2yr old dramatic sleep change!

[Mumtoason]

Hi,

My DS has always been a 'sleeper'; for last 10 months he has taken longish naps in the day and 11+ hours at night (with a couple of night wakings) but for the ten days+ he has not been going to sleep at nap time (he just lays there for ages - up to an hour chatting and playing with dummy) and waking up strangely early for him at 5am. Yesterday in total he has had 9hrs sleep as he has no nap and woke up at 5am after going down at 8pm). He is very tantrumy and 'challenging' (lol) in the day at the moment and I am at a total loss as to why this dramatic sleep change has occurred - but I don't want it to remain as it seems not to be doing him any good at all!
My OH has been a bit obsessed for a few months that DS is awake for large chunks of the night just laying there playing with dummy and blanket... I thought he was being a bit OTT, but maybe he was right?
Any tips or suggestions would be v gratefully received as I am at a loss and confused as to what to try to help him break this pattern. Thanks

what was his routine before this sudden change? wake up time, usual nap time & length and usual bedtime?

Its actually very common to have a major sleep blip at age 2, with nap refusal, taking ages to settle at bedtime and early waking. Many people think their child must be ready to stop napping altogether but its not necessarily the case. Hang in there & after a few weeks the nap will happen again.

However you may find it needs to start a bit later than previously, and bedtime may also need to go a touch later. At that age my ds napped at around 1/1.30pm for 2hrs then slept 8pm-7am. By 2.5 he was napping some days but not others.

In the mean time if he refuses to nap I would give him a really early bedtime of 6pm. Sounds counterintuitive but can actually lead to a later wakeup/longer night. Sticking with usual bedtime will have him overtired which will lead to early waking. HTH