22 Month Old Not Sleeping as Much. Anyone Else Going Through This?

Hello! I don't typically disagree with other responses, but thought I should say something in regards to Jenifer H. I don't believe children this young should be going without a daytime nap at all. Even adults need a daytime nap from time to time! Children do need their sleep, and from the sound of it you do know your child and he does need to take some sort of nap in the daytime. Kids this young will get overtired without a daytime nap and this can affect nightime sleeping.
My son is 21 months and he is doing the same thing as your son! At each new stage/phase they hit their sleep patterns change. It could be he's out of a growth spurt or as he's getting older he just simply needs less sleep. As this adjustment happens he might seem cranky and not "quite settled in" to the new schedule, but he should get there over the next couple weeks. Think back to when you were younger and school just started in the fall, remember the "adjustment" your body had to make on getting up to catch the bus? Maybe 2 hours for a daytime nap will work out for him, but right now it's kinda rough to adjust. I wish you the best of luck, and keep us updated if you can - you are not alone! Just remember, sleep beckons sleep, this statement has held true for us and helped, especially for a non- sleeper and colicky infant like we had in the early months. Blessings.

My 27mo son did the same thing at that age, but we were going through a lot of transitions at the time. Keep putting him down earlier so he has the opportunity to front load his sleep. Also, since it is getting brighter earlier now, be careful to use room darkening shades (or anything to darken the room) so he is not prematurely woken up by light. You may have to adjust his nap time to accommodate this disruption as well.

This is probably another phase since the 2-year mark is notable for exponential jumps in development. My son got back to his normal routine for a while and now is in another disrupted "phase".

Good luck.

Hi there TB,
From my own experience with my 2 year old (just turned 2 a week ago!) and my other older children, I would start with trying to wean the daytime nap altogether. I've heard a lot of people say things about putting them to bed earlier, but that has never made sense to me. I don't know where that comes from. I do believe kids need 10-12 hours of sleep each night, though, so when they start sleeping less at night, I start cutting out the daytime nap so they are very tired by the time nighttime rolls around. We put all our kids down at 8:00, and they don't wake up until 7 or 8 the next morning....not one of them, from the 10 month old to the 7 year old. Now sometimes they need to go to bed earlier if the daytime nap has just been cut and they're extra tired and cranky earlier, like by 7 or so. But I would start with cutting the nap first before anything. It all sounds perfectly normal, by the way. Nothing abnormal there at all. Making the switch to no nap is difficult sometimes, but it has always worked for us. Good luck and God bless.

I know you may not have a lot of time to read right now, but I highly recommend The No-Cry Sleep Solution!!! That book was my life-saver when it came to understanding about babies/toddlers and sleep. It even includes a table with average sleep times for different ages, as another mom pointed out. It definitely changed how I viewed my son's sleep patterns and habits, and we're all a lot happier now!

try 1 and a half hours for the nap.3 hours is too long

Less sleep not more. Either put him down to bed later or cut his naps down in length. As toddler's get older they do not require the same amount of sleep as they did when they were younger. This will happen again and again as he gets older. Just adjust his schedule accordingly.

As they get older, they need less sleep. At this age, I believe the average 11 hours at night + 2 hour nap. My daughter is 22 months, she sleeps 10-11 hrs at night + 2-3 hrs nap.