how can i get my 2yo dd to sleep for longer?

[klover]

My dd gave me a scare a few weeks ago by jumping out of her cot. i realised this was the time for her to go into a bed. the first few nights in her new bed she fell out numerous times so we bought her the grobag bedding, where the duvet is attatched to the sheet so they can't fall out. this has worked well in stopping her falling out, but she is not sleeping for long enough at night. I have a good bedtime routine and she is in bed for about 8pm each evening. she is very good and stays in her bed, but she stays awake for at least half an hour to an hour playing and chatting to herself. She normally wakes up anytime between 3 and 5 and needs a cuddle and then goes back to sleep untill about 5.30-6am. i'd say on average she gets about 9hours sleep a night. I'm so tired so if anyone has any ideas how to get her to sleep for longer it would be a great help.

You could try putting her to bed earlier. Our dd had a pretty regular bedtime of 8ish but we 'caught' her looking really tired and put her to bed at 7pm for a while which seemed to bizarrely result in her waking later (6.30 rather than 5.30!)... We now find that generally if she goes to sleep past 8 she'll wake around 5.15/30 but if she gets to bed 7ish then she will sometimes sleep a little longer. Don't really get it...

(PS you have my symapthies - hate this early thing - have another one on the way and am elbowed from every angle from about 5am! )

Does she still sleep in the daytime klover? Does she seem irritable with that much sleep? Some children (unfortunately) just don't need as much sleep as others. My 2 yo dd will do less than 10 hours at night if she's had any daytime sleep.

I would also suggest putting her to bed earlier. Ds1 seems to sleep longer the earlier he goes to bed. We seem to get into a vicious circle sometimes where he wakes at 5.30 ish and gets more and more tired. Also the early morning part seems partiularly difficult to do anything about when it's so light outside. Bedtime seemed to me the only part I can change.

very good suggestions everyone, she does have a nap normally after lunch about an hour or less. today i'm going to try no nap and putting her to bed about 7pm. i will see what time she wakes up tomorrow!!

i find my dd sleeps better without a nap and she's 2.2yrs and ds sleeps better with a nap, he will normally sleep on the couch afetr nursery for an hour and he's 3.6yrs. Kids are all different!! Try either getting her to sleep a little longer for her nap and see how bedtime goes, or do what you said, no nap and earlier bedtime... my 2 will go to bed at 7pm on the dot, and wake between 7 and 8am.

oh and do you have blackout curtains.... my two were 5-6am wakers without blackouts once it started getting lighter earlier.

thats just boasting glaskham

DD sleeps well but ds is an early riser, makes no difference what time he goes to bed, nap/no nap. He just starts bouncing a 5 and doesn't stop til 7.30 pm. he still occ hasa nap of about an hour

cant say I've heard of any "success" stories,but the Baby Whisperer suggests making your child stir around an hour earlier than their "usual" time, so maybe 4 am for a couple of nights,get htem to half wake up,but not fully(?) and you then alter their sleep pattern,as they are then supposed to go back to sleep and "miss" their usual window of 5.00am.Bit of a gamble,but I guess if you are really desperate you would be willing to try even the most "unusual strategies" ! My DS used to wake at 5.30am every morning,but eventually grew out of it.