I think my toddler is a vampire

[Booboostoo]

or equally weird non-sleeping creature.

At 22mo she's already dropped all daytime naps, goes to bed at 9.30 in the evening and gets up between 7.30 and 8.00. I need more sleep than that! (not to mention that she wakes up often during the night).

This is just a winge really, sorry, no question to ask unless someone has some kind of magical wand I could wave around (or hit her over the head with ).

My niece is like this - I guess some people just are, sorry! Unless she's knackered all the time, in which case get some advice e.g. GP?

7.30 is great. Go to bed at the same time as her and get 10 hours too? Even if you go to bed at 11.30 you'd be getting 8 hours. What time do you want her to sleep to?

I missed the bit about her waking lots - sorry!

She wakes up about 5 times a night!

The problem is my DP...he can cope on 5-6 hours sleep a night, so guess who DD takes after! I need a regular 9 hour with 10 hours if I am to write the next day.

What is her behaviour like in the day? Does she seem tired? And what happens during these night wakings? Are they in the early part of the night or every few hours? How long do they last & is she restless/distressed/wide awake playing??? Finally how do you respond? Can she self settle?

Imo its not a lot of sleep overnight if she has already dropped her nap (i would expect more like 12-13hrs) & so my guess is that she might be overtired. The frequent night wakings also point to that. Her bedtime is also pretty late considering she has no nap - have you ever tried putting her down earlier?

My ds is 2.7 & on days doesnt nap he's in bed & asleep by 6.30-7pm latest & will usually sleep in til 7-7.30. I'd be tempted to bring her bedtime much earlier & you might find that she sleeps for longer & stops waking. Hth.x

I always try to get her to sleep and in the worst case scenario I lie in bed quietly and she plays next to me with her toys and books for an hour or so. If she is tired at other times of the day (e.g. later than 16.00) I try to keep her awake till her bedtime. If she does fall asleep even a tiny nap of 5 minutes seems to refresh her. If she falls asleep and I try to mover her (e.g. from car to bed) she wakes up immediately and will never go back to sleep.

She used to go to bed a lot earlier and has gradually pushed her bed time. If I put her to sleep earlier now she just tosses and turns for ages until she gets to the later time. If I leave her she cries her heart out and gets all wound up. I am not up to CC.

She went through a phase where she would sleep at 7.30-8.00 if she had not napped, or at 9.30 if she had napped, but now she has dropped that and won't sleep early even after a long day (today she went to the nursery in the morning, then we had lunch, tried to get her to have quiet time but she wasn't up for it, then we took a long walk with the dogs most of which she walked, then we went to see the horses and played in the garden and then we played inside, so this is hours and hours of very active stuff).

If she is sick with something like a cold she will wake up all through the night, up to every hour. If she is OK she is more likely to sleep through the first part of the night for up to 5 hours, then starts waking up. She wakes up and asks to bf, I co-sleep and bf on demand so we both go back to sleep. DP can settle her for the first or second wakings by getting her up and walking her around the room but by the third waking she will keep asking for bf.