed and she was pretty much in la la land by 9pm.

Sometime between those days and now her bedtime crept up to 11pm, and sometimes it even stretched to 12am.

Wow. So much for sleep training.

Oh well I guess at some point I lose control. I am not blaming anything or anyone, its just circumstances. You know, those night trips to the mall, or to the grannies. Can't really force her for bedtime when all she wanted was to spend more time with her loved ones. Next thing I know she was already used to late night bedtime.

The problem now is that I had to wake her up maximum at 8am every morning for school. When bedtime comes late, so does waking up and you know what happens with a sleepy toddler.

Tantrums and drama.

"No showers!"."I want to sleep some more mommy!". Tossing and turning on the bed when I coaxed her to wake up. Those kind of things.

And I ended up sweating and struggling with my patience, fully dressed up for work.

Sigh.

Now who is really to blame? Me. Definitely me.

So tonight, I made up my mind. Early bedtime will start again.

I came to know that she refused her nap today at school, so no wonder she was so restless this evening, she even earned a few scolds from this impatient mommy. Poor thing.

I knew it was just her being tired, but sometimes, it is just bloody too much. As if I am not a lousy mom already :S

Anyway, I managed to get her on the bed in the dark, despite a final struggle with the Ipad and her drama queen tears. I recited some zikir while getting her to calm down, and Alhamdulillah, so far it has always worked and she was asleep in no time.

I gazed at the clock and it was 9pm.

Perfect start.

Let's see what happens tomorrow morning. I pray hard that tomorrow a bright and happy toddler will wake up beside me right on time.

P/S : Tonight I enjoyed a cuppa coffee while watching TV. Something I have not done for a long time. Ah, screw the no-caffeine-before-bed thing. Haha.

How do you deal with late bedtimes? Are you comfortable with that, or you have strategies of your own?

Comments

Atikah Hakita said…
my daughter turn to 2 years old this coming August. Usually she sleep at 9PM but when her papa around, she can stay up till 11PM which is i dont like.
What i usually do is, i will ask her papa to turn off all the light and TV. Beside that, both of us need to acting sleeping as well.
Most of the time this way can be done specially when papa not around.
One thing becoz my daughter a bit afraid to walk alone in the dark and she easily get bored when ppl around her asleep.
Ayuni A. said…
Atikah, we have the similar case. Bella's abah have to join in with bedtime too when he is home, but the thing is he usually was the one who snores first haha. Good effort there, keep it up!
Haraz seems to love his sleep time and naps so we haven't had any trouble with sleep yet. But He does insist that everyone goes to sleep together. We just creep out of bed later hi hi hi
Hope all goes well with the training again! :)
elliecleffairy said…
Hi... we met at the Method blogger event yesterday. I am Cleffairy. =D Nice blog you have here and yes, I agree that the kids will definitely get cranky if they if they sleep late the nite before. I used to have this problem when my son was still a baby.
elliecleffairy said…
ps: this is my blog, btw: http://cleffairy.com
Ayuni A. said…
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for dropping by my blog ;) Nice to meet you and keep in touch!
Ayuni A. said…
Mama Haraz, thanks! Hope everything is going well in NZ now :)

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