Does your two year old sleep anywhere?

[Bibs2014]

My DS is 2 years and 2 months old. He will sleep in his cot or on a long car journey. Or in bed with me if necessary (illness or if he wakes in middle of night and won't settle).

He's stopped sleeping at nursery. He won't sleep in the pram - never has really. Won't sleep at my mums. Will sleep at MIL's when we visit but he has his own cot there.

To get him down to nap, I look for signs of tiredness and then take him upstairs, let him have his dummy, put white noise on and then cuddle him till sleepy then put him in his cot and give him a few pats till he's asleep. Sometimes he likes to hold my hand.

Always thought he was a good sleeper but now thinking I've done it all wrong! As I'm having to leave places in middle of day to get him home to nap. Once he's down he'll sleep for 2-3 hours.

Just looking at what others do, should I change this, what would you do?

Mine is 2.3, has never napped other than on me or in a sling, doesn't sleep in the car, never slept in the pram, gave up all naps as a bad idea at 18 months, and still gets breastfed to sleep by me or cuddled to sleep by DH for her nighttime sleep, so your DS is a far 'better' sleeper by conventional standards than my DD :) (she would never take a dummy either, they enraged her)

Yes.

But it's always been that way - we don't need sleep cues. SO no white noise no dummy no cuddling hand patting.

Do just goes to sleep, can manage to Saturday awake if busy allowed to do stuff but if left on the couch or put on a bed of any kind pushed on a pram etc, will sleep.

My dd is 2 and 3 months. She hasn't napped for a while now unless she's ill/teething or something like that. When she does nap she will sleep in the car, pushchair, or fall asleep downstairs on the sofa, or in bed. Haven't started nursery yet so not sure about that.

We started the white noise because our house has a really noisy water pump which would wake him. The white noise masked that.

Mine wouldn't sleep anywhere other than the car or their cot.

I didn't have these amazingly portable children that you could pop in a a buggy any time of night or day and they'd fall asleep

They're all different that's the thing. Mine never slept "anywhere" it was annoying but it's not for long really. I've got 2 DSs and both dropped all daytime naps around 2.6 so maybe you've not got to worry about this for too much longer...

Toddler sleeping?? hahaha hahaha.

He'll grow out of naps soon anyway. Can't you just go with it for another 6-12m or so? Can imagine it would be quite unsettling for him trying to change things. Kids are all different, they are people, try telling someone who uses an audiobook to fall asleep you intend to 'train' them to not need it they'd be

My DD has never been a great sleeper! She would only ever sleep on me or in her cot. If we'd been out all day she would give up and nap in her pushchair, but not for long.

I don't think there's anything wrong with what you've said. Beds are where people are supposed to sleep. My DD is 2 years 1 month and also sleeps only in bed or car journeys. I think the quality of sleep is much better in a bed. I am happy to go home by lunchtime every day so she can have her nap (also for 2-3 hours), she needs it. She does self settle though, I just tuck her in and leave the room, but we used to use a lot of white noise! She has peers of the same age that no longer nap or nap on the go but that doesn't make me think I'm doing things wrong. It seems to work for you and your DS!

I agree with MyGreenSofa and likewise my DD (25 months) only sleeps in her cot. She'll drop off in the car but only for quick powernaps (10-20m) so I wouldn't consider car sleeping a place for naps. Zero chance of pushchair naps, too much for her to look at.

However this isn't a problem, the cot is where she should nap. So I just always plan to be at home 12-3pm every day. That's not that difficult to do.

The fact that dd only sleeps in her cot does have annoyances, but they are not much of a problem compared to the positives of her healthy sleeping habits.

Our holiday this year was hard work because of needing to keep 3 older children entertained whilst also maintaining the toddlers lunchtime nap, when she refused to sleep on the go.

It's also annoying that she doesn't sleep at my mum's house (she has a nursery room for the grandchildren containing a proper cot, plus a single bed so mum can cosleep if needed). My mum sometimes babysits for me, or just has grandchildren over to play. My other 3 have always been great with this. But with dd if it's sleep time Mum comes to my house to babysit rather than her house. So we've found a work around.

Same here bibs. DD, 23 months will only sleep in her cot. We generally plan our days so we're home for her nap but it can sometimes be difficult, especially at the moment with lots of 2nd birthday parties.

On rare full days out she will nap in the buggy but not for long. She will not tolerate nightines anywhere else either. Our (luckily relatively local) holiday this year was cut short after a horrendous first night where she managed maybe 4 hours sleep. Despite that though I think it's good for her to have consistency and I'm sure she'll outgrow her aversion to sleeping away from home within the next year or so. Until then I won't plan any holidays!

DS1 is 2 yo and will nap anywhere , but he will only have a decent nap in his bed. He never manages more than 45 minutes when we're out. Keeps him going until bedtime though, so we don't always stay at home for his nap. I've never thought I was doing something wrong, I think it's perfectly normal to prefer sleeping in a bed!

DD is 2.7. Only napped on me for the first four months, then mostly in the cot with the occasional buggy nap. Gave those up at 6 months and would only nap in her cot. It was very restrictive but better than the alternative...

Stopped altogether at 2.3. Sometimes dozes in the car but only under the right circumstances!