I have a one-year-old kid and she's a joy to be with - full of energy and vigour. However, at the end of the day, she somehow fights with all her might to not sleep and stays awake till past 11-11:30 in the night.
I remember many times where I had to go take her for a ride at 1 in the middle of the night. Is there a magic formula to make her sleep at night earlier? :)
The "trick" that works for us is playing "good cop, bad cop" with the baby.
The mother (my wife) is the "good cop". She let the baby stay up and play after her siblings already go to sleep, then showing her the sleeping siblings saying "OK, time to sleep too, let's go" and putting her in bed. 99% of the times this doesn't work well, and the baby insist to get out of bed. The mother takes her out, and try to explain why she should go to sleep. After few minutes out of bed, she put her inside again. Repeat this several times.
When the above fails, I come along and play the "bad cop". I do NOT take her out of bed, no matter what. I tell her in strict voice to go sleep now. And somehow this works. She rolls over and keeping silent until falling asleep few minutes after that. I guess she just realize that games are over, and no point to keep fighting.
Do note, if I try to play "my part" first, she won't buy it and cry for her mother to come, and won't stop crying until her mother actually comes over. This whole thing takes about 20-30 minutes which isn't that much time.
cut off her naps so she's tired at bed time.....sounds like she's ready for adult schedule.
