Chatting in bed for hours after bedtime

[MommyMoulton]

Please help!!! My 2 year old DD talks to herself, her brother in the next room(he sleeps thru it) for hours after bedtime. I have no idea what to do I feel like I have tried everything with no success. I'm desperate for her to go to bed quietly as in 7 weeks I will have a newborn that needs to sleep in there also. It's to the point where I need to close my bedroom door at nighttime BC her chatter keeps me awake.

She is in a BGB since 18months. Has no lovey or dummy. She has a sippy cup of water on her bedside table. She sleeps well with no NWs once she is asleep.

Routine;
715/730 wake up she has a gro-clock
1-230pm nap which we cap and wake her up
730/745 bedtime
915/930 asleep.

Thru trial and error I know that if I am quiet with all the lights off for about 15 -30min at bedtime she goes right to sleep. But if I do anything, walk around, dishes, tv or turn any light on she starts talking again. She does have her door open after bedtime but never gets out of bed and the second I try to close the door she screams. I'm not going to be able to be quiet for the time frame she needs with a newborn in 7 weeks. Please help

[katie80]

Is she just 2, MM? I think there is a developmental leap at 2 and often times it presents itself in this way. Have you tried doing BT 15-30min later... do you think that would help at all? The other thought I have would be to very gradually close her door over the course of the next six weeks, kind of like GW. So, a few inches every few days until it's closed. Can you talk to her about why you're closing the door (i.e. it's time to sleep and mommy has some chores to do, so the door needs to close so she can go to sleep)? I don't know... kinda pulling at straws on the last one.

And congrats on the baby!

[jessmum46]

Another thought - perhaps a later nap would help?  I know with DD we reached a point where the nap had to be later, although the same length, because she needed a bigger chunk of A time all in one go to be tired enough at bedtime.  That meant her A time after the nap was shorter, but it worked ok with the long morning.  You could also consider capping her nap more.....maybe push it 15 mins later and wake at same time so 1.15-2.30?

[*Ali*]

Or if the other suggestions do not work maybe she needs a later BT? We were on a 13hr day by this age I think.

[zeri]

Is she a very vocal child? I ask becasue DS is like this, and he drops off mid-sentence sometimes. But no routine change or twaeks have ever induced him to be quiet. ((hugs)), I hope you find a solution!

[jenn1975]

We had similar issues here too at that age. I'd agree with most ideas posted here. Maybe try one at a time and add more if needed.

First try a bit later BT. Maybe 15 min to 30 min later. We had to do this.

Then if there's still a lot of chatter after BT I'd go with shortening the nap in addition to a bit later BT.

If she's going to sleep right away for the nap I'd probably leave the time alone until she has a hard time falling asleep for it, then move it a tad later too.

We started having to do all of the above around age 2. Now a year later his nap is at 2. Bedtime at 930. And wakeup at 730-8. I fear we've reached our limits and the next step is dropping the nap :-(

[clazzat]

When dd1 started chatting at bedtime we put her to bed at the normal time with some books and a light on a timer that went off half an hour later when she knew that she had to put the book down and go to sleep. We also sometimes used to let her listen to half an hour of stories on a cd to help her wind down.