Need Help......21/2 yr old can't fall asleep....and I don't know how to help her

[Cheyannesmom]

Hi Everyone

  My daughter is 21/2.  I thought she was a good sleeper but now I seem to be questioning it now that she is in a big girl bed.  She has always been able to put herself to sleep but it takes forever and then it is very late.  I have tried everything earlier bedtime....no nap.....later bed time.  It does not seem to matter when I put her to bed it takes her 1-2 hrs to fall asleep.  We have a 1 floor house so all of her toys are in her room and sometime she plays but we are at my moms or something and she sleeps with me I lie in bed watching her and she just takes so long to fall asleep.  No toys in the room there she plays with her toes...under the blanket....over the blanket...ect.  She seems to fall asleep ok at nap times as I have watched her in my bed 10 to 15 min and she is out(only my bed as it is darker in my room and not every day she has no problem in her bed either.)  Now I am wondering if that is how it was when she was in her crib but never new.

Any help would be appreciated.

Do you think it is a medical problem?

Thanks in Advance

Laurie

[Erin M]

I haven't made the switch to the big girl bed myself, but I know that numerous people have told me that their LOs take about a month to adjust before their sleep starts getting back to normal again.

[Cheyannesmom]

Thanks Erin

  My DD has been in her big girl bed since August though.  Mind you tonight she was out in 15-20 mins or at least she didn't come out of her room.  Isn't it always the way....lol.  I will not count my chickens yet though.  I did have more time to read other posts and it seems like there are others outhtere that thier lo's take a while to go to sleep

Laurie

[onemodestdiva]

hey,
my 2 1/2 year old takes so much time to go to sleep...she has been in her big bed since she was 18 months but we trained her so well to put herself to sleep that she would never let us just sit there and watch her go to sleep because we would be the distraction.  Have you tried some wind down time?  I know that when we allow tv before bedtime my dd is less likely to fall alseep.  Is she getting wound up by daddy coming home?  That could be an issue as well.  The other thing that helped us is that we go over her day with her...kind of like a recap...so that she isn't doing that while she is going to bed.  I think that really helps LO's to wind down.  Just some suggestions.
Alisha

[imsmum]

Laurie

What's her schedule like?  Is she still taking a nap? If so, is it on a regular basis and for how long?When is wind down and when does she usually fall alseep?  Other than the big girl bed any changes (new school, caregiver etc.)?

My dd is 2.5 as well.  She normally naps for about 1.5-2 hours, from 1pm to 3 pm.  I put her in her crib around 7:30 and usually falls asleep between 8 and 8:30 but sometimes it's 9 o'clock!  I've read a lot of posts on this board about lo's this age not falling asleep until fairly late.  It may be that while they still need their naps they do push back bedtime.  Depending on when nap time is you may want to try moving it a bit earlier or restricting her nap to more than 1.5 hours.  If you post her schedule that should  help us to see if it's just her schedule that needs tweaking.