What time does your 2yo fall asleep?

[hairymelons]

DS turned 2 this weekend. For last few weeks he's been falling asleep at close to 10pm. If he's completely shattered, ie has missed his nap at nursery, then he might fall asleep closer to 8pm. Not always though.

He's never been good at going to sleep, fights it with every ounce of his being! We've been trying to get him to fall asleep by himself more as we've another baby due in October and can't be spending 2 hours settling him. He's managing it sometimes but very late- the less soothing to sleep we do, the later he falls asleep. He seems to have real problems 'switching off'.

Anyone else have a toddler dropping off this late? Anything we can do to help him fall asleep a bit earlier?

What's his bedtime routine and when does it start?

My DD (2.1 years) goes to bed around 7/7.15pm and is asleep pretty much immediately BUT I always "big up" sleep - I am always saying to her "Oh, lovely sleep" "I can't wait to go to bed" "I love sleeping" - she thinks sleeping/going to bed is a good thing. Her bedtime routine is all about quiet time upstairs and lots of stories on my bed with closed curtains (she's a toddler though so bounces around and chatters away during story time but still goes to bed).

Could you "big up" sleep with your DS; could you start yawning yourself at bedtime and saying "Oh mummy would love to go to sleep now".

Or perhaps he needs to drop his nap permanently - it will take a week or so for it to work but he should then be more consistently able to fall asleep at 8 or earlier.

Welcome to my world!

Ds2 (2.4) seems to have given up sleeping. The last few weeks he has been awake (and full of beans) until 9.30pm (trashing his bedroom, keeping ds1 awake, making lots of noise). He wakes up again by 5.30/6am ready to start the day.
I'm at my wits end here.

Should have added I put him to bed at 7, after bath, stories, cuddles etc.

I would drop the nap but he's always so exhausted and miserable if he misses it. It doesn't seem worth it for an earlier bedtime.

He gets about 10 hours at night even if he falls asleep at 10pm and would sleep 2 hours or more in the afternoon if we let him so I think he's getting enough sleep.

His evening routine is dinner at 5pm then playing until bath at 6.30pm. He's in his pyjamas having milk by about 7 then we watch a Driver Dan/ Night Garden then upstairs for stories and songs when he starts to look sleepy. All that is usually finished for about 8pm. Sometimes he's knackered and falls asleep within about 20 minutes but he usually has a second lease of life and is bouncing around his cot. We keep everything as quiet as possible from bath time onwards- he calls it quiet time, in fact. We do big up bedtime and his cot too.

Being able to leave him in his cot at all is a new thing. He's always been v clingy and had trouble falling asleep. I think he's a bit anxious actually...

MrsJohnDeere, was DS1 the same? I'm hoping for a good sleeper next time.

No ds1 was much easier (well, after a hellish first 12 weeks when he didn't sleep at all).

He's always woken early (6/6.30) but used to fall asleep the moment his head touched the pillow at 7pm (not at the moment though because ds2 keeps him awake) and stay asleep through the night.

Had ds2 been my first I'm pretty sure he'd have been an only child!

DS just fell asleep in my arms- absolutely shattered. If I held him every night he'd probably be asleep by about this time but we're trying to get him to do it by himself.

Will look at story CD, thanks. I really don't think he's ready to lose the nap though, he's always so sleepy by lunch time. Not sure I'm ready to lose it either, am pregnant and knackered!

After making DS nap earlier and shorter, we have had 3 successive nights of being asleep by 8-ish. Hurrah.

He is unfortunately now waking up at 6.30am, however. I'm never going to win with the sleep thing am I? It's just different sorts of tiredness [grimace]

Me too - same. Also know loads of others who have same. In my case it's due to teeth although i am told 'mouht is not poorly', I think it just generally upsets them. Cannot wait for these to come through, then that's it.

6.30

6.30? That's impressive. Has the nap gone then?

No he still naps for an hour most days at nursery in the afternoons and ast weekends a couple of hours in the morning, he gets put to bed at 6.30 with a couple of stories, I know he probably looks at the books for a bit but is invariably asleep by 7pm.

Mine is best in bed at 6.30-7pm

(but he is usually up between 5.30 and 6am)

Agree with those who say it may be time to drop the nap. That's what we had with dd and I am waiting in terror for signs that ds will drop soon.

DS is an afternoon sleeper so I think that's been part of the problem, sleeping 2-4.
Seems a bit bleedin' obvious now but moving his nap earlier has made a massive difference. Doh.
Can't believe he's finally going to sleep by himself...thought he'd be at school before he figured that one out!

Our friends are all struggling with this, too. I think it is particularly bad when 2 coincides with the lighter days (they were all spring babies).

Some people have dropped or restricted the daytime nap, but we can't because (a) my DS really needs his sleep, and can't handle being tired and (b) I sometimes need that mid-day period when I have work to do from home.

Whatever people decide to do, it seems to me that it doesn't work straight away. That is, if you put a DC to bed at 10pm, s/he will continue waking up early for a while, until s/he adjusts. If you drop the daytime nap, s/he will be foully grumpy until s/he adjusts, and will then go to bed earlier, rather than clinging to the earlier bedtime which is stuck in his/her body clock.

So whatever you do, give it time, to be re-programmed into the body clock.

Mine (nearly 2) doesn't want her nap til 2 or later in the afternoon, then is up til half 9 ish. I hope in a couple of months she'll not need the nap and have an earlier bedtime- can't be bothered washing up at 10pm!

I'm in the same boat, her nap is getting later but she can't manage without it yet (or i can't face the long haul of dropping it) but then stays up till 9:30 or 10:00 (and the other night even later

I'm hoping it will adjust naturally but if not will start shortening the nap i guess...

she is good company in the evenings though and pretty cheerful so I don't mind too much

Well he was out for half seven tonight! Was at nursery so didn't nap though.

It is nice being able to have dinner and tv time again but I'm not enjoying the 6.30am starts. Don't know what I was complaining about before

I can hear my dd (2.2) up there now chuntering away to herself.

But then she had a 3 hour nap this afternoon. Yesterday she refused to nap but was asleep by 7.30 (and was a bit of a nightmare all afternoon). There's no pattern at the moment, but judging by the other posts, it sounds normal.

My DS had a long nap this afternoon - over 2 hours. I really wanted to go up and stop him, but was working to a deadline, so Oh Dear this evening! It's a terrible dilemma: I want him to keep the lunchtime sleep or else I can forget about working, but it can't be too long a sleep, or that will cut into evening working time, too!

last night. 11pm
tonight? left him to scream and have cracked and now his Dads gone to him

AND we cut his nap today

I give up , think he is having espresso on the sly

cant cope with idea of 10pm DS1 bedtime, then waking to feed newborn (not yet born..) at 11pm

UGH

2.4 yo here.

8.30/9 if he has napped, 7 if he hasn't. Wakes at 5.30/6 regardless of when he fell asleep and despite very dark room.
I do everything to avoid him napping but he often falls asleep on the car or just on the floor and then I can't get him to wake up.

Hiya tsc.

Am hoping to keep DS's nap going for the very same reason! He'll be 2.4yo when the baby comes and I'm terrified he won't want to sleep in the afternoon anymore..

How are you doing? Must be nearly there now.