2 Year Old Who Doesn't Sleep Enough

Updated on November 01, 2006
B. asks from Lexington, KY
4 answers

My 2 1/2 year old daughter isn't getting enough sleep. I put her to bed around 8:30 or 9 and she goes down for an afternoon nap, but she won't go to sleep. Each night we go through the whole routine, bath, books, prayers, and she lays down. Well, sometimes it is 2 hours later and she is still up! For the nap, sometimes I try to get her to nap for an hour or two. What can I do short of staying in her room until she falls asleep? She is always cranky and seems tired. She won't go to sleep at night even on days she doesn't take a nap. I have threatened her and punished her but nothing seems to help. Any ideas?

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A.B.

answers from Lincoln on

B.
Have you tried turning on the lights or a night light she might be going throught the scared of the dark stage. Or have you tried letting her pick out a stuffed animal to hold at night and that will keep her safe. I was going throught this with my daughter at about 2 1/2 (she is now 3 1/2)and I took her to the toys store and told her to pick out something that would keep her safe and we also got a night light. She picked out Nemo to keep her safe and Dora to shine some light on the night.
Good Luck- A.

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J.C.

answers from Fort Wayne on

Sometimes it can be a child's diet that's keeping them awake. Does she drink a lot of juice with sugar? Or a lot of fruit at night? EVen fruit has enough sugars (good sugar) to cause them to be restless at bedtime. My little boy outgrew his nap at 2 1/2. I knew he was ready to give it up because he started staying awake a couple of hours at bedtime. 2 1/2 is early to not need a nap in my opinion, but every child is different. I make sure that he has his last drink for the night at 7:30 (he's potty trained) and then make sure that he doesn't play really hard for the last half hour or so before he goes to bed. He may stay awake for a little while, but he doesn't get out of bed. What time does she wake up in the morning? He goes to bed at 8:30 sharp and usually wakes up between 7:30-8. If she's getting about 11-12 hours of sleep a day, she's totally fine.

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N.B.

answers from Evansville on

My daughter was the same way. Usually I could get her to sleep if I rocked her. It was almost like she thought that she was going to miss something if she went to sleep. I noticed that when I was dressed or had my make up still on she would take forever to go down. She thought mommy was going to go out. So I started getting them and myself all ready for bed a little earlier. It seemed to help having some soft music playing as well. Also a lot of fresh air and running around seemed to wear her out pretty well.

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R.

answers from Indianapolis on

B., don't make this as difficult as you seem to be. Kids often find sleep crutches and can't go to sleep with out them. It seems you are your daughters crutch,unless she has a bottle or sippy cup or something else. Stay with the bath, book, prayers routine, except put a chair in her room next to her bed. Read from the chair and stay there until she falls asleep, then the next night move the chair further away from her bed, do this every night until you are in the hall way and she is falling asleep on her own. You will be creating a good sleep pattern and be able to sleep yourself (except for your newborn) I promise this works, I also put a glass (not a sippy cup) on my kids bedside table and told them it was special water that kept all bad things away.
Goodluck

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