2 year old - fighting naps and bedtime

[ishkin]

Hello ladies,
I have a question - as far as I know, the average age to drop the last nap is around 4?

I just don't know what's going on with my LO - last couple of weeks he has been fighting at bedtime -both his naps and the night sleep. He cries, throws all the stuff from his crib out, screams etc.
It takes me 10-20 min of WI/WO to get him to fall asleep,
This has never happened before -he has always been such an eager sleeper.

I am wondering if this is something age-related/developmental and should pass, or does it indicate perhaps that he is starting to drop his nap? I should also say that in the last couple of days we had a couple of NW when he usually sleeps through...

As far as I know, nothing has changed in the last weeks...Well, besides the fact that lots is going to change soon - I am supposed to give birth in 3 months, and he will be starting daycare for full days next week (up till now was half-day there half-day at home with me). We have discussed all those things with him... Perhaps he can feel the impending changes?


Any insights and plans of action will be greatly appreciated!

[ishkin]

Hm...some additional thoughts (when analyzing the last couple of weeks)

1. Tantrums at naptime and bedtime - and taking longer to fall to sleep (asleep now by 8 or 8.15 most of the time instead of 7.45) and at 13:30 instead of 13 or 13:15 because of the tantrums

2. Started refusing his bath - although he loves water! (I thought it has something to do with water temperature/outside air temperature, but perhaps not)

3. NWs - appeared in the last couple of days..

4. EW - wakes a bit earlier than usual... Used to wake 06:30- 07:00, now 06:00- 06:30


Have no idea what to make of all this - it can be all related to show some general picture, or all those things can be a result of multiple reasons and no general cause...
If I didn't know better, I would say OT - but the schedule never changed...

Again, any ideas will be greatly appreciated!

[ishkin]

Also thought about posting our sleep routine:
06:10-06:30 wakeup
13:15-13:30 nap (naps vary in length between 1.5-2.5 hours, usually more like 2)
19:00 start bedtime routine (including bath, reading couple of books and bottle before bed) , in bed by 19:30 or 19:45, usually asleep before 20:00 (seems to me, not that I am really checking - if all is quiet I mean)

[deckchariot]

I'm wondering if there isn't enough A time between his nap and his bedtime.  It looks like maybe it's 4.5 hrs max between them, yet he does almost 7 between wake up and nap.  Have you tried moving the nap earlier in the day so there's not so much A time before that first nap, and then there is more between the nap and bedtime?  It's possible he's OT for that nap, thus fights it, but then he's not tired enough for bedtime, thus he fights that too.

Also - could he be teething?  And tantrums are often a sign that he's wanting some more independence, so perhaps try to incorporate some "choice" into the sleep routines - ie - would you like to go up for your nap now or after we read  a book?  What book do you want to read?  Do you want to help put water in the tub for your bath?  what bath toys do you want to play with?  What jammies do you want to wear?  It might help him to feel more "in charge" of the routine, at least as much as a 2 yr old can be.

hth
michelle

[ishkin]

Have been thinking about this thing myself reading the "Dropping that last nap" sticky...
Perhaps he is OT for his nap and UT for his bedtime (he surely felt asleep quietly today when we went for a swim in a pool after his nap - it tires him out).

If so, I believe this situation will resolve itself from next week, he will be starting daycare for a full day, and they go to bed around 12:30 or even a bit earlier...For now I just pick him up at 12:30, so till we get home , and get into bed it is already past 13:15 or so...

As to choices this is surely not the problem -he is indeed in his "I am an independent boy" stage, so everything is about negotiation with us now..


Thanks for the reply, I will see how it goes and update! 

[deckchariot]

then daycare may actually help things   That would certainly be nice for you!!!  Let me know how you get on.

[ishkin]

Well, tonight had just one NW around 05:30, and that is due to the birds, they had a party or something , woke me up too.

For the nap I managed to put him earlier than usual - at 13....So only threw his toys and dummy out once, called me in (he obviously wants me to see what happened and react, thats his way of getting me into the room), I went in and said that since he doesn't seem to need them I guess I should take them away. He said no, took them back and that was it (didn't work yesterday btw).


So we will see how it goes...

[deckchariot]

all in all, that seems like a better day!  I'm glad you were able to get him down earlier, it looks like that helped (or at least something seemed to)

[ishkin]

Just wanted to update - since he started full day at daycare, my DS seems to be in better mood for his naps and his bedtime. They put him down at 12:30, and he goes gladly. Wakes around 15:00, and we put him to bed around 19:30 or 20:00, and he is usually in a good mood for a sleep.
So I guess fighting bedtime was indeed due to some problem with the routine - apparently a change of an hour/half an hour in going down can make a big difference 

[deckchariot]

that's wonderful news!!!  YAY!