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I remember doing some babysitting when I was in my early teens, and I read one good tip about bedtimes.
Let's say there IS a set time for bed, 8:00 pm. The tip I read was to build up to it gradually. At 7:30, just say, "it's 7:30, so bedtime's in half an hour."
Same deal at 15 minutes, and maybe five. Then, "Okay, it's bedtime now."
It worked for me, but I didn't babysit much. Maybe someone here wants to try it and see how it works?
Brynn goes to bed every night around 9 and she gets up between 7:45-8:30 every morning. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 5 months old. When we have a busy day, she might go to bed around 8ish.
I am a night owl & usually can't go to bed until 2-3 am, so if she doesn't act like she is tired, I sometimes let her stay up with me as long as she wants.
Brynn usually doesn't put up any sort of a fuss when it is bed time.. We just tell her gradually that is such and such minutes til time for bed like someone else mentioned, and she has me rock her until that time.