Toddler no longer sleeps

[Gemzee]

My 22 month old son hardly sleeps at night anymore. He used to sleep 7-7 at least 5 nights a week but the last 2-3 weeks he is probably only sleeping through 1 night a week.
He either will not sleep in his cot & we have to get him up - then he doesn't go to sleep until after 9.30pm (then wakes about 6-7am). Or he will fall asleep about 7.30pm but wake in the night between 2am - 4am and stay awake for ages. This week he has actually done BOTH (fell asleep last night about 9.30pm, awake between 2am-3am and now up for the day from 6.30am).
He still naps 1.5hrs - 2hrs per day which used to be 12pm - 2pm but I have moved this earlier to see if that helps, it doesn't really make much of a difference.
Help me! I feel broken from lack of sleep and I HATE it.

I'm in exactly the same boat, waking between 2 and 4 and she isn't wants to go out side and play! I ordered some blackout curtains from Dunelm (the cheap ones) and they're pretty effective at blocking out the light, so far 2 nights of improved sleep and I'm hoping we've cracked it now

Is he maybe getting too warm? Teeth coming through or ready to drop his nap during the day?

Mines who usually sleeps through has been up between 4 and 6 at times this week so hoping with cooler weather, that it goes back to normal.

Following!!

I was wondering if he needs to drop his day nap too...

It’s a long nap - I’d cap it to 45 mins - 1 hour. He will be tired at first, but it may be that as he is getting older he is starting to need less sleep. DD was the same - wouldn’t fall asleep until silly o’clock at night.

It will take a few days to adjust, and you may have to distract him in the evenings as he may be more tired for a bit, but should soon start making up for it with more night sleep.

Will look to shorten his nap...eeek! Thanks all
For some reason I thought they started dropping their naps themselves, I am happy to help though if it means a full nights sleep!!

This probably is his way of telling you he doesn't want a nap or as long.

DD (3) would still happily nap now if I put her in her room with the curtains closed! But then would be awake until about 1am.....

I had to stop her napping completely every other day just after she turned 2, and then gradually kept reducing it as she needed less and less sleep as she got older.

I miss naps, but like the more reasonable bedtime hour!

This has got me wondering whether I need to cap my 22 month old’ nap too. He went to sleep at 7:30pm last night but woke up at 5:30am this morning and will happily have 2 hours nap at lunchtime.

They only need a certain amount of sleep in a day (although obviously the amount varies from child to child) so if they are getting it in the middle of the day, they will not need it all in a long stretch overnight.

It becomes a bit of a cycle too, as they wake early, so are really tired come after lunch, have a big nap and ‘top up’ on sleep, then wake early etc (or in my DDs case go to sleep late!)

I’d cap it, but be prepared for a few days of overtired / grumpy afternoons needing some distraction. It takes a while for the body to adjust to sleep changes.

Good luck!

I agree with capping the naps. My 14 month old loves his sleep and was sleeping 4 hours in the day over 2 naps but waking around 5am for a couple weeks. We limited naps to 2.5-3 hours total and it’s much better.

Took a few nights to see a difference but is now back to sleeping until 6:30/7.

I have just capped my 22 month olds nap to 45 minutes and it seems to have improved his night time sleep.

Well he slept last night, may be a one off though! Put him to bed at 7pm and he went to sleep soon after and then woke up about 6.30am this morning!
I couldn't cut his nap down to only 45min straight away but I made sure he only had 1.5hrs and put him up early (11.30am) - so he was up at 1pm. Will try the same again today....

That’s great news. Hoping you feel rested today and works out again tonight 😊

22 months is young to drop the nap IMO. Could it be that during lockdown he's less active? Try to wear him out in the day and hopefully he'll sleep better.

He slept till 7.20am today Really hoping this sticks!