My DS takes AGES to go to sleep

[goandshowdaddy]

For the last few weeks my DS (21 months) has been taking anything up to 2 hours to finally go to sleep.

We've had a normal bedtime routine for months and he used to fall asleep within, at the most, half an hour. I take him up between 6.30 - 7pm and either give him a bath, or just a wash, brush teeth, pjs and read stories before putting him in his cot. He then babbles, bangs and crashes around his cot, opens and shuts the cupboard door which is next to his cot and has just started to stand up and rock his cot (scary - but I don't think he can rock it right over!) before finally giving up and falling asleep. I put him down at about 7.15 tonight and he's still awake now (8.30pm).

I usually leave him and he eventually falls asleep (no crying). But, I'm worried that this is not normal and he's not getting to sleep early enough. Also, will it cause problems when he's eventually put into a big boy bed (i.e. getting out)? And, I really don't like the cot rocking/door banging but don't want to go in to get him to stop, for fear of my appearance making him stay awake even longer.

Should I carry on leaving him to it? Is there anything else I could do to get him to fall asleep sooner? WWYD??

is he still napping? my 21 month ds went through this phase so i stopped his napping. if he doesnt nap by 12.30 i just keep him going till bedtime my ds tends to do this if he has got too excited before bed. an hour before hes due to go to bed i close the curtains to create darkness and try to wind him down with reading books rather than let him play with his toys. good luck

Agree that a day time nap may not be needed now or he may be napping too long....but i have to say my DS has always been awful at dropping off. He's older now, but he's tucked in at 8pm every night and he's still awake now! (he's 7)

I would stop your ds' opportunities a bit more; put a lock on the top of the cupboard so he can't open it. And put brackets attaching his cot to the wall so he can't rock it!

Well done him for rocking the cot - strong chap!!

You need to stop that. Do you go in to him? In the time he's awake? Do you have to settle him? If so, it's the old leave to cry for periods of time routine to get him to stop. 5, 10, 15 mins etc......

It sounds though, like he's chilled? Happy and babbling? Leave him be if that's the case. If your evening isn't disrupted once you say night night and have put him down and he is actually safe, then what's the harm? The time it takes for him to go to sleep will get less. Especially when he gets more active!!!!! Maybe tire him out before bath and story time - a game of hide and seek? Running a mile - joke - or something that you know leads to him chilling?

DS was this way until we dropped the nap. It was hard because he does still sometimes seem really shattered after lunch, and does still have a snooze some days, but on the whole is manageable provided we schedule something active, preferably outdoors, for the tired time.

What a difference at bedtimes when he hasn't had a nap - fabulous!

Thanks for the replies.

Must admit, he is worse after a nap (especially if it's a bit later in the day) but often only has an hour, if that.

He does sometimes still do the late night dropping off when he's had no nap at all though .

Mouseface, I haven't been going into him (even when he's cot rocking) cos I didn't want to encourage him to do it to get my attention (IYSWIM). He's not crying so I leave him to it until he falls asleep on his own.

Cirrhosis, good idea about attaching the cot to the wall. And, yes, had thought about cupboard locks, just hadn't got round to it .

He does cope quite well on the days he does go without a nap, to be fair (not too grumpy by tea time), so maybe I should just try to keep him awake for the whole day (tricky if we're out as he does all of his daytime sleeping in the car or pushchair).

He's had about ten mins sleep today so we'll see if that helps tonight!

Doesn't help that I'm 13 wks pg so not feeling like running round with him much to tire him out! Hopefully that should improve soon - might be able to get outside in the afternoon/early evening as the days get longer too!

Good news - it's 7.20pm and DS is fast asleep! Put him down about 6.50pm and he had a bit of a chat to his toys (but no banging!) and that was it. I'm off out tonight so it's down to the in-laws to deal with if he wakes before I get back - hurrah!

Seems like the lack of daytime nap in the daytime worked - this time.

Yeah - well done you!! Hope you have a great night x

Make sure you rest too. He'll be grand if you leave him to it - tonight has shown you that! Just tie the cot to the wall!!!!!

Cut the daytime sleep out - they go to sleep really quickly with no sleep in the day (I have 21 month old DD2 who no longer sleeps in the day and takes less than 5 mins to drop off).

Glad he went off OK tonight.