DS 19mo stays awake chatting after bedtime.

[slatternlymother]

DS used to pretty much sleep straight away; now he seems to lie awake chatting/singing and kicking the wall next to his bed. He seems genuinely tired when put to bed; rubbing eyes, yawning etc. He also isn't distressed at all; he just lies there, not getting up or crying.

Is this normal? Should I leave him to it?

Normal ime.

Do I ignore it? Or am I supposed to go up and tell him to go to sleep/it's night time etc?

what's his daytime routine i.e. wakeup time, nap time & length & bedtime??? My DS has also recently done this, & it was because he wasn't tired enough at bedtime. Pushing his nap a wee bit later & cutting it back a touch has helped.

He has a 1.5 - 2 hour nap around midday still and seems eager to go down for it. He goes to bed again between 6pm and half past and seems very tired during milk/quiet time and his bath.

and when does he usually wake in the morning?

I'd say if he's regularly having a nap of that length & he's waking at a decent time in the morning i.e. 6-6.30am & not earlier, then the chatting/singing etc sounds very much like he's not tired enough at bedtime. TBH at this age, if he is having a 2hr nap 12-2 most days I'd say a 7pm BT was probably more appropriate, but if he is happy to go up to bed at 6/6.30pm & he is not distressed, and he's not early waking, then I'd leave things as they are & enjoy your evening time to yourself! If any of these things DO start to happen, then I would firstly push bedtime to 7pm. And if it still continues then I would push his nap a little later so it starts at 12.30pm & you'll probably find this will help.

HTH.xx

Oh & BTW I wouldn't go in there if he's happy to lay on his own - just leave him be!xx

DD used to do this, for up to 90 minutes. She seemed happy enough and she grew out of it. I kind of miss listening to it on the monitor. DS so much as makes a noise I shush him immediately as he shares a room with DD

Ah thank you I like detailed advice! Yes he usually wakes between 7-8am, occasionally earlier but never earlier than 6am. If you pushed the nap to 12:30, would you still wake at 2pm or leave for the full 2hrs still?

No, he isn't distressed at all but seems to get cross if we push bedtime later (we tried 6:45 once and he was very angry). He always appears very ready for bed and happy to go down though! Is it possible the singing/chanting is his little routine?

lat yes, he's gone on for a while sometimes! It seems to have reduced to around 30 minutes since we just let him get on with it.

one thing I didn't ask is how long is he actually chattering for ??? My DS usually chats for about 10mins if he is suitably tired for bedtime. If he chats for say 20mins or longer its usually because he's not tired enough, although just to confuse me, he will also do this when he's overtired but he tends to shout more!

I really would leave routine well alone if he's going to bed that early & waking so late in the morning - he's a high sleep needs LO by the sounds of it!!! And if he is happy to keep on going down at midday you'll probably find he'll cut down the nap naturally anyway.

As for what to do when you push the nap later, I'd say try the full 2hr nap to start with, but be aware he might end up needing a slightly later bedtime & if you wanted to keep the earlier bedtime you probably would need to cap the nap.

If he's happy, then don't fret it (assuming its not for hours and hours). Dd2 does this, then when it gets excessive (ie an hour or more), we cut down the daytime sleep a little, which works for a while until the next stage, etc. Its really sweet listening to them singing to their teddies!

We were going in at first, concerned especially with the kicking the bedroom wall! But he seemed annoyed we'd gone in; as if he's been doing this forever. He gave me this look as if to say 'what are you doing here?!' maybe he has, but it's only since he's gotten bigger and louder that we've noticed it?

If he's happy then let him get on with it! If it ain't broke...