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Babys
I babysit for an hour and a half everyday.
Lucky me, I get the hours when the youngest baby wants to go to sleep more.
The parents keep asking me to try and keep her awake till they come home cause if not she won't sleep at night.
I always fail and she always ends up falling asleep then the parents have trouble getting her back to sleep in the middle of the night.
So I need tips on keeping her awake. She's 8 months old. Don't just say ''Play with her'' because I keep trying but she just crys then I pick her up and she falls asleep.
Oh and I also babysit her sister who is 3 years old so anything that they could both do would be good, I don't want to leave any of them out.
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turn on the tv is not a good idea that makes you tired.if you keep feeding her a bottle that will also make her fall asleep.if she cries who cares i know it feels bad holding a crieng baby that doesnt want to be held.ut if she cries keep holding her and walk around the house up stairs and down stairspoint to everything and tell her/him what its called. if you keep holding him when he is crieng he will stop.he or she will understand that crieng isnt going to do anything h.i.h youre friend gabby
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take them to a park, or outside. keep them both occupied with a game or something. it is really hard to keep a baby that young awake, i had trouble with a 2 year old. just try to distract her, whether its playing peek-a-boo or handing her a toy every other second.
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try asking the parents what they do to keep her up. also invole the sister in different activities to keep her awake.
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well i think doing somekind of silly sing and dance thing will keep her up. as long as you are always moving with her and there is noise i think she should stay up. also maybe feed her a heathly snack halfway through babysitting to try to get her to stay away. if all else fails try giving them a bath or putting them in a baby pool
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Well,you could try pinching her everytime she falls asleep-wait-don't do that! bad idea sorry! that only works on my 6 year old bro!
You could just try watching a barney movie or somethin! Little kids LOVE barney! Try reading books with her! Try ANYTHING to keep her awake. Just try and keep her preocupied so she doesnt even think about sleeping! Try playing something all three of you can enjoy! like give them baths and let them play in the hose! spray them and get them wet! When your wet it's hard to sleep!
Good LUCK! Hope I helped!
~please rate~
~*Tiffany*~
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1 year old: put a movie on, and dont give her warm milk. hold her but talk in a like baby voice so she keeps awake
3 year old: tell her that she is important--shes probably feeling left out when everyone is playing with hte baby. let her help with the baby and dinner--let her know you dont love the baby more! if the baby falls asleep play a game with her or do crafts or something--it works!
hope i helped!
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Well, I agree that it's not just up to you to prevent her from falling asleep. At 8 months, she needs two naps (usually around 2 hours each) and about 14 hours of sleep (total) a day. It's really hard to move a baby or young child's sleeping schedule.
You will need to talk to the parents about her sleep schedule. Try to keep track of (make a chart or use the calendar) when she falls asleep each day. At best, you can probably move her nap time 5 to 10 min every other or third day without significant stress. If you keep track, and can show the parents that your making progress - they should be satisfied. It can also open a dialog for you - you can ask if the moved back nap seems to be helping the baby wake up later in the night after it's moved back 1/2 an hour (only a few weeks). If it's not, then they'll know that they need to come up with some other solutions.
For example, if your there from 4 to 5:30 each night, and she falls asleep at 4:30 the first day, the next day try to keep her up till 4:35. It's only 5 more min. Do that for 2 days, then try 4:40. If she voluntarily stays up till 5:20 even though she fell asleep at 4:45 the day before, and wants to sleep at 4:30 the next day, try to keep her up till 4:45. There will be some crying, and the 3 year old probably won't appreciate it much.
Most kids have a favorite toy or three by 8 months. Use it to help dampen crying. To keep the 3 year old busy, have her color or play with play doh or do a puzzle starting just before you expect the baby to start fussing for sleep. Then try to interest the baby in something to eat. I'm not sure what she's eating, but fruit or juice (diluted of course) is a good choice if she's eating fruits because it will hit her system like candy will for an older child. :)
If possible, going outside is usually a great way to keep kids up. There's so much to see and hear. Send the 3 year old to bring her baby sister sticks and leaves and ladybugs (if she can catch them). Listen for the birds then try to find them. Count the cars and/or list their colors if you go for a walk near a street. Or the houses, or trees, or anything else that you see a lot of.
You already have a lot of ideas for keeping the kids up and busy, and I'm sure you can pick out the ones likely to work for you, so I'm not going to list a whole bunch of stuff.
Good luck.
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This really should not be your job to keep her awake. Ask her parents how you should keep her awake, they should help you, this isn't just your problem. Sorry for the short answer, this is the parents problem.
-TheTeenGirl
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SING!! play tapes and dance!! never to early to teach them how to grind!!
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play "tea party" or "dolls" with the three year old and get the baby involved. And get them both to giggle and read lots of books. That worked on a 9 month old baby. I hope one month isn't much'a difference! hope my advice works :) good luck
*Skittles*
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Take them outside. All children love the outdoors, and by taking them outside, the baby will be too fascinated with what is going on outside to even think about going to sleep. It always work for my sons.
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Maybe you could suggest that the parents put the baby down for a nap earlier in the day so that she is willing to stay awake while you're there.
At 8 months old it isn't going to matter much though. She's still going to sleep when she pleases and wake up at night. :)
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It is not your decision to keep her up. The parents are asking too much of you to do that. If they want her to stay up later, they should wake her up later and give her more naps before you get there. If they're unwilling or unable to do this, they'll just have to deal with it.
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tickle her
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get out the barbies!!! or toy cars, fead her when she starts getting tired, or about 3 or so hours before she SHOULD go to sleep, something with SOME sugar! that should help!!
try to get her to talk! or something, ask her sister to help too, by playing some games, or with the barbies, or even watching a movie thats sorta loud.
Hope I Helped-
Kels
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Scream very loud and play the tv very loud. Who cares if she cries. Get ear plugs.
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You've got to speak to her parents about this, because keeping a baby awake when it needs a nap is just cruel. It's hard work on you and it will just make the baby more kranky before it is allowed to go to sleep. It's a fact of life that babies sleep when THEY want to, not when you want them to. Maybe her parents should wake her up later in the day or let her sleep in more if they're so bothered. I mean...no offence to them but they shouldn't have kids if they can't handle not sleeping through the night. If she is given a lot of fuss and attention when she wakes up in the night, she will never go back to sleep - she'll wake up on purpose, thinking, 'ooh! Play time!'. I think they're the ones who need the advice, not you.
However, if they aren't the kind of people who you can suggest stuff like that to, then here are some things you could do to keep them awake -
*Try not to give the baby anything hot to eat or drink, and don't give her a bath, if you can help it. Try cold baby food if you can, and definately don't give her warm milk. It obviously can't be like, fridge-cold, but it can't be too warm either. Leave her milk out (if you give her milk) to get to room temp. if possible.
*If this isn't possible, give her high energy foods with lots of carbohydrates (like stuff with potatoes or pasta in it). Don't worry about this if you don't feed them.
*Also, try not to do anything really active with them before the time that the baby gets tired because any big activity will just tire her out more.
*If you know the time when she usually cries to go to sleep, then start doing a really fun activity ten minutes beforehand.
*You could get them drawing together. Sit baby upright on your knee, leaning back against you, and help her with the crayons (don't use felt pens...felt pens and three year olds = distaster :P).
*Start playing games with the two of them. Action games are always great, so do Simon Says with the three year old, who will understand it a little at least, and then just do silly faces at the eight month old - she should copy you and find it very funny!! The three year old could also join in pulling faces at the baby. You can also do 'round and round the garden' on baby (do you know that one?) or sing nursery rhymes with actions (like insy winsy spider).
*Play dress up. The three year old can dress her self and you can put a funny hat or something on the baby and then laugh and clap so she knows it's funny. Or you could wear the funny hat.
*Play peep-o (say 'boo' if you feel stupid otherwise :P)!! Babies love this one. Hide in all sorts of places - behind your hands, under a towel, under a hat (pull the brim over your face), or even go out of the door and then put your head round the door and go 'boo!'
*Hopefully, if you are loud and active enough she will stay awake, but if a baby wants to go to sleep, it will. The only thing you can do to stop it is to pick her up and walk around the room with her - but that won't stop the crying and she'll just be kranky for her parents and you'll probably get blamed for that too.
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I'm currently guessing that talking to the parents won't work. So, why don't you try field trips of some sort.. Walking the baby with her sister or something.. Also, you can try to find out things the baby find amusing.. You never know. I mean, to some, leaves might be totally interesting while others might get upset at it...
Like the previous poster said, babies should sleep at that age and forcing her to stay up might stifle her growth... If you really can't find a way to let her stay up, maybe you should ask some suggestions from her parents. They should know what things she might find interesting.. ^__^
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pop in a movie ..a cartoon or something along those lines. make them a snack to eat. put toys on a blanket in the middle of the floor and let them play. those are just some ideas i thought of off the top of my head that i do with my nieces. get back to me if you need anything. take care and have fun.
-ashlea
ps. also remember that an 8 mth. year old baby is expected to fall asleep. you cant force it to stay awake especailly at 8 mths. old when sleep is a critical time for the baby.
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