Having sleep issues around the age of 2? Want to chat?

[*Carrie*]

Welcome Tracy - sounds like you are on the ball with what to do to sort this but you're just struggling to find the time what with having the little one. I'm so interested in how it goes because wind forward a few months and that will be me! Rory will be 29months when our second little one is born - I'm really hoping I've got his routine sorted by then...
Alison - I think we're headed in the same direction about limiting the amount of night sleep... when Rory refuses his nap we get wakings in the early evening (2-3 hours after he fell asleep) and when he sleeps for an hour and a half we get wakings from sort of 2am on... classic OT and UT don't you think?
BUT there is a big part of me reluctant to shorten his night! Surely a bedtime later than 8pm is just not right for a toddler?? And I love my bed so much that thinking about having to set an alarm to wake him at 7am goes against the grain! It's stupid I know and I'll not have this luxury once the wee one is born anyway...

So, something new that I'm going to ask about on the board - yesterday at bedtime Rory suddenly asked for his door to be left open. I was really taken aback because it's been shut from day one. We have two cats that are not allowed in any of the bedrooms and Rory has asthma so it's really not a good idea to allow them in there. We can't restrict them from coming upstairs so the only option is doors closed.
Last night I left it open then closed it once he gone to sleep but you can imagine what happened - first NW at 1.30am "Door ope Mummy" bawled from his room until I did just that...
Now, naptime, same scenario "door ope, door ope, don't close" bla bla - well it's bright and sunny here so I wasn't too happy about it but thought I'd give it a try and see.... well, 20 mins later and he's still shouting "door ope" then escalating to "big cuddle Mummy"... I think he may have moved on to wanting not only his door open but mine also!!!! And I simply can't have that!!!!
Cut to Mummy getting cross because a) she's not getting her nap (26 weeks pregnant and exhausted), b) feels she has slid somehow into being manipulated and c) can't stand hearing her dear little boy getting so worked up!!!!!
Stupid me deviated from the usual WI/WO to begin with and tired to explain about the door and get him to calm with a cuddle. Moved to WI/WO with the door open but when that didn't work and feeling even more irritated I resorted to shutting the door and only saying my WI/WO phrase... it took an age for him to get the message but it seems he's asleep now and I've decided to wake him after an hour to see if that helps the UT sleep tonight.
I really want to stick with having the door shut but I'll post in case there is a development thing going on at the moment - I'm worrying that he might actually be getting scared with it closed...

Alison, hope you got my message on the other thread xx

[Fiver]

It's funny how they have their little ways!  We bought Callum a nightlight to replace the one on his monitor (with the expectation that the monitor will come out at some point soon) and now he insists that the light has to be on on both monitors!  He also wants various blankets in bed with him at night too!  No idea what's going on there, but assuming it's some kind of security thing or that he sees that mummy and daddy have a duvet and blanket and wants a blanket himself with his sleeping bag....dunno...

All that said, he actually had a nap today after about 10-20mins of wi/wo.  He was soooo tired it was obvious he was going to drop at some point, but then he only managed about 45m and was Mr Grumpy Tantrum-Pants when he woke up because he was still tired, but didn't want to go back to sleep.  *sigh*  I suppose at least he slept a bit...

[*Carrie*]

Wake him after an hour - what a laugh!!! As if he would sleep that long! We had the 40 min nap and some grumpiness but at least I was able to praise him for sleeping... I've been talking about the door being closed on and off all afternoon and I've told DH to see it through with WI/WO if needs be... I think I'll be off to IKEA tomorrow for a nightlight and see if that helps... Amanda - does he have it on all night?

[*Carrie*]

So after a 40 min terrible nap, bed was supposed to be 7.30 tho I think it was more like 7.45  and after an initial cry he settled quickly and then STTN with the door shut! you just never know what to expect do you??

[fifibobandmore]

Way to go Rory finger's crossed he does the same tonight. Edward woke at 2:30 this morning and was back to sleep by 3 after an amazing long 30 min BF but then slept through again until 7:30.

How did Callum sleep last night? It's weird how naps seem to affect our LO's these day's when they were younger even ifg all they had was a 10-20 minutes they seemed to wake in better mood than they were when they went to sleep but now they just seem to be in a worse mood when they wake from there naps.

[tracynben]

hi everyone. glad others are having problems too, well jayden has been really good today, even thou hes got a really bad cold n cough n teething.
I took a step back from everything today to try and figure out whats going wrong. I came to the conclusion with jayden that im was misreading his signals, now ive really watched him today its gone much better, all i gotta do is get some kinda routine going, and then this will help sort bens problems out
After thinkin about ben i came to the conclusion of everything on this list
- his rountine gone pear shaped at the mo
- needs better meals ( i been a bit slack with this cos of the new baby, but need to plan them better)
- dont spend enough time with him
- me and partner deal with problems in diff ways which confuses him
- feels neglected
- we shout at him too much
- need to get him more involved with jayden
- try sticker/reward charts

i think thats about it, i think once more of a routine is established with jayden i can concentrate more on ben then, and really hopin things will get better.
I need it to cos hes gone from bein happy to grumpy, irritable  etc etc, everything cos of lack of sleep thats all.

Today with him did go better, until i heard him screamin, he had only gone and pulled the cd player, and the cupboard fell on top of him, arghhhh so then when i left he cried, dp went in afterwards to settle him and hes been fine.
Unfortunely a bad habit has been established in the space of a few days, so we have to ignore him now at bedtime when he cries, i know nothin is wrong and its for attention, will take a few days to get better but will get easier.

tracy xxxx

[jess, lukeys_mom]

hi girls i guess i'd better drop in over here too. we've had trouble with sleep since early jan - in our case nights, not naps. no time now but will be back for my rant

[fifibobandmore]

Tracy well odn e on the step back and observe that does help a lot well I think it does anyway. Hopefully once you have found a way to work around evrything you have stated you think are the issues there should be an improvement. It is so hard working around a toddlers routine when you have a baby to deal with too and I will put my hands up to paying baby more attentionm than toddler a si did it with both my older 2 when I had a baby to deal with which was why I started letting them get more involed with the daily things you need to do with a baby. Hope this works for you

Jess,Lukeys mum welcome and can't wait to read your rant

[Fiver]

Fifibob - Callum took aaaaaaaaages to go to sleep last night!  Think he heard our friend arriving just as he was starting to settle and it then took him another good hour to stop chatting and go to sleep (so probably asleep by about 7.30/7.45pm) and he then woke up at 5.25am chatting to himself, but resettled himself and was awake for the day at 6.45am.  Too early for me, I have to say!

Carrie - yes, we leave his nightlight on all night.  It's actually quite a bright one, so it's pushed slightly under his cot to make it less bright.  And we're always a bit nervous about going into his room once he's asleep

Going to make a list of the things we need to get before taking the sides off his cot and try to get it bought at the weekend....

[*Carrie*]

Hey Amanda _ i'm excited on your behalf about the BBB. Have you managed to get the things you need? let us know when you plan to try it out.
I loved seeing Rory in his BBB with his duvet and everything - suddenly so big!!!

We got Rory this wee alien like thing from IKEA that you charge up then it gives out coloured light for upto 6 hours. The wee nightlight thing was useless as it turns out Rory couldn't actually see it from his bed but this new "friend" can be put anywhere so we have it up on a shelp he can see from his bed. He wanted a blue one but unfortunately I couldn't find one so he opted for the red one as a second choice. So it's "Red Fred" and we've had some teething problems as he's got used to it but I think it is helping.
The other thing is that for the past three days he has had a 40 min nap, woken not too cranky then slept through the night with no wakings... so I'm wondering if this is going to be it for us for now. I'm sad I'm not getting longer in the middle of the day to do stuff adn recharge my batteries but I'll take it if it means an uninterrupted night....

Hey Jess - coming back to us to have your rant?
I kind of know what to expect but if you're still having these episodes I really feel for you and DH. Come and get it off your chest xxx

[Fiver]

We went shopping today.  Bought a Grobag first duvet (comes as 2 x 4 tog bags, so can go together to make a thicker one when he's a bit bigger), duvet covers (DS helped choose) and a stairgate for his door.  I'd really like to start doing this soon, although he hasn't got out since he fell on his face.  But I don't want to do it this week as DH is away and I don't want to be doing this on my own.  Callum was really tired today.  He fell asleep for a little while in the car on the way home at lunchtime, but we woke him taking him out of the car and he needed to have something to eat too.  I just don't think he knows what he wants or needs at the moment....hey ho...

[Bryony]

I've decided to come and join you all!  Only reason I haven't so far is that with a toddler whose sleep has gone pear-shaped I haven't had any time to come and post....

What is is about this age?! 

We are getting EW (5:30am this morning - belugh) and nap refuals - and yes I am sure she's OT but just can't seem to get on top of it. Think her 2nd year molars are really bothering her. And I have got a humdinger of a cold and chest infection at the moment so the lack of sleep is killing me! 

Rant over

Will be back later when less tired xx

[*Carrie*]

Hi Bryony - "lovely" to see you! Poor you with the early wakings and your own illness - yuck! It definitely is something about this age isn't it?
We had another STTN if you don't count being called through to switch Rory's light off. He has a wee table lamp which is a touch on and off one - you touch it anywhere on the base to switch it on. Cool! However, for the past few months it seems to have a life of it's own - we've put it off at bedtime then it has miracolously come on again later! A bit eery really! I know it's not Rory cos it was happening when he was still in his cot and he's never got out of his bed without one of us saying he can (!) I've started unplugging it from the wall but DH didn't hence the "Mummy, Mummy" at about 11.30pm. I switched it off, said night night and that was it - Bless!
If this is us settling to a new routine of just having 40min naps then sleeping through the night then it has taken 5 weeks of miserable naps and Nws to get to here (although it feels a lot longer!!!!)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend x

[Fiver]

No nap again today, but slept last night from about 6.15pm to 7.30am!!!!  Can't complain...although he did seem really tired by nap time, but wasn't going to sleep...just sang and chatted and whatnot for 90mins!!

[Bryony]

Wow Amanda that's great!  As you say, can't complain with that - if he's sleeping OK at night then that's fine...

Here I really can't work out what the issue is - but on the assumption that she's OT I have put her to bed an hour or so earlier tonight and she's gone straight off to sleep. Slightly worred that this will mean a 4:30am start instead of 5:30am - but there's only one way of finding out...

I can't work out whether she's OT, has had a sudden drop in sleep requirements or is just being bothered by here molars.....  at the least the clock change in two weeks' time will be in the right direction to make her getting up time a bit more civilised....

Bryony