all of a sudden.

[Moondaddyy]

My 3 and a half year old girl is all of a sudden haveing problem's going to bed. My wife and I have prided ourselves on keep our little girl on a schedule since the day she was born. 1. bath a 6:00-6:30,brush teeth and then story time and in bed at 7:00-7:15. Now about a month or so ago she came down with two ear infection's wich disruppted her sleeping pattern for a bout a week. And then shortly after, changed her baby sitter due to a scheduling conflict.
Now come bed time she goes through her routine fine until we tell her that it is time for sleep. And then her response to that is, " I can't go to sleep daddy I don't want to get up in the morning." wich doesn't make much sense to me. My wife and I both work early hours and sleep is important to us,but some nights it can be as late as 10:00 or 11:00 untill she gets to sleep. So what I am asking is what can I do to reassure my liitle one that it is ok to go to sleep. I am at the end of my knoledge it seems as to what to do.

Thank you.

[treazzure007]

You should have ignored the cute little statement " I can't go to sleep daddy I don't want to get up in the morning."  and told her goodnight.  Unless she had suffered from some sort of traumatic happening, theres no reason for change from the old routine.  When my family and I went on vacation for the Christmas holidays things got all out of whack with our schedules but when we returned home, we made the normal happen.  

[RockRose]

I think 7 is probably way too early for her to be going to bed - it's still bright light out.  For her age,  maybe 8:30 would be a better time to shoot for?

[Moondaddyy]

thanks for the tip. But I can't shorten up her nap time's. On account that she does not take naps anymore. but sitting with her untill she sleeps I will give that a whirl. thank you for your repy.

[musicmama]

The best idea I can come up with is to stay with her until she falls asleep.  Once she knows you'll be there, you can gradually (every few nights) move further away from her until she can sleep without you in her room.  

Another thing you may want to consider is changing her bedtime or shorten her naptime.  As children age, their need for sleep changes too.  My 3 1/2 year old recently went from 2 hr naps to 30 min naps, and some days she skips them all together.

Hope this helps.  Good luck and God Bless.