looking for suggestions for help with sons sleeping issue. he stays up past 10 pm. I start to get him ready at 8 pm and in bed at 8:30pm but he wont stay in his room or go to sleep. tried to tweak the routine but nothing is working. he goes to daycare now 5 days a week from 4 days since I went back to nearly fulltime (related to economy anfd benefits). he likes his daycare and I have asked them to shorten his nap as he is one of the last to get up. he has always taken long naps 3 hours. has a language issue that he is getting speech therapy 3 times a week. Any suggestions or good books for guidance? thanks
I would also suggest either eliminating his nap or making it much shorter. Sounds like he may not need that daytime sleep anymore and that is why he won't go to sleep until later in the night. You may want to try giving up the nap and put him to bed a little earlier while he makes the transition to no naps. He might be a little cranky until he adjusts, which may take a few weeks.
i would ask the daycare if its possible to shorten the naps or maybe start them earlier if he needs that long of a nap. maybe if they are shorter he will go to bed earlier and not need that long of a nap. good luck.
In my opinion, 8pm is a wee bit too late to get going on the bedtime routine. Our kids have to wake up by 6:45 each morning, so bedtime is 7:30-8:00pm...and we begin bedtime routine at 7:00. I have read that kids need at least 10-11 hours of sleep each night, and a nap of about 1-2 hours daily. You might not be getting any time to yourself if you are waiting until 8:00 to start getting your little one ready for bed...unless you're a nightowl! Then again you don't mention what hours you are working outside the home, so I can only guess you work traditional first shift hours. What time does the daycare provider start with naps each day? I would guess you'd need to know so you can keep him on the same schedule throughout the weekend. I'm just guessing at this point. Anyhow, my suggestion is to read to him a lot in bed with him after flossing and brushing and pajamas, and get some glow-in-the-dark sticky stars for his walls and ceiling.
Hi D.,
I would try eliminating his nap all together, and see if that helps. I'd give it a good week to determine if that's going to work, as he will crabby the first couple of days. Every child is different, but my son is 10 months old and he is down to one 2-hour nap in the late morning/early afternoon. If it's imperative he naps, I would not let him nap for more than 1 hour.
I would also look at his diet: sugar, preservatives, colors.
Looks like you're getting great advice. I thought I was reading about my child for a second lol. 3 hour naps are not the best thing in this instance. My mom, God bless her, but when my daughter stays with her she lets her sleep about that long and she won't go to bed that night till about 11pm. I keep her naps at an hour and a half and she does fine with going to bed much earlier.
Nix the naps or at least modify them.
