2 yo talks for 2-3 hours in the cot before falling asleep

[col81]

Our little boy takes 2-3 hours to fall asleep every night. He settles really well about 7pm after his bath and story routine, but about 20 minutes later starts talking to himself, playing with his toys and kicking his feet against the wall. This goes on usually from 7:20 until around 9:30 at which point he falls fast asleep until 7 o'clock (to the minute) every morning.

This has probably gone on since about 10 months old - which is when we figured out just to leave him to go to sleep. Up to that point, we barely slept more than 2 hours, but since then he's been a good sleeper.

Really interested to hear everyone's views on this as I've never seen it in any comments or websites - the closest thing I've seen is some research on Crib Talk, which definitely seems part of what he is doing, but generally for up to 30 mins, not 2 and a half hours!

I should add that he is very happy doing this and generally a joyful, super energetic and not fussy baby. So we aren't massively concerned, but we are really interested to hear if anyone else has experienced this.

That sounds very sweet. apparently I used to do this in the morning when I woke up. I don’t remember my children ever being contented in their cots 🙈

Is he just not tired? Does he need his nap (assuming he has one)

Yep. My DD is almost 3 and still does this. She talks and plays imaginary games with her teddies. She’s done it since about a year and a half. Every 20 minutes or so she now calls down and asks for a hug. That bit is a new development as she never used to but we’re happy to do so. It was about an hour and a half tonight before she finally went to sleep. If she’s super extremely tired she can nod straight off but that’s rare. It’s nearly always about and hour or two before she decides to sleep.

My 2 year old does this. She still
sleeps for 2 hours in the afternoon and I know that she would fall asleep quicker at night if I reduced her nap, but also really like the time to rest during the day! She’s very happy chatting away and singing to herself in her cot so I don’t see the problem. DC1 on the other hand needed us to sit there holding his hand to fall asleep so this one is a joy in comparison.

As long as he's happy and seems well rested I'd leave him to it. It sounds adorable

How cute! DD did this for ages, we used to listen in on the monitor as she cracked jokes then laughed to herself 😂

DS used to do similar. We used to just leave him to it. Always been an owl

He sounds very contented ❤️

Hmm, you could be right - we only just started waking him up from his nap as he was waking up at 5am for a couple of weeks. I was under the impression (more hoping) that he would still have a lunchtime nap for a few more years...

You clearly have a friendly ghost your baby is talking to!

Only joking, my ds used to do this and also babble away in the mornings - he very rarely cried for us to go and get him, he was just a very happy little chappy and a very talkative child. He's now 18 and we're lucky if he talks to us at all!

Thanks everyone! It's so great to hear this :) he really is adorable and we just love listening in to him on the monitor. Tonight he started getting really bossy with me and taking his towel and his nappy away, putting them on the chair, and telling me to sit on the floor...he wanted me to listen to him telling me all about his toys and his new words before he'd let me give him his bottle and dress him for bed.

My little boy (he's 2 in 2 weeks) does this, but it only goes on for hours when he's had too long a nap at nursery during the day. We cap his nap at home (both in length and end time) to make sure he isn't awake for hours after we put him to bed!

Sounds like they are peas in a pod. Ours will be 2 in 4 weeks, we started asking nursery to wake him up but they won't do that although he does generally nap less when he's there. We now don't let him nap longer than 3, but it's often 2 hours. Might think about reducing it to 1 hour.

Our son used to do this! He was super happy chatting away but I would always feel guilty that he was awake and in bed for so long. He'd eventually fall asleep and that was him for the night (has always been a good sleeper). He didn't adapt well to a 'reduced' afternoon nap, it was better for him not to nap at all. So, as soon as that was cut out he stopped! Not gonna lie though, it was a gutter losing that time in the afternoon!

Gosh, yes a 3 hour nap, my little one would defo be awake until about 9pm. We cap his nap after 1 hr 30 (ish, max 2 hours if he was up really early or unsettled sleep the night before etc), or 2pm - whichever comes first.

We've also told nursery to do the same but they sometimes don't. I know they have a lot going on so if it's once in a while I don't mind.

Sorry I meant we wake him up before 3pm. Usually a 2 hour nap at home, and a 1-1.5 hour nap at nursery. 2pm wake up could be a good idea though.

DD (almost 3) was exactly the same until she dropped her nap 2 months ago. Until then she could spend up to 2 hours chatting, singing, “reading” books and playing with her toys after being put to bed. Now she seems much more tired at bedtime and is usually asleep in about 20 mins.

Exactly the same as my little boy! Although maybe like an hour tops. He will play with his toys and chat to himself about his day at nursery and shout 'I LOVE MY MOMMY' very loudly 😁 as long as he's happy then leave him to it, if he's still napping he's probably just not super tired

My boy is 2 and we have wake windows of 6hrs either side of his nap which we've recently cut to 1.5hrs otherwise he was pretty hyper before bed!
We don't let him sleep past 2pm and bed is 8pm.

My daughter does this too. We have just transitioned her to a bed - did they lie and chitter to themselves or did they go exploring and pottering around the room?

@RiverRock22 so I was one of the ones who said my little boy plays and chats in his cot for ages before falling asleep.

Fast forward a few weeks and he started climbing out of his cot 🙃 so we've had to take the sides off. He loves his new freedom and no longer stays in bed, but comes to his door and shouts for mummy or daddy to come and play or read him a book or bring him a drink (we have a baby gate on his door). We need to go in a few times and put him back in bed but he does eventually stay in bed and go to sleep. He's getting a little better, but we're just seeing this as a learning process for him, that even though the side is off, it's still bedtime. So I'm hoping within a few weeks he'll get it.

I miss the cot sides 🤣

We just removed the sides 2 nights ago. After 48 hours of no sleep but very cute non stop getting out of bed and coming to jump around in our bed, we have decided to roll back the plan until he’s old enough to talk to about it properly!

Baby gate on his bedroom door?

(I type this as my little one is currently stood at his baby gate running a wooden tea cup up and down the rails to make a lovely noise, after being put back into bed 3 times so far 🙃..... so maybe putting the sides back on is a good idea for you 🤣)

haha sounds familiar! one step at a time for us i think. He still talks to himself from 7 until 9 every night...he's about to go into the big kids room at nursery and will probably stop napping, so we'll wait until he's super tired after a long day before trying again.