How does your 2 year old get to sleep? Bored of the long sleep sessions.

[IndecentFeminist]

Just staggered down from another mammoth session of getting the toddler to sleep.

How do you put yours down at night? Do they go down awake and stay in bed?

My ds is 2.5 but from 13 months he has gone to bed with his milk and falls asleep himself. He's still in a cot though.

My dd is 18 months and I hold her til she drops off and then transfer her to her cot. This can take 15 mins or 50 mins depending on her mood....

I just tell myself she won't be little for long - I'm trying to make myself feel better!

Mine is nearly 2 and has gone to bed awake and chatted to himself for a while before falling to sleep for months. Although he is still in a cot and I wonder if it will be the same when he moves to a toddler bed.

I still breastfeed my son to sleep. He was two in October. It's really hard work, and can take up to 45 minutes sometimes before he deeply asleep enough for me to put him down in his cot.

He wakes up three or four times a night, but as soon as he wakes up the first time I bring him into bed with me. Sometimes he'll then sleep the rest of the night, but most nights he'll wake more to feed.

I work full time so feel exhausted pretty much constantly, but I wouldn't change it. Apart from anything I don't have the energy or motivation to try sleep training, and I also still really enjoy breastfeeding him. Hopefully he'll get better at sleeping through as he gets older.

I moved mine into a bed when he was only 14ish months. We have a good solid bed routine with him and his brother of bath- story -bed, they go to bed awake and fall asleep themselves. I did find that I had to stop any naps at about 2.5 because even a 5 min power nap really effected how well he went to bed and it was taking increasingly longer for him to settle!

My is older than 2 now, but, just like when she was 2, she only goes to sleep if someone is sitting next to the bed, preferably holding her hand. I'm not sure if she has ever got into bed awake and just gone to sleep by herself when at home (my mum says she does when she stays at her house). It usually takes until this kind of time. I am resigned to it. A glow in the dark kindle helped me accept this, as I now see it as reading time for me rather than time wasted waiting for her to fall asleep.

I think it really depends on personality. I'm currently sat on the floor of my 7 years olds room because he's going through a stage of being scared of burglars with the rational that if Santa can break in then so can other people. However a month ago he went to sleep by himself fine. DD5 has fallen asleep by herself from about 2 but was in with her brother which helped settle her, however it can still take her a good hour at times. My DS19months falls asleep on his own in about 10 mins but needs someone to sit next to him. I'm happy to do this for another 6 months. Other than the odd, hopefully temporary blip, they all get there. Its developmental and my 7 year old shows that even if you crack it at 2, they will still occasionally have wobbles.

We're in the same boat OP. DP is on bedtime duty with DS1 since DS2 arrived a month ago and bedtimes are an actual marathon. Sometimes up to an hour and a half.. he's still putting him down now! It's become a total pantomime of different stories and songs and hand holding and cuddles.

We did have a short spell of being able to put him down awake but now not a chance. Maybe he needs to drop his nap but with a newborn I want to keep hold of it for as long as possible!

Considering doing some type of sleep training thing but don't think our neighbours would be too pleased and would deffo be harder now he's older.

Ds is 18 months but a few weeks ago DH and I realised it was taking about an hour to rock him to sleep as hes too long for us. So we bought an elephant thing that plays music and projects stars on the ceiling and started a routine of bed, stars and music on (set to 15 mins) and leave. Generally ds chats and sings, might chuck the dummy a couple of times, and then settles himself down within half hour.

After a few weeks he recognises the routine and will set up the elephant then ask for his dummy and "night night".

DS is 2y9m and still in a cot bed (with the sides) precisely so he can't escape at bedtime!

We have a bedtime routine that he will try and string out as long as possible but it's reasonably straightforward: sometimes bath/shower (not every night), small cup of milk if he wants it, nappy and PJs, brush teeth, 2 or 3 short books, cuddle and songs, then in cot and one or two more songs while I hold his hand, then I leave and he falls asleep. I think DH is a bit less indulgent and does fewer books and songs! But we do the same routine. Has worked well for ages.

I have a 2.5 old and she goes to sleep on her own in her bed

But if she were to nap in the day it is a different story.

DS recently turned 2 and until recently he’d go down without a peep (with milk) but often wake in night and end up in bed with us. But last few weeks we’ve had some kind of terrible regression - point blank refuses to
Go down - we have to sit with him, read, sing, hold his hand etc until he drops off (and still wakes up in night usually!). It’s so bloody draining - and 15 month old doesn’t sleep through either.

I think It’s some kind of separation anxiety but really hope it doesn’t last. Think we need to be stricter on routine and leaving him etc but it’s such an ordeal ...

Don't even try to put them to bed until 8.30/9pm! That's what we did when she was two, and napping for 2 hours in the afternoon. Now she's 4, doesn't nap and falls asleep easily at 7pm.

At that age, DH or I were spending at least an hour in DS' room each evening. He screamed and screamed as soon as we left. We tried all sorts of sleep training methods over a 15mth period, each thought we'd mastered a ninja stealth creep out only for DS to wake up as soon as we crossed the threshold and eventually accepted that we just had to go through it. We put an armchair in his room which we'd gradually retreat to and could then sit there and work on laptops or read on a kindle or faff on MN. It was hideous. DS was always dreadfully clingy but it's just who he was. He's 7 now and I never get so much as a backward glance.

@meow1989 ah we have that elephant too! I think it’s great, especially as a signal it’s bedtime.

We have that elephant too. My husband and I call it the Elephant of Doom, because we'd switch it on when we were at our wit's end (it never worked for us!)
Trying to persuade my 2 yr 10 month old that she does not need milk all night, and can sleep in her own bed. Still multiple wakes a night. So tired!

Those of you whose children go into the cot awake and go to sleep happily by themselves... HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? Did they just do it? Did you train them? Either my baby or my parenting skills are broken 😭

@PirateWeasel we did 3 days of sleep training with him when he was 13 months as I had spent every night since he was born getting up to him every 2hrs, I reached my limit! Best thing we did really, he's gone to bed like a dream ever since.

I put her into her cot awake and she chats to herself and then goes to sleep. Have been doing that since she was 4 months old (although when she was that small we had to stroke her nose until she dropped off!). Teaching her to fall asleep was my number one parenting priority so I never brought her into our bed, never pushed her to sleep in the buggy, never taken her into the car etc etc. It was painful on occasion as it meant longer awake periods at night but it paid off because she has slept like a dream since she was about 5 months old - I can count on two hands the number of times she's been up in the night.

Dd is 2 and has always gone down awake. Now she lies straight down with her toy and i say goodnight

If she wakes up or struggles to sleep (very rare) i go back up every 5mins or so to resettle. I never stay in the room

Try the cd 'the rabbit who wants to fall asleep'. It's ace. Really helped my 2. Put it on, say you're going to put dinner in or something then see if they fall asleep!

Since going from cot to bed a few months ago I feel trapped in the bedtime routine and it's draining. After Christmas there is a gate going on the room and I will re do sleep training. Worked before with the cot🙏

Thanks all. I think after Christmas we may have to try some alternatives. He is still fed/cuddled to sleep and isn't in a cot so will be a challenge. At the moment he goes down on the bottom bunk in the room he shares with his brother. If he wakes I go up and cuddle him back to sleep (won't accept DH). If he wakes in the night he normally just gets up and comes into our room and climbs into bed.

Not sure how to go about it tbh, he'll just climb out of bed. 🤷

2 year old. Sometimes takes an hour to fall asleep. He doesnt have milk before bed and hasn't done so since he was 12 months. He cuddles his big Teddy. He's in a sleeping bag and in a cot so can't escape. 😂

We had a strict routine from the day the kids came home from hospital. Bath, story (even newborn though I usually made it up), feed then down in their own room while awake but sleepy. It took a few weeks for my son but he got it; a little longer with my daughter as she had bad reflux but after three months she was pretty easy to get down too. By two years old they could keep themselves awake but I don't recall it being much of an issue- occasionally had to put them back to bed but unless ill they did not sleep with us. I had a couple bad nights when for whatever reason one cried alot but I could count those on one hand.
I might have been lucky with my kids or it might have been the routine - who knows? But the parents who had alot of difficulty in my circle seemed more relaxed on the bedtime routine and the kids took advantage!
I think you need to impose a routine now and stick with it. At that age it will be hard as you'll have a battle of wills! Repeat repeat repeat and eventually they'll get into the rhythm and it will hopefully make you both feel better.