My son is at the stage where he sometimes refuses to nap but other days will nap but it’s not consistent due to the days he’s in nursery and being looked after by grandparents. We saw a health visitor at 2 years 5 months and at the time his sleep was ok…not great but it was taking him ages to fall asleep at night. She suggested limiting his nap to one hour which we have since tried but it didn’t seem to make a difference to the time he actually fell asleep. The only time he will fall asleep between 7pm and 7:30pm is on a day where he’s not napped and some days are ok but others we can tell he’s over tired by his behaviour.
We’ve got to the point where he isn’t getting the recommended about of sleep in a 24 hour period which is about 11 hours. This is wether he naps or not so even on no nap days his night time sleep is awful and he’ll wake up screaming for us in the night. He’s been in a big bed since January as he outgrew his cot (and was climbing out) but we have a gate at his door.
I’ve just got to the point where I can put him to bed and leave the room so he falls asleep independently but he does try to get out of bed so I keep having to go in and lie him back down without giving him any attention and it’s not taking too long to do that on days he’s not napped but he’s still waking in the night anywhere between 11pm and 4am. I go in to lie him back down but he’s already out of bed not letting me put him back in and he’s usually screaming. He’s started climbing over his gate before I can even get to his room when he wakes up so I can’t just leave him to cry it out as well as the fact we live in a semi-detached house so our neighbours bedroom is right next to his! Most nights he won’t even go back to sleep when he’s woken up so once we manage to calm him down he’s led there with his eyes open for ages and then eventually will say “I’ve had enough sleep” and it’s impossible to get him to go back to sleep.
Some days he’s so tired his behaviour is appalling and he’s biting, hitting, scratching (mainly to my husband). When he does nap, we don’t let him sleep past 3pm, he’s an active child and we give him plenty of opportunity to be outside when we can. He’s had a consistent bedtime routine since he was about 5 months old and we don’t let him watch tv in the late afternoon, we don’t give him juice or sweets and rarely give him chocolate because he’s not that bothered about it.
Last night he only got 7 hours sleep so me and my husband have had even less because we don’t go to bed at the same time as him. We’re at a total loss of what to try next so any suggestions are welcome 😅
I’m also heavily pregnant (due in 4 weeks) I know this change may not be helping the situation but I’m dreading what the nights will be like when the baby arrives.
Thanks in advance 😊