What would you prefer - 2 year old sleep?

[Madallie]

I've been getting stressed with my 2.1 yo sleep. I think she must be a lower sleep needs toddler, although I struggle to accept this (I know I should and I'm working in it).

Dd has always been an inconsistent sleeper. Never been a 12 hours a night baby/toddler ( apart from the very odd phase here and there).

Anyway, at the moment (and for about the past 3 months) she has been sleeping 10-11 hours at night (usually 10-10.5 though, 11 is very very rare and fabulous). She'll also take a nap between 1 hr 15mins and 1hr 30 mins).

If left to her own devices I.e. Me not tampering with anything by waking her from naps etc, then this is what her day generally looks like:

Wake 6.45-7.15am
Nap - in cot 12.45 asleep 1-2.30
In bed - 7.30 but does not generally sleep until 8.30/9.

If I wake her from her nap at 2pm so she's only had an hr she goes off to sleep earlier, usually by 8ish but will wake at 6/6.30ish, so can get less sleep this way.

Anyway, been getting myself in knots, should I wake her from naps, is 8.30/9pm too late for her to fall asleep, is she getting enough sleep, is there anything I can do to improve her sleep? Think a lot of this has to do with the fact I'm 38 weeks pregnant, hormonal and tired.

So, thought I would see on here what other mums would prefer. Keeping nap but dd taking 1-1.5hrs to sleep or cutting nap, sleeping earlier but waking earlier?

Can't seem to make up my mind what to do. Dh works long shifts and often isn't here for naps or bedtime so I find myself going back and forth deciding what to do.

Wwyd?

Thanks for reading.

If you have a second one on the way I would keep the daytime nap - I love those two hrs of the day where there is only one child to deal with.

I think you should stop worrying about it. You're about to have another baby who will turn everything on its head anyway. Count your blessings your daughter sleeps as well as she does right now because if I have learnt anything from my two, it's that just when you think they are doing something consistently, they will start doing it differently
The arrival of ds2 in our house wrecked havoc with everybody's sleep. Which is why, 10 months on, I am drinking a cup of tea in the dark at 3am.

This is exactly how my DS was at that age and I just thought it was normal.

He's now 3.5 and dropped nap at around 2.10 I think. He now sleeps 7.30-7.30 with help from the magical gro clock.

Ps I'm pregnant too (40+3 today). Best of luck

Thanks. Unfortunately she doesn't really sleep well. She is v restless and wakeful sleeper who bangs/crashes and moans loudly throughout the night. She sleeps in her own room but this wakes us up too and episodes of this can go on for 2+ Hours in one go and then randomly on and off throughout the night meaning v little sleep for all.

Tonight has not been a good night. Put dd down at 7.30pm, she didn't fall asleep until 9.10pm. She slept soundly for one hour then from 10.10 until about 1am she bashed and crashed about at random intervals on and off. You can hear it loudly upstairs and downstairs. She then slept from 1 am- 3.15am but has now been awake since then moaning and banging in her cot. She is not upset, is not calling out for us, is not teething or ill. It's just nobody is getting sleep. This is how it is many many nights and we just don't know why she does it or how to improve things.

Is she too hot? Try cooling her room a bit.

This is what my two did but they also had food intolerances so if they ate the wrong things their sleep would be dreadful.

I don't know if she has food intolerances but it must be something. How would I even start to find this out. She is a very plain eater with not much variation day to day but some days her sleep is worse than others. I don't even know who to go to get advise/help.

If it was me and I wasn't at your stage of pregnancy, I'd be cutting the nap. This always results in a difficult week or so with a child who is very tired mid to late afternoon, but ime is worth persevering for the 7/7:30 bedtime.

Another factor to consider - you mentioned the cot, do you think she might need more space? My kids' sleep improved when we moved them into single beds. They also didn't realise at first that they could get out of bed themselves so no issues with them getting up during the night.

I'd wouldn't cut the nap for your convenience. Sleep is important for a toddler and an hour later bedtime is a temporary blip believe me.

Try keeping a food diary of what she eats and sleep patterns.