How to stop 2.5 year old singing and chatting to herself when she's supposed to be going to sleep!!

[happygelfling]

My 2.5 year old DD is taking ages to fall asleep in the evening. We leave her room at about 8pm and she stays in bed talking and singing to herself for ages. Last night she finally fell asleep at about 9:30pm. Somewhere between 8:30 and 9 is more typical.

DH wakes her up in the morning at about 7am and gets her dressed before he goes to work. (I have my hands a bit full with DS who's just 3 months old.)

She's so tired during the day that she's really hard work. I'm also sleep deprived from feeding DS every 3 hours overnight, so my patience is wearing thin.

She is still napping in the afternoon; about 1.5 hours. I've considered dropping the nap but on the days we've tried it she's been even more horrible.

I'm convinced that if we could just sort out her sleep problems she'd be a lot more fun during the day.

Any advice and ideas for how to get DD to go to sleep faster will be gratefully received...

My 2 year old ds does this but as he's not upset I leave him to it. Could you put your dd to bed an hour earlier at 7pm? Then she might be asleep by 8?
My ds is in bed by 7 at the latest and is usually asleep by 8 at the latest. He gets up around 7am and he naps for an hour-2 hours in the day. He couldn't cope either without a day time nap.

I'd say it's fairly normal to take a good half hour or so to settle to sleep, the singing is her way of winding down. But it does sound like she coukd be overtired so try changing her bedtime to earlier, say 7 to allow for how long it takes her to go to sleep.
Best to do it gradually though by putting her to bed 10 min earlier every night

Thanks so much for your reassuring responses.

This evening we got her into bed for 7:45. She was still singing at 8:40. DH went in, sorted her duvet out, and gently suggested that she should close her eyes and quieten down. We didn't hear anything after that so assume she went straight to sleep. We may try this after half an hour of singing tomorrow.

I think we need to get more efficient at our evening routine too. This evening I got dinner on the table at 6pm, straight up to do teeth after dinner (6:45), ready for bed (7:25 ish I think) then stories, then bed at 7:45. (She is rather good at stalling.) We'll need to speed things up to get her into bed earlier...

My ds1 does that. He's 3.5 though and dropped his naps at 2.
We have supper at 5-5.30 ish ( he can be eating at 6 often though)
I have to bathe ds2 by 6.15 as he really gets whinge otherwise (he's 16 weeks)
Ds1 is bathed and in bed between 7.15 and8pm - he'll then read for anywhere between 10-60 mins. He has a dark room with a bedside lamp, which he turns back on if we were to try to turn off.

Fresh air helps him drop off quicker - even as late as 6pm when DH comes home - he takes him out with the dog. But we go out every afternoon unless it's really grotty.
Maybe try to shorten her nap and then take her straight out once you wake her up.
Otherwise I wouldn't worry that she talks and sings, at least she is happy to be left!

I don't really see them problem with her singing herself to sleep, it's lovely that's she so happy and chilled at bedtime. Defiantly drop her day time sleep at 2.5 she doesn't really need to anymore and that's probably why she's taking a bit longer to full asleep.
Do you need to be out the house early in the mornings? Can't you let her sleep in a bit then just get her dressed once baby is sorted?

I'd drop the nap to be honest and move bedtime to 7pm. I have a DD the exact age and she did this, when we dropped the nap it stopped, there are days when she's a nightmare but on those days we get into my bed in the afternoon and watch tv/play on ipad and it charges her batteries a bit but we don't sleep.
My DD now sings herself awake instead at 7am but I don't mimd that :)

Dd still does this now. I think losing the nap and earlier bedtime is key here! well it was for DD.

Ds2 does this always has. I think it is his way of winding down, if it goes on too long then we go in and give him a gentle prompt to settle down and close his eyes. He's six now I guess it's just how he is. I take ages to fall asleep (but can lay quietly without singing fortunately for DH!)

We found with ds that not letting him watch TV after 6pm really helps

My DD does this. Usually phonics and what not!

It'll be the nap.

My DD is a similar age and is starting to drop her nap, but not entirely. On the days when she doesn't nap, she's in bed around 7pm, but on days when she does nap, she isn't ready for bed until 9pm - she just isn't tired enough. It's just something we're putting up with until she drops her nap entirely!

There is nothing you can do and my guess is she isn't tired at all just 2.5 and grumpy at not being the centre of attention. She'll get over it.

Unfortunately, IME, you'll have to wait till the clocks go back
In the autumn. So I hope she sings in tune.