My daughter is 2 1/2 and is a great sleeper (knock on wood). She has one nap a day that she goes down for at about 1:00pm and almost never fights it. Sometimes she even tells me that she is tired and will head upstairs to bed for nap before I ask her to. At bedtime which is anywhere from 8-9pm she will very willingly get ready for bed, pjs on, teeth brushed, potty, bedtime story, hugs and kisses and then..... she will be up for more than an hour some nights. Thankfully she isnt causing a fuss or getting out of bed but she calls for us constantly saying that she cant sleep or asks us what the noise she heard was, etc. She just seems to fight going to sleep at night. My husband has suggested that we get rid of her afternoon nap to see if she sleeps better at night but I feel that she still needs it seeing as how she goes down for it so easily and she usually sleeps from 1 1/2 to 2 hrs each nap (if she sleeps longer than 2 1/2hrs I will wake her). Also there have been a few occasions where she has missed her nap and yes she is def. ready for bed at night but by about 3pm on she is unbearable to deal with because she is too tired. We have tried to take her out for walks and trips to the park after dinner to poop her out so she sleeps better but that is not always possible with timing and it seems that she somehow gets all wired up and ready to go when we do that as opposed to getting tired out. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance
Her nap is probably too late in the day. When my son did this, I moved his nap to 11 am and we would have lunch after he wakes up. I gave him a snack before his nap, so he wouldn't wake up early hungry.
Sounds to me like she's overtired.
I'd keep the nap, but try putting her to bed an hour earlier, too.
The more tired my kids get, the more wound up they get. We also only have night wakings when they haven't gotten to bed early enough.
FWIW: I put my 2 yr old down at 7-7:15, and my 4 yr old down at 8.
BUT, if you feel she's well rested with the nap...then who cares if she's up? If she's not giving you trouble, leave her be. She may have her own "routine" for getting herself to sleep after you put her down.
My DD (2) can sometimes hang out by herself for an hour. She doesn't cry or try to get out. She just chills out, and falls asleep eventually. She sleeps like a champ, so I don't bother her.
Why change what isn't broken?
At 2 years old, they are cognitively changing.
And from this age, "fears" start to emerge. It is developmental based. They toss and turn. They hear noises, etc.
This happens, at this age.
My son, since he was a baby, was always a regular napper. He would nap for 2 hours. And more when hitting a growth-spurt. I let him, nap for as long as he did. I never woke him, from a nap.
Even throughout his age stages... he still napped and needed to and if he didn't he got VERY fussy from 3:00pm. He is 5 now, and he still will nap at times and/or will TELL me, he wants to nap.
And he still goes to bed at night, fine. At his regular time.
And during the night, if he tosses and turns, and/or calls for me, then fine. He gets scared at night too. It does not mean, that I then, took away his afternoon nap. He still needed that.
But at night, per age stages, he just needed some reassurance about the "dark" and noises at night. Even my daughter went through that. Even I went through that when I was a child.
My kids always napped and I went by their cues.
If they did not nap, they were total Grumps, by the late afternoon... and then, they get OVERtired, and being overtired actually makes it harder to wind-down and then go to sleep at night.
We never do... any horse-playing or physically active things at night before bed just to "tire" them out. Because, it actually makes them more "hyper" and then they cannot... go to bed nor fall asleep at night and yes, it gets them more "wired."
My kids napped, needed to nap, it was per their cues, and it was not a battle. And both my kids still went to bed at night, just fine.
I would just start the wind-down before bed, earlier.
Make things calm and dark.
And she does seem to have her own way of winding-down.
So that is good.
I do tend to agree with those that say she's overtired. It's quite possible. My almost 3 year old still takes a 1.5-2 hr nap each day and is in bed by 8. Sometimes he doesn't even go down until 2 and he's still fine for bed time. I would start by making sure she's in bed by 8:30 at the latest and then work your way back to closer to 8. Don't skip her nap, especially if she sometimes puts herself to bed! I think you're doing all the right things otherwise, like trying to wear her out, etc.
Other than that you could chalk it up to her being 2. They do start to change and become more aware. When we moved my son to a big boy bed recently we bought him a plastic water bottle that he can keep with him and we tuck him in. He hasn't (knock on wood) had any problems but you can just tell her that once you tuck her in you're not coming back. She'll be okay. It might take a bit to get used to but she will.
I would try Bug's idea, move her nap up before lunch, give her a snack and some milk before putting her down.
i would also try to make sure she's getting physical exercise in the afternoon, running, jumping, climbing, etc...not after dinner where it can get her wired, to see if that helps her get to sleep that night. Does she have a warm bath at night? That can be very relaxing, especially if you use dim lighting and soft voices.
And at night I wouldn't really be too concerned that it takes her awhile to go to sleep, lots of adults are the same way, guilty, as long as she's staying in bed and her room. I would just not engage her, stop answering her questions which keep her thinking. Just say in a whisper, "Shhhhh, it's time to go to sleep, I love you, we'll talk in the morning, good night," the first time, after that nothing, or maybe just let her see you with your finger to your lips once more. If you stop answering she'll get bored and relax and go to sleep. Works with my 3 year old ; )
I also think she may need an earlier bedtime. You may have to fiddle with her nap schedule (but don't drop it, she needs that sleep) but I would start moving bedtime up by fifteen minutes until she is going to bed between 7:30 and 8:00. It can be counter-intuitive, but fighting sleep is often a sign that kiddo is over tired and needs to sleep more and possibly go to bed earlier.
Try moving up the time of her nap; putting a radio/cd on a timer in her room at bedtime playing soft classical music (no lyrics) or maybe a night light.
I would just let her play quietly and return her to her room at night. If she is regularly not sleepy, consider a shorter nap or putting her to bed more like 8:30 than 8PM. My DD goes to sleep around 9:30. Right now she can because we have nowhere to be in the AM and can sleep til 8:30, but in the fall that will have to change. If your DD is getting enough sleep overall, consider a slightly later bedtime, but only if she really is sleeping well in general.
At 2.5 years old, their imaginations are in full bloom. They are becoming much more aware of themselves and their environment. Not sure if this is the case for you, but I remember at this age my son started to get kind of scared or worried about certain things at bed time. He had always been fine to sleep in a dark room with his door closed but all of the sudden he was afraid of the dark, or what was that noise, or there was a scary shadow, etc. He did not want to be alone in his room anymore. We started using a night light and leaving his door open a few inches. When he was afraid of shadows, we spent a few nights exploring and making shadows. We would look at shadows and then figure out what was making them, and then make some silly ones with our bodies. That helped him to get over the fear very quickly. We also started to sometimes let him listen to music when he was having a hard time settling down. We got an ipod shuffle and put some relaxing music on it and he really likes it. My basic bedtime rule is "you dont have to be tired, but you do have to be quiet and stay in your bed". I would not drop the nap, sounds like she still needs it.
She needs to keep that nap for as long as possible because the kids have to lay down still in kindergarten to take a nap at least the first half of the school year.
It will be miserable for her to have to lay still for 1 1/2 - 2 hours each day at school if she does not sleep. She may need to just take that time to wind down. She probably had a growth spurt and her body is resting right now. As soon as she starts another growth spurt you might notice she is sleeping more.
I might try shortening the naps to no more than 2 hours and then try to get her in bed between 8:00 - 8:30.
When she calls out to you, what do you do? Do you go in there? Do you give her the attention she's looking for? Perhaps she is doing it just because she knows she can and that you will respond.
You might try telling her when you put her to bed that she is not to call out to you unless she is sick. And then ignore her when she does. If she's not getting the response/attention she wants, she may stop.
