Toddler lays in bed awake for hours without crying

[aijaine]

So I have just recently brought a baby monitor to keep an eye on my daughter at night after renting a bigger house, she is 17 months old and I noticed when I put her down for bed at 9 she's in her bed awake until past 10:30 not crying or anything just lying there with her eyes open or rolling around, I feel so bad I don't understand why she never cried, now I'm noticing it's literally every night and almost every afternoon nap,is it normal for a baby to not cry like if she cried I would go to her immediately, she's always been a good sleeper sleeping all night long 9-9 since 3/4 months old. I pop my head in before but didn't think much of it if I saw her awake.

Is she definitely awake? DN sleeps with his eyes open and they often look like they’re rolling around when in deep sleep

She's just resting and doesn't sound like she's unhappy. My dd used to lie in bed in the morning and not cry, she just enjoyed waving her muslin around and taking time to face the day I think.

Maybe she does like to chill a bit before falling asleep? She would tell you if she is not happy.

DS1 always did this. put him down at 7pm awake until 9pm. Quite happy, he looked at books when he got a bit older. Still a night owl at 15.

DS1 would lie awake staring at his hands when he was that age, both before going to sleep and after waking up when he was a toddler.

@DioneTheDiabolist

DS1 would lie awake staring at his hands when he was that age, both before going to sleep and after waking up when he was a toddler.

I don't know why but I love this!

My rule is that if they're not crying, they're happy enough to stay there. Sometimes I like to chill out in bed. No reason a baby wouldn't be the same

Think the lack of sensory stimulation for a while when still awake can be soothing. Pretty sure your baby is not broken

My dd1 did this, not so long in the evenings but especially in the mornings. I would go in to wake her and she would be awake already, playing with her blanket. Just a word of advice, look out for cot climbing! One morning at around 20 months I woke to find her in my bed. She went into a bed ASAP!

I don’t know why I found this so adorable, bless her heart 🤍 she sounds like she’s just trying to fall asleep

Dd has done that s for a wee while now. Same in morning.

I made the mistake of lifting her one morning, she was cross and weepy. I'm actually quite grumpy when I wake up so she must be the same. She just likes that quiet time herself.

My DS is 16 months. Do you think your DD could have a word with my DS to teach home a few tricks? He's a good sleeper but when he does wake up in the night he just cries if I dare have my eyes closed!

Sounds like a very late bedtime to me. Maybe she has missed the sleepy window of opportunity. Why not play round with different times to see what happens.

My daughter now 27 months has always done this 😊 she loves her bed, most days when I go to get her up from nap she says 'I stay here bit longer mummy I so cosy 😍´

My youngest did this. She was often still quietly awake when we went to bed. She was always a night owl and still is (at 30!)
County yourself lucky that you have a child who is comfortable with being taken to bed before she's ready to sleep, and who lets you get on with your evening.

If you did cry it out/control crying sleep training then you taught your baby to not call out for you when they need comfort. If you have always been responsive to her cries, she knows you are there if she needs you. She’s probably just resting. Don’t knock it. Many kids don’t do this

DS does this, both before bed and in the morning. He just chats to his teddies and reads his books. When he’s had enough of that he calls for us. (We never did any sort of sleep training btw).

Just be grateful you have a baby that can self soothe and entertain herself!

If she is happy what is the problem? As PP said she may actually be asleep though as DS had a habit of sleeping with his eyes open sometimes.

If she normally cries if she needs you, whether in her cot or other times, then I would assume she is either content or asleep.

Ah that’s made me feel intensely broody 😍. That’s such a lovely stage where they’re just happy lolling about in the cot making little noises and ruminating on what their brain has processed. Gosh it’s brought back such happy memories of my first born doing the same. Just holding his feet and rolling about.

When DS (3.5) wakes up he will sit up and either rock his head side to side a tiny bit or just sit still. He's not fully awake so I just leave him and wait till he gives me a shout.

The other day he was sat up for 10 mins and I kept walking back and forth in front of his door getting ready. I didn't know he was awake fully until he farted and then laughed at himself. 😂

DS used to do this, whereas his big sister would scream the place down the moment I tried to leave her! Be glad you've got the chilled out kind!

Thanks everyone for the good advice, yes I'm very lucky to have such a good baby I was just asking because it felt abit cruel leaving her and wanted to know if you guys would also just let her chill or go get her x

18 month sleep regression? Mine always went through taking forever to settle when he was having some kind of development leap and had “busy brain”. Not crying, so no problem. 9pm is quite a late bedtime though, so possibly getting overtired? 7-8pm is a natural sleep window.