28 month old sleep issues

[Jsands1984]

He didn't fall asleep at naptime until 1:10. I napped too and accidentally let him sleep until 2:20 (I kept hitting snooze on my alarm).

Tonight was rough. I don't know if my end of pregnancy hormones were causing me to have a lack of patience or if he was in a particularly ornery mood. We got off to a little bit of a late start (7:40) and it was just one thing after another.

1. I had to leave the room and cry out my frustrations for a minute after he got out of bed 21 times in the first 15 minutes.

2. He kicked out at me 3 different times when I was putting him back in bed. We had to stop and have a short talk about why kicking Mommy was wrong.

3. He kept throwing his blanket out of bed and trying to use that as an excuse to get up. I took it away after telling him I would take it if he threw it again and he threw it.

4. He has turned it into a game. Sometimes I will only get 1/2 way back to the door before he is out of bed again. Sometimes he will "fall" out of bed and lay there until I pick him up and put him back. Sometimes he will get out of bed and just stand there until I pick him up and put him back. Other times he will get up and as soon as I move to get up and put him back he will yank his feet back up on the bed. The whole time he does these things he is giggling like it is a game.

5. About 55 minutes in I told him that if he got out of bed I was going to leave the room. He got up again, so I left. He cried for a couple of minutes and when he stopped I went in and asked him if he was ready to stay in bed. He said yes, so I came back in and told him I would leave again if he got up. He didn't get up again after that.

I'm sure I broke a lot of GW guidelines tonight. I don't know what went wrong tonight. I put him back in bed 33 times in the 1hr 20min it took him to fall asleep. When I put him back I do my best to remain calm no matter how many times it's been. I'm not rough with him. I don't make eye contact and don't speak to him.

I have wondered if moving his nap forward, like 12:30-1:30 or 12-1 instead of 1-2, would help bedtime because he would have a longer wake time. However, I don't know if he would nap that early, especially since he hasn't been waking up until 7 the past couple of mornings.

I don't think sleep training and pregnancy mix very well. 

[*Ali*]

Hugs. No, sleep training and pregnancy don't mix well do they? I think ST and a newborn mix even less well though.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. I would definitely move his nap forward if he will go down earlier.

[Jsands1984]

He didn't fall asleep until 1:45 this afternoon so it was another short nap day.

Tonight wasn't too bad. We gave him Benadryl for his stuffy nose and Tylenol for teething (I really wish his molars would stop playing peek-a-boo). Right before lights out we tried to talk to him about how bedtime was when we go to sleep and isn't a time for playing, not sure we got through to him though. Tonight took 45 minutes and I had to put him back 24 times. He was asleep at 8:25.

[dijjibob]

Hugs with pregnancy and sleep training.
My LO at 2y 4 m is only now on 30 or 45 minute nap if I gave her longer to fall asleep at night.
I maybe wrong but could it be the longer naps mean he is ut at bedtime and that's why LO is getting out of bed so much. If LO more tired at bedtime would be less frustrating.
Would you think of consistently cutting nap shorter but keep bedtime the same. Ours easy is 7am ( finally again) 1pm nap for 30 min nap (just cut from 45) and 8pm bedtime.
Sorry if not good advice

[*Ali*]

I've never tried one but is there anything you could use as a reward to motivate him like a sticker chart?

I often found my DS1 responded better to those sorts of talks  out of the moment like much earlier in the day. I don't know if he just needed time for it to sink in or time to relax again after getting frustrated with my requests but it seemed to work out that way.

My DS1 was also on a 30min nap at this age with a 7-7 night. If he skipped the nap we did 6.30 BT instead. I must say he did fall asleep much more easily on no nap days or days of the capped nap than if I let him have longer. I know some 3yos still have a 1.5hr nap so it definitely depends on the LO.

[Jsands1984]

We were doing a sticker chart, but I think it has lost its appeal.

I'm not sure about cutting his nap to 30 minutes. He still seems pretty cranky after being woke up after an hour. However, it does seem to take him longer to fall asleep on days he sleeps an hour. That's why I was thinking of trying to move his nap a little earlier.

He averages 9.5-10.5 hours of sleep a night, so adding in the hour nap he is getting an average of 10.5-11.5 total hours of sleep a day. Is this the recommended amount for almost 29 months? I can't remember.

Today he woke up crying at 5:45am (he fell asleep at 8:25 last night). I think he had a bad dream. I sang to him and tucked him back in. He acted like he was going to go back to sleep, but he didn't. He took his normal nap from 1-2. Bedtime took 1hr5min and I put him back 34(?) times. He was asleep at 8:40pm.

[dijjibob]

I'd try to 45 minutes first, because he is having short nights he will be trying to catch up using his nap but this may just be then causing a short night.
If it only gets him to sleep abit quicker as I imagine both you are LO are getting abit upset with bedtime battles. I found that cutting the nap shorter gets a longer night anyway. Once nights lenghten ( hopefully ) he will be in a better mood being woke up anyway. As he is taking longer to fall asleep he could be ready.
We give quiet time before nap starts or when I wake in prep for when no nap days come along, still leaving you with some time in the
day to have with baby or to uourself If they both happen to sleep and do quiet time together.

[*Ali*]

Typically a 2yo should be aiming for 12.5-13hrs sleep in 24hrs. This is an average amount though and some will do more, some will do less  Here is the FAQ on it. Typical Amounts of Day and Night Sleep
I really found at this age though that any nap robbed more sleep from the night than he spent napping. As I said before we could get a 1.5hr nap but then only a 10hr night. If we did a 30 min nap we got a 12hr night. On no nap days to start we normally got a 12.5hr night. Once we moved to no nap consistently (around 30mo I think) his night lengthened and he started doing a 13-13.5hr night on a regular basis. That continued until he was 37mo and we moved his 18mo brother into his room and then he got woken after 12hrs sleep most mornings unfortunately. I do notice how tired he is these days though so we are working on that.
Some LOs can't handle the long A times on no nap though and won't do a very long night. Then I think it is better to keep the nap as long as you can just to stave off the OT hormones.

[Jsands1984]

He woke up at 6:30 this morning. I was going to try a 45 minute nap today but dozed off/lost track of time so it ended up being a 55 minute nap.

I don't even want to talk about tonight, it was awful. We had to put him in time out right before bedtime which resulted in a temper tantrum. By the time we got him calmed down and in bed it was 7:45. He was frustrated and I was frustrated so I have no idea how many times he got up. He finally fell asleep at 9.

Here's hoping tomorrow goes better.

[*Ali*]

It's hard to come back from a temper tantrum right before bed huh? He was probably disgruntled after the TO. Tomorrow is another day.

[Jsands1984]

Sorry for lack of updates. I have been pretty tired.

He woke up at 6:30 Saturday morning. We spent the morning running around doing errands so I thought nap would be easy. Nope. He fought sleep until 1:30 so he only got a 30 minute nap. Bedtime took and hour (asleep by 8:30) and I put him back in bed 29 times. 

Yesterday morning he actually slept until 7:15. He didn't get a normal nap because we had a family get together for Easter. He did nap in the car from about 11:15-noon. He spent the afternoon running around with his cousins. Bedtime still took an hour (asleep by 8:35) but I only put him back 17 times. He slept until 6:45 this morning.

I guess we are slowly making progress. The bright side is his last 2 molars have decided to stop playing peek-a-boo and are actually coming in, so hopefully tooth pain won't be a problem in another week.

[*Ali*]

The second year molars caused us sleep troubles for a while. I hope he responds better when they stop bothering him.

[Jsands1984]

Yeah, so glad these will be his last teeth for awhile.

Monday he napped 1:05-1:50. Bedtime took an 1hr 10min and he got up 29 times. He was asleep by 8:45.

Yesterday he slept until 6:30. He napped from 1:20-2. Bedtime took 55min and he only got up 14 times. He slept until 6:50 this morning.

I'm starting to think about leaving the room at naptime. When we started he was hardly getting out of bed at nap. Now I feel like he is getting up at nap more and more.

[*Ali*]

It's worth a try if you think he will go down better

[Jsands1984]

We close his door after we put him down so I can't always tell if he is actually out of bed. Should I check on him or only react if he opens the door?