How do you treat a kid who sleeps during day and keeps awake at night?

Hi daliaj, I would suggest your friend to continue her plan. It is not expected the baby will change this habit in short time. But definitely the baby will change this habit eventually after 2 weeks if the care giver persist to let the baby sleep less than 2 or 3 hours during day time. Your friend must make sure the care giver really can be trusted after all. I mean she will not give any 'medicine'(eg. coughing medicine) to the baby so the baby will fall to sleep when she does her work! Then may be should provide some toys or interesting and safety proof books to the baby during day time. This is to make sure the baby has some quality time to play by her/himself while the care giver is busy. Take care...

I'd make sure this person, if they are to be both nanny and maid, understands that the child comes first, and lower some of the housekeeping expectations if necessary. It'll probably take time for the child to change schedule, but shouldn't take longer than a week maybe if the babysitter is truly not letting her sleep in the day. also, babies are smart--mine went through a few weeks where he was consistently waking up at 1 Am because his daddy comes home from work around that time--he wanted to see his dad! He eventually started sleeping 'normal' again and forgot about it--it helped that daddy plays with him more when he is here during day hours too. so maybe your friend could make sure she plays with the baby a lot when she wants her to be awake, when she gets home. That way she might be less likely to try to stay awake just to see Mommy.

Personally I would find myself a new babysitter. I would tell the babysitter to either start keeping the baby up during the day or she will have to find a different job. I could not handle a babysitter who would let my child sleep all day just to make her part of the job easier. She's there to also care for my child not just do something else. If she cant abide by that then its time for a new caregiver.

It would take a while for the baby to adjust to changes in sleeping patterns but she should ensure the baby does not sleep more than 2 hrs during the day

based on experience a child of that age is still on the process of adjusting her body clock. There are times that they're awake till the wee hours of the morning. But that is only temporary and will change as they grow older. Cheers!

I would suggest that you let your maid take the child to malls. If the child sees different environments, their mind absorbs every new things that they encounter. Note that everytime you bring a child to a new place, he/she keeps on exploring the place. All the sensory organs are at work. From hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling/touching and talking as he/she sees a lot of people and can do a lot of stuff when in the mall. This makes the whole body of the child working. So if the child is preoccupied with all of this, they will be awake as much as possible. By the time that you bring home the child, he/she is very exhausted. So you should make sure that you bring the child in the afternoon like say 3 or 4 and go home by 7 in time for dinner. In this way, the child will sleep all through the night. I usually had this problem with my daughter. She is 1 1/2 years old as well. Whenever I bring her to the mall, she sleeps straight throughout the night. She just wakes up to drink milk then she sleeps again. Try doing this.

If the baby sleeps during day, it can be tough at night. What you can do is to wake the baby after certain time at day and to put the baby to sleep at night. The maid needs to be checked if she is following your instructions to make sure that the baby is not sleeping long during day. The baby can be given warm water bath and warm milk before sleeping at night.

Well in all honesty, if the maid/sitter is doing what was asked, within a week or so the child should be back on a normal schedule..UNFORTUNATELY sounds to me like the maid/sitter ISNT doign what was asked...If that is the case then I personally would fire the maid/sitter and find someone who will do their job as I require them to. My son was like that when he was little and all it takes is to force the child to stay awake during the day by keeping him/her busy then putting him/her to bed at the same general time every night....within a few days to a week or so he/she will be back on a normal sleeping schedule..

So because of the maid the babies schedule is completely screwed up. That is so not fair to the mother. Well it will take about a week to two weeks for the babies schedule to change if the maid is doing the right thing. She should not let the baby sleep more then two hours during the day so the baby will sleep at night. Maybe your friend needs to put a camera in the house to see what is really going on. The maid could be telling your friend one thing but it may not be the truth. The maid doesn't want to entertain a baby all day and that is probably what the problem is.

Hi Daliaj! I agree with Ravenlady - if the maid isn't following instructions about this, how does your friend know she's following other instructions, such as what foods to feed, etc. I think you need to trust someone implicitly to allow them to look after your precious child, and this maid doesn't seem up to scratch at all. Good luck!

Most mothers may have met such a situation before, which is really a difficult task for moms to deal with such things. In my opinion, the key for solving the problem is a living clock. As you have said above, the baby sleeps very little at night and my friend has to keep awake to take care of the baby, mothers may suffer a lot if the baby keep awake at night. If she want to change the situation, she should take some measures to change the living clock of her baby. Happy myLotting!

Have you consider changing your babysitter? I know its hard to find a replacement but if you really are having a hard time telling her what to do, then shes not worth it. Your maid is a lousy one too. Just continue what you have done right now give it another week or two. If its not effective, you can have my first advice.

The baby needs time to establish the pattern and routine. It mays taskes 7-21 days form another habit. Be perservance. Your friend can ask the maid to give some activities for the baby during the daytime. It includes reading , listening to CD, watching educational DVD or CD, singing or dancing or have some play time with the baby. Your friend need to establish the routine first and explain to the maid so that her maid will implement the program accordingly. Sylvia http://wiseparents.net

I had a little nit of that when my son was a little kid. He would want to stay up all night and sleep during the day. Luckily, your friend still has basically a baby so it shouldn't be complicated to resolves. Firs the maid and hire someone else or hire a babysitter that will keep the baby awake. Take the child to bed at regular times and sleep with the lights off. It is important to do that as there is a sensory device within the mind that once daylight is seen tells the body it is time to get going for the day.