2 year old Night waking.. up to 3 hours

[chargerfans]

My 2 year old has been taking his regular naps and acting just great during the day. However, at bed time he either puts up a fight and begs to sleep in Mom's bed (which he never does).  I admit I have brought him in after repeated WI/WO but he doesn't sleep in my bed. He likes his own space so that doesn't even work. If he goes to my bed he just lies there awake and fidgets all around. If I leave him in his room and continue the WI/WO he cries "I need my Mommy" (tugging at the heart strings) and tells me that he doesn't like his bed.

He has 2 more molars coming in but other than that nothing really big going on in his life. He is still in his crib, should we transition to a big bed now or wait? He doesn't try to crawl out of the crib yet so we were waiting until that happened..

[momofclaire]

Can you post your routine?
Do you think he is experiencing a bout of SA? 
Have you tried to talk to him about what he doesn't like with regard to his bed?  It may be time to transition or maybe he is feeling a bit of fear.  Does he have a lovey or night light?
Sorry I have more questions than answers.
Post back and maybe myself or someone else will have some advice.
myia

[chargerfans]

Routine

Wake at 630 (sometimes as early as 545)
Breakfast 8
Lunch 11
Nap 1-3 (sometimes he goes down at 12 and sleeps 3 hours)
Dinner 530
Bedtime 730-8

I work so his morning wake time has to be around 630 to get to work on time but  he is usually always up on his own.

He may have some SA but I don't think that's really it. He is talking about being scared of different things nowadays but I think he really just learned the word and is still grasping what it really means.  He has a bear and a blankie. We tried the night light but it was just too much light for him and he kept chatting it up.  I always go in to reassure him but after 3 hours in the middle of the night and getting up for work 1 hour later I am beat! I feel like I have a newborn.  I did ask his daycare to ensure he was up by 4, even if he went to bed later just to ensure he has enough wake time before bed time.

[Layla]

I would try a nap around 12 rather than 1pm. The morning stretch is fairly long but as well as that, it will ensure that there is enough A time before bedtime. Also I would limit the nap to 2hrs.... again so that he is more ready for bedtime & also to ensure that he is not making up for the lost sleep during the day. At this age nap cut to 1.5hrs... not sure if you are comfortable doing that so I would try earlier nap first.

So something like this:

6.30 - wakes
12-2pm - nap
7-7.30pm - bedtime (to be asleep around 7.30pm)

[catonss]

I agree with the last post.  We've been working through similar issues w/ our 2.5 year old (although she has had some obvious SA).  I'd suggest moving the nap up a little at a time - we tried jumping 45 mins to an hour, and she just laid awake.  Now that we've gotten more like 5.5 hrs b/t wake up and nap, she's doing better. 

[chargerfans]

He doesn't go to sleep then. We have tried to bring his nap up earlier and he just fights it and fights it and doesn't go to sleep till 1 pm or later. His night time routine has gotten somewhat better these last few days. He already has a humidifier (white noise) that he has used since a baby since his room is right by the living room it drowns out the noise. So we tried a nice CD and then also put on a night light. When he says he needs Mom's bed we just talk about how when he gets up in the morning he can come to Mom's bed but he can't sleep in there at night. So he goes through a whole story about how he will wake up, call Mom, go running to my room and climb into my bed. He has actually been going to sleep after about 1/2 hour.  And not waking up for hours at night. He does wake up about once but we just go in and comfort him.  But it's 545 on the dot EVERY DAY he is up.

[catonss]

Have you tried wake to sleep for that 5:45 on the dot wakup?  Ours was waking at 6 on the dot for a long time, and we finally tried w2s and it's working quite well!  We've done it for about a week now, and she's been waking around 7.  We're about ready to stop doing it and see what happens....

[chargerfans]

No we haven't. That means we would have to set our alarm and wake up earlier and we hadn't really thought about it. Sleep is precious! LOL

[catonss]

Oh boy, believe me, i know!!!!!  I was SO hesitant to give it a try, but it has worked wonders for us!!!  I guess I figure it's worth it - temporary pain for greater gain!  I'd give it at least a week after it starts working to ensure success.  It didn't work for us until day 4.  Then after that we did it for a week, and now she's unstuck her 6:00 wake up, and waking at 7, and things are WAY better! 

[catonss]

I guess I should add though, our DD is still waking at night (even though the 6:00 wake up is gone).  It's very random - sometimes 1x, sometimes 2 or 3.  Very short wakings - we go to resettle her and she's out.  I think getting her wake up to be at a better time (7 vs. 6) has just smoothed things out in general for her and makes her temperament more manageable.  I can't figure out why she's waking, but it's been a few weeks now since she's been up for hours on end, and i think a better wake time and bed time has much to do with that.  For now, i'm just going to ride out the other wakings, i don't think there's much i can do about it, except try to help them be stress free for her.  In time, i think.....

[chargerfans]

He has gotten better these last few days. He  hasn't really woken up at night, maybe once every other night and just needs some short reassurance and then he is out. And he even stopped the 545 wake as well! He is getting up around 630 which is more of the norm for him. At night he doesn't really put up too much of a fight, last night he went right to bed and slept all night. His naps have  been shorter which I think helped as well. So he is doing just fine!