As I mentioned earlier, Gabrielle has extended her bedtime to adult sleeping times. In fact, she IS sleeping almost adult hours, 8 hours a night instead of the recommended 10 or 11. A daytime nap adds just 2-3 hours to that sleeping diet, and that's still a little under the recommended total sleep needed. But our little owl seems none the worse for wear-- we're not sure what's in her milk that gives her so much energy!
In trying to train her to go to bed, we've had to adjust the cues a bit. It used to be as easy as saying "Bedtime! Bring your books!", cuddling up in our bed and reading a few of her favourite books, before saying "Goodnight", a prayer, and off to sleep she goes, after some tossing and turning. Now we still have our books in bed, but when the light goes off, it's off to the living room to settle on the sofa. It usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes of tossing and turning before she naturally drops off and Daddaa scoops her up to Grandma's room for the night.
This is a relief, although bedtime still stretches past 10.30pm. Before we discovered this new 'method', she would be wandering around the apartment, from living room to kitchen, to grandma's room, and not know how to settle herself down for sleep, and this could go on all the way til midnight. "Positive discipline" (as well as some of those other parenting books) reminded me that she needs to have a routine and cues that signal it's time to go to sleep. You can see she's tired, but she can't find a way to settle herself down.
Not sure what's going to happen when we have to pack ourselves off to the hospital for delivery... we've been trying to mentally prepare her to stay with my parents once her little sibling comes out, but so far the reception hasn't been good. Think it will just have to happen and she may have to cry it out. That's just 5 weeks away!!
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