Toddler Suddenly Won't Sleep

M.,

I just wanted you to know that you are not alone. My daughter (who is almost 3) will sing and talk to herself for hours after we put her to bed. And we put her to bed around 7:30pm. She has sometimes kept herself awake until 10pm!! She, too, used to fall asleep within 15-20 minutes of being put down.

I know she's tired, because I can hear her yawning and her eyes look tired. I have tried putting her to bed at an earlier time, extending her naps and eliminating her naps. I've tried warm baths, soothing backrubs and deep breathing "games." None of these have worked.

I have finally decided to just let go and let her be. I can not force her to fall asleep. My guess is that she's going through a developmental growth spurt and her mind is on superdrive. It's frustrating because I know she needs more sleep, but I figure she'll work through this eventually.

By the way, I do insist on quiet time every day, whether she sleeps or not - I think I need that downtime more than she does!!

Good luck!

My almost 2 1/2-year-old son is kind of doing the same thing. He's always been a great sleeper, but lately has been having some issues. He's recently decided he's afraid of the dark and is cutting some gnarly molars. What I've done is move his nap later so he's tired. He used to nap at 1 p.m., right after lunch. I've moved lunch and nap back an hour, so we eat sometime between 1 and 1:30 and I put him down around 2 p.m. Some days it's more of a fight than others, but I'm consistent and even if he doesn't fall asleep right away, he reads or plays in his crib and falls asleep when he's ready. His naps are somewhat shorter than they used to be, but he and I still get some "rest" and "alone time." He goes to sleep around 8 a.m. and gets up between 7 and 8 a.m. Best of luck to you, me and the rest of us who are having toddlers with sleep changes. I notice a lot of moms lately posting similar questions. Hang in there! God bless, A.

M.,

I went through the same thing with my daughter about 6 months ago. If she had a nap it would be 10:30 or 11:00 until she would finally fall asleep. Since she shares a room with our older child it made it very difficult for him to get the sleep he needed. I cut out her nap during the day and am very strict about bedtime to make sure she gets the right amount of sleep and that she's not crabby all the time. On most days she asleep within 5 minutes of hitting the pillow.

I know 2 1/2 - 3 seems kind of young to take out naps but every child is different. What works with one will not work with all. I have shared my experience and you have gotten some great advice from other ladies. I would encourage you to try a few different methods until you find one that works for your family.

My son did a similar thing at this age. If he had any sort of nap during the day he'd be awake until 11-12. I cut out the nap and it took a few days to adjust to the new schedule.

We have just been experiancing this with our 21 month old daughter. She too would lay there and "fight" sleep. Sometimes she would even fall asleep and then quickly wake up. At first we thought that she was just going through a phase but she was apperantly tired and upset. But for her it turned out to be food allergies that were causing her to not be able to sleep. We started her on an elimination type of diet. It has taken almost 6 weeks to figure it out but we have our good sleeper back. She is allergic to Dairy and Wheat. When ever she eats either of those things she would not sleep and if she did get to sleep she would wake up crying and not want to go back to sleep.

Just some "food" for thought

i hear you about the grouchy mood after naptime. i was so glad when my daughter quit taking naps as for months, she would wake up crying and inconsolable. she just had to cry it out and get over it herself. nothing i did helped.

he may need more sleep now. some kids get amped up when they go to bed too late so i'd try moving his bedtime up and see if that helps. he may be ready for shorter naptimes during the day but obviously he still needs more rest, otherwise he wouldn't be so grumpy.

of course this is all trial and error since all kids need different things. if moving his bedtime up doesn't help, perhaps institute a 'Q. time' where his nap time used to be where he stays in his room and plays quietly. he may even fall asleep. the hard part will be keeping him in his room, so you'll have to struggle through that adjustment period. i'd say that's why they invented gates and door knob covers :P

best of luck

keep to the routine. how are his eating habits. my grandson has problems going to sleep at night if he is hungry. he gets a snack and goes right to sleep

Your child doesn't need less sleep. Try more. Try putting him to bed 15-20 minutes earlier each night until he's going to bed at 7pm. There are a lot of good sleep books for kids out there: Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby; Happiest Baby on the Block... Peruse your library and find something that works for you. My two girls (16 months and 4 years) both need about 11-12 hours at night and both still nap. (The older one just an hour.) Kids need a lot of sleep. The books that I looked at have great charts showing how much sleep children need (roughly) at different ages.