To think that 6 hours sleep is not enough.

[Namechangeforspring2021]

Toddler slept really badly last night, I got about 3 hours broken sleep, has a 3 hour nap today while OH was looking after him. Come to tonight though and I just can’t get to sleep - why?

It's because of your nap in the afternoon.

I often have only 4 to 6 hours sleep at night. Often that is broken by having to go to the toilet 2 or 3 times. I never have a nap during the day though as I would feel worse overall.

Three hours is really quite a long nap. If you need a nap due to lack of sleep I think a short power nap is the way forward (assuming you’re not in a period of severe sleep upheaval such as having a newborn).

You're probably anxious it'll be another crap night of sleep.
The nap might have been too much.
Grab a warm milk. No more blue light from phone.
Put on an audio book.

A nap to me is well under an hour, probably closer to half an hour. Much better to power through the day on whatever sleep you get overnight than upset your body clock by sleeping during the day imho.

A nap should be under an hour and finished by early afternoon. Try setting an alarm next time as it's the same as a toddler who has a sleep late afternoon and is then wide awake at bedtime. Hope you sleep better tonight.

This happens to me OP - if my baby has a bad night then for a few nights after I really struggle to sleep, even if he is back to sleeping through. I think I’m subconsciously waiting for him to wake, so I only sleep lightly.

Thanks for your messages - We slept 3-7 last night so much better. We’ve both got stinking colds and he’s been waking for well over a week (but not as bad as the night before last) and I’ve been working so unable to catch up in the day so the 3 hours was needed yesterday, fingers crossed he’s on the mend 😀