My 2 1/2yr old if she naps won't go to bed until late sometimes up to 2 am. If she doesn't nap she is miserable and you can tell that she needs to. I don't know what to do to get her to go to bed on time. I have tried it all and still no relief. I also have a 4yr old that they have to share a bedroom and that makes it difficult as well. I have tried having her sleep 1st then the 2yr old after her but resulting in her going to bed late. I am over tired since we have go get up early now. I don't know how to resolve this.
So here we are another night. No nap at all today and she still is going strong @ 9:54. It isn't helping that we are all sick. My husband works 3rd shift so he isn't here. The only way she does nap is usually car ride or finally gives in a falls asleep on the floor. I even gave them both a bath earlier with Lavender bath stuff. I just want to go to bed me being sick is all in my sinuses and have a little of a fever and just want to rest and I can't not at night or even in the day. Sorry about ranting there I just want a little peace.
Hi K.
My 3 year old did the same thing at 2.10. She gave up her naps. What we started doing every other night was put her to bed 30 mins earlier till she was in bed @ 745 instead of 9. This has worked well for us
Good luck
My kids are the same ages and we had lots of sleep problems. Here's our routine, maybe it will help you:
1) If anybody naps, they are not allowed to sleep after 3 p.m. otherwise it really messes up bedtime.
2) Anytime between 7:00 and 7:15 we start bedtime routine--pajamas and story time. (One parent does story time, the other parent does bedtime) We do story time in our family room so that there is an obvious transition for the kids between story time and sleeping time.
3) While we read stories, the girls each drink a small Kefir smoothie. This gives them some extra nutrition and "tops them off" for the night, eliminating any requests for snacks. They also pay better attention to stories while they're drining.
4) Bedtime- up to their room (they also share a room), lights off, music on, fan on for white noise. Each girl goes into her own bed, and I take a few minutes with each one to do a "progressive muscle relaxation" exercise--I have them push on my hands with their feet for about 10 seconds, then I say "Relax!" Their job is to make their legs limp like spaghetti noodles. When I can pick up their leg and drop it to the bed and it is nice and relaxed, I reinforce it by saying "Good! That's what "relaxed" feels like!". I do the same thing with their arms. Then I kiss them goodnight, and hte last thing I say to them is, "You are my favorite Sophie/Tessa I ever met." (they LOVE that).
5) By 7:45 we are done with the routine. One of us stays with them in the darkened room until they are asleep. Many parents frown upon this, but we were a co-sleeping family for many years, and this is part of our very slow, very gentle transition to them falling asleep independently.
It took several weeks for our 2 1/2 year old to adjust to this routine, and there were MANY nights of her fighting us on it, but we kept returning her to bed and stuck with the expectation, and within a month she was falling asleep within 10 minutes of lights-out. Sure, we have a few nights here and there when it doesn't go quite so smoothly, but ultimately, the girls know exactly what to expect and we get back to the routine within a day or two. Good luck and hang in there, I hope this helped!
Can you shorten her nap or make it earlier? What happens when she doesn't nap, does she go to bed earlier?
You don't really give a lot of info. What time does she nap, and for how long? If my daughter naps too late in the day or for too long she would be up all night. Good Luck!
