Nap and bedtime issues with 25 month old.

[kirsty_167]

Hi

My son is 25months old and up to 3 weeks ago was pretty regluar with naps at 12,30 and bed at 7pm.....wake up 7am.......then, well i just dont know but its all gone AWOL.

He refuses to nap at home on the weekend, but naps 12.30-2 at daycare. (first issue)

Next issue is bedtime. He rarely goes down without a huge fuss.Screaming etc,throwing blankey out of cot etc. He can lay awake until 9pm, fussing on and off.

His routine is all haywire because of this,HIs routine currently during week is;

6.30-7am wakeup (more commonly 6,30 now)
Nap 12.30 -2pm
bedtime 7.45-8pm

Bedtime seems to be later than the old 7pm because we find he is still a live wire until then and doesnt show tired signs until near 7.30.

Waking early at 6,30  means he isnt getting the sleep he used to and get be quite grumpy for the first hour he is up.

Weekends are another issue as he outright refuses to nap for me at all. Last weekend he was so dog tired by sunday i resorted to taking him for a drive just to give him some sleep.

He has had his molars coming through (still are) and has had a huge leap in vocab in the last 5 days...maybe related but I just dont know.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
Kirsty

[KellyC]

Hi Kirsty 

I've been waiting for some time to write you a long email to say hi but haven't got round to it yet   It's lovely to hear from you and reassuring to know we're going through the same things again!

What you've described sounds very similar to how Zander is at the moment.  I'm yet to get the balance right with his nap, either he doesn't take one at all and we have to tread on egg-shells after 5pm to make sure we don't get into a major melt-down situation or he sleeps too long/late and wakes grumpy then doesn't get to sleep until 9pm at night.  What if you tried to put him down later at the weekend, would he be more likely to sleep do you think?  I take Zander upstairs at about 1pm lately and spend a good half an hour lying on the bed with him reading otherwise he doesn't switch off.

I also feel as though Zander is wanting to be a little more grown up so I'm trying to help him learn to do things like un-dress/dress himself, drink out of an open cup, walk instead of sit in the pushchair etc. and these things seem to make him happy.  I didn't want to move him to a proper bed for another 6 months to a year but he has a matress on the floor in his room and he's kind of taken the lead on moving to sleeping in it.  He's even been waking during the night saying 'bed, bed'!  We've also found it's disastrous to tell him it's time to sleep or to say night night but I think he's feeling a little insecure because of the new baby arriving.  These days we have to say 'see you later, I'm just going next door for a cup of tea' and then he's happy 

Kelly x

[georgesmummy]

I agree that the increase in vocab might be a factor. My DS has had similar issues lately in going to bed. Saying "Mummy come back" alot and crying. When you go back he is just wanting to chat about anything from Mummy wearing shoes, want to clean teeth again, want to get up etc etc

I have now been refusing to get drawn into the chat just cuddling briefly in the cot until calm then saying its sleeping time now Mummy loves you very much and will see you in the morning and then coming out. Tonight is the first time in a couple of weeks that I have not had to go back in at all  Some nights I have spent an hour coming in and out.

We also seem to have last molars on the move although nothing visible yet. Also can have up to an hour of chatting to himself - usually this involves things he has done in the day, although the crying is a more recent thing. We are not sure if this is delayed reaction to our DD.

I have been naming our wind down routing more as suggested in another post for the last few days so that might  help. Ie saying now we will go upstairs and clean our teeth, chose our stories, read our stories then go to bed. Then saying now we have cleaned our teeth we will chose our stories, read our stories then go to bed etc repeating after each stage. This might be helping him know what is coming (although we have had the same routine forever so its not really a surprise )

Good luck though - as you say it is nice to know other people are having the same issues.

[kirsty_167]

Thank you georgesmummy,franschick and Kelly...........for your posts and helping me feel semi like im not alone lon this one lol

Thanks for all the great ideas!!!!

(((Hugs))) I think the molars will definitely be part of the issue, but it is possible that the vocab is even more part of it - when Katie (27 months) had a leap in vocab (maybe 3 or 4 mOnths ago), she would talk / shout / sing etc for about 2 hours on average before she would go to sleep. Many nights she wouldn't go to sleep until 10pm, with an 8am wake-up...

Oh that is soooo like my son!!!!  All i hear is "Mum......mum........birds eating food tree" (translated he means birds are eating food in the trees) This is his favourite saying this week.............loving the birdies!!  This would be ok if there wasnt a whole lot of screaming between sentences!!!!

I have been naming our wind down routing more as suggested in another post for the last few days so that might  help. Ie saying now we will go upstairs and clean our teeth, chose our stories, read our stories then go to bed. Then saying now we have cleaned our teeth we will chose our stories, read our stories then go to bed etc repeating after each stage. This might be helping him know what is coming (although we have had the same routine forever so its not really a surprise )

This is great thanks....I have done something similar but your idea is super so will do that from tonight......

I will post back again later,I am at work and have spent way too long not working and being on here already hehehe

Thanks for your wonderful help!All tips greatly appreciated!!

Kirsty