Toddler suddenly taking ages to wind down in the evenings

[stclair]

My 22 month DD has normally been easy to settle in the evenings, usually falling asleep within 30 mins. She has had for the past several months approx 1.5 to 2 hr naps during the day. We returned from NZ a month ago and since then she has gotten more bouncy and wound up as the evening progresses. Her bedtime routine hasn't changed significantly - bath, iggle-piggle while having her milk, a couple of books, teeth brushed, then bed between 7-7.30pm. Now she will be jumping around the room, shouting, looking anything but relaxed, not falling asleep until about 9pm. I've tried reducing her naps over the past two days to under an hour each and she's had lots of exercise(!) but all to no avail. Is it day-light saving? Do I need to cut her nap entirely? Have others had this problem suddenly? Thanks

[doughnutty]

No advice but marking my place. DS is 18 mths and has a similar nap/bedtime routine. He is starting to get a bit more bouncy at night too. I was thinking about tweeking his nap but due DC2 in 3 weeks so not ready to mess with things before seeing the effect of a newborn on all of us.

[duende]

stclair, can I join the club..? :(
my DS is 22 months old too. he used to go to sleep about 7-7.30pm. we always had to stay in the room with him, but we didn't really mind. over the last few weeks though it's been taking him longer and longer to fall asleep (an hour is now quite normal) AND often he ends up wanting to be cuddled to sleep and gets really worked up if we don't cooperate...
he also gets 1.5-2 hours sleep during the day, we wake him if it's any longer.
yesterday he didn't fall asleep till nearly half 8.
waiting for some words of wisdom!

[WishIWasRimaHorton]

they do vary. i have a 25 month old DD and a couple of months ago i would say i thought she was on the point of dropping her nap. we had many a night of her jumping around and not going to sleep. as of the last month, she has been napping 1+ hours in the day (i always wake her by 90 mins) AND is asleep by 7pm. so it may just be 'one of those things'...

[Threelittleducks]

As I type my 2 yr old is currently bouncing around the room like a maniac with a bucket on his head 'flying'.
His bed time is supposed to be 7p.m.

As you can tell, we've stopped fighting it. Some nights he goes down - depends on how long his nap has been during the day. Recently we've been cutting his daytime naps, now he goes about 3/4 times a week for daytime naps, which means earlier bedtimes.
He's always had a great bedtime routine - I think it's just him getting older and more able to deal with a bit less sleep.
We are running him into the ground at the moment too in order to get back his earlier bedtimes! Where do they get the energy though? Wish I could tap into it - I'm exhausted!

[duende]

Oh yes, I forgot to say. About 3 weeks ago we went trough a period of just over a week when he wouldn't sleep in the day. Now he seems to need the nap again. But I do miss his earlier bedtimes and I am very often more tired than he is in the evening...

[Knax]

Thanks for starting this thread stclair, v interesting so many are similar. My 23 month old has started doing exactly the same as yours/ same length daytime naps etc and I was wondering whether to cut nap. I loved those 7pm bedtimes with no hassles, but now he's crying/ angry he's been put to bed, or just mooching about in his cot for hours.
I'm going to try waking him from nap after 90 mins I think.
Daytime nap used to be around 1pm, but now more like 2.30pm until he's tired enough.

[stclair]

Oh goody, it's not just us then :)! The past 3 nights I've tried ignoring the jumping around and I must say with me not reacting it has lessened. DD would have me reading books before bed until I'm blue in the face but I've stopped after three, we've had a long cuddle, and I've popped her into bed with a book she can look at if she likes while she's winding down. So far there has been no complaints and she chats to herself and bangs the side of the cot with her legs with all going silent (therefore asleep!) after about 45 mins. Her naps are currently 1.5 hours max, I'm waking her if it's looking like she'll be still asleep past 2.30pm. The upside of her later night sleep times is that she does sleep later in the mornings. She was always one to be up around 6-6.30am but now it's around 7-7.30!

[dycey]

I found from 23 months bedtimes got harder and it was to do with length and timing of nap - now at 27 months nap is gone and bedtimes are easy again.

I was too hesitant about dropping / cutting the nap but really my ds did not need it by around 2.... Be ready to cut it drop and bedtimes get easier again! Don't be misled by LO still wanting a long nap - their ideal is a late night, getting up early and sleeping masses at lunch - little Latinos!