My 2.5 year old is outta control. Over the past 6 months she went from going to bed at 8-8:30 to now at 10-10:15! She sleeps fine once asleep but getting asleep takes forever. I had just accepted that 9:30 was her new normal (which started in September) and now it's 10 and later. I have to wake her every morning for school so she's clearly not getting enough sleep but nothing seems to work to get her to sleep earlier. She still naps at school and seems to need it (falls asleep easily, etc) and if she skips a nap on weekends w maybe get her to sleep an hour earlier. This can't be normal right? I'm losing my mind because I'm not a night person and can barely stay up to 10 myself so my patience is non existent and that's not helping anything either. We need to move her to a toddler bed soon but if she won't sleep in the crib, how is she ever going to stay in a bed?
-
I think I've posted before about how my older son is similar to your daughter. He goes to bed at 10 (my bedtime) and I wake him up at 7 for school. He naps well at school. I try for an earlier bedtime but it doesn't work unless he's skipped a nap. I can't change it. It's him. I hope that when he starts real school next year and has a shorter nap maybe he'll go to sleep earlier.
-
I would drop the nap. This was my son until we dropped the nap, and doing that improved his sleep so much. And he also seemed like he still needed it (fell asleep easily) but it was just too disruptive to night sleep.
-
This might sound nuts, but if you do bath as part of your routine, add some Epsom salts. Low magnesium can impact sleep and it's a simple thing to try that won't hurt!
-
This is my DD and we haven't been able to fix it. I keep telling preschool not to let her nap but somehow she does. Ugh.
-
I would also drop the nap. My 2.5 year old was also going to bed around 10 pm w/ one afternoon nap, and she would still fall asleep for a nap very well/easily. But once we took it out we could put her to bed by 7:30-8 pm. She still seemed like she needed that nap but when she napped even for 30 min. at noon, she wouldn't fall asleep at night until sooooo late. Now it's wonderful w/o the nap. She still seems tired in the afternoons but it is worth it.
-
+1 for dropping the nap, this was us too until we dropped it. She easily falls asleep at daycare so we thought she needed it but taking it out made bedtime WAY easier. Also around that age she started to get super complain-y about her crib "not being comfortable". Once we moved her to her twin bed she slept a lot better and went to bed much easier surprisingly.
Hang in there! It's crazy that toddler sleep is so much more frustrating than baby sleep!
-
I'm having the same problem right now, and he's almost 2.5! It started this week! So annoying.
Looks like I need to talk to daycare about dropping his afternoon nap, even though I feel like he still needs it/goes down for one.
-
@plantains: I don't know how mine would be able to drop the nap at school. Literally the whole school goes dark and quiet. Of course, he falls asleep!
-
Mine was the same way, unfortunately. It coincided with us moving her from the crib to a toddler bed, which we did out of necessity since we needed the crib for LO #2 and wanted to do the transition well in advance of the baby's arrival.
Anyway, nearly a year later things are finally settling down. It has been a long time of trial and error, but honestly I think it was just down to time, plus, in our case, dealing with the transition from only child to big sister. I do agree with others who suggest dropping the nap if possible. I hated to do it, but my sanity was hanging by a thread.
Hang in there - I know it sucks, hard. My daughter was such a good sleeper as an infant that this toddler craziness really took me by surprise.
ETA: I also recommend making nighttime as boring and unappealing as possible - no playing with toys after say, 6pm, no kids shows, iPad, etc., lights low, unexciting bedtime books. For example, we were gifted this book and it is BORING, but it does the job as far as sleepy-time goes.
-
E was doing this for awhile and still does sometimes. Except she's in a floor bed. She plays in her room and goes to sleep when she wants. Honestly, I stopped stressing about it because I can't MAKE her sleep. But we always put her down at 7. She usually messes around with her puzzles for a bit before going to sleep for the night. I don't stay with her until she's asleep (E would keep staying up to spend time with us), and sometimes she's awake at 9 when I go to bed
-
We've been struggling with toddler sleep since moving and transitioning him to a big boy bed. It's been about a month or so of struggles. I've tried threats, yelling, stickers, everything. For the past two nights, he's been sleeping on a Thai bed cot I bought in 2002.
Earlier this week, he went to sleep around 10:30pm while playing with toys in his room. Yesterday, I removed all of the toys from his room and made it boring. We also implemented a token system to stop the stalling. I found this article yesterday where Harvey Karp, our sanity saver mentions it and patience stretching: http://www.babycenter.com/0_q-a-dr-karps-solutions-for-toddler-sleep-problems_10375754.bc We started it last night to decent results. We're going to give him one more napkin ring and then slowly back off of that one. When I handed him the napkin ring he goes "there's more in the playroom." Seriously outsmarted before starting, but we're going to be consistent with it.
-
I could have written your exact post. We are going through the same thing and I have asked daycare to drop the nap but they said they aren't allowed to prevent him from napping.
so we're stuck.
-
Oh just wanted to add I have a friend who said her daughter was always like this. She never outgrew it. She just got older and could stay up without supervision.
so we're stuck.
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
13 comments