Does Your 2 yr old sleep LESS than 12 hours a day??? Support Here!

[Luisasmum]

I'm jumping in here too! I have a 2 year old who has never been a good sleeper but has been getting worse. She dropped from 3 naps to 1 at about age 1 and now she is starting to drop that nap all together. She sleeps about 10 hours a day total and that's a good day. I can't seem to work out a pattern for her. I've tried a short nap, long nap, no nap, early nap, late nap, wearing her out in the morning, wearing her out in the afternoon, quiet time instead of nap, long bedtime ritual, short bedtime ritual - she just HATES sleeping. She will wake once or twice during the night either screaming hysterically or just asking for a drink and then she'll surprise me and sleep through an entire 12 hours but that is VERY rare. I am so confused I just don't know what to do anymore. She doesn't eat much either so she's often grumpy as you can imagine.

Tomorrow I am going to try getting back to basics. A 6am wakeup regardless of what time she went to bed, then an early nap at 11.30am of 1.5 hours then lights out at 7.00pm and asleep at 7.30pm hopefully. Something's gotta work.

Sleep tight!

[mattandcindy]

Well Ladies-Abigail went to bed last night at 7:30pm and it is now 6:25am and she is still asleep 
I can't believe it. I am sure this means though that she will only do a 45 minute nap!!!

[Alison_3]

What time did Abigail wake up?  What was her nap like?  I am hoping she starts a positive trend for all of us!

Ben was up at 5:40 and took a one hour nap.  He slept a total of 10.5 hours today.  When do you think a toddler is old enough to try the you can't come out of your room until the light (on a timer) comes on?  I'm not sure it would work with Ben, but anything is worth a try! 

I did actually have 30 minutes to myself today...Ben and Charlie's naps overlapped for the first (and probably last!) time.  I'll take it.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed than no one has to get up before 6:00 tomorrow!

[kim&savannah]

Guess I shouldn't complain too much since our day didn't start until about 6:45, but Savannah went down at 7:15, was awake crying about who knows what from 12:00-1:00 a.m., so only 10.5 hours for her, and totally interrupted sleep for us   I wouldn't mind quite so much if she really only needed that much, but she's been pretty grouchy lately and cries about EVERYTHING!  SHe needs more sleep!!!!!

And of course she won't take a nap, I'm sure (she's only taken one in the last week and only cause I layed there until she fell asleep--but I can't do that if Abe's awake because she is too hyper when he's around).

Who would have thought our 2.5 year old would be causing us more sleep deprivation than our newborn?  (not that his sleep is good--but he seems to need a lot more than his sister did, so that's a nice change--and gives me hope for the future with him).

~Kim

[mattandcindy]

Hey Ladies!
I just wanted to do a quick roll call. Here is what I have got so far!

Cindy-mom to Abigail 2, Sam 5 months
Kierstens Mom-mom to Kiersten 2
Layla-mom to Isabella 2, Jasmine 9 months
Sophie-mom to boy 2yrs???
Imsmum-mom to Margot 2
Meg-mom to PJ 18 months
Kim-mom to Savannah 2, boy 3 months
Melanie-mom to Cary 2, and pregnant
Alison-mom to Ben 2, Charlie 2 months
lil monkey-mom to Girl 2yrs, and pregnant
Luisasmum-mom to Luisa 2, Rocco 4 months

Is this all correct???

I find it interesting that many of us are either pregnant with our second or just recently (in the last 9 months) had our second. Could this be causing some of the problem? Were we all just crazy to have another!

And to those of you who have 2, is your younger one a better sleeper?
Sam (5 months) puts Abigail to shame! He is such a great sleeper.
I guess God doesn't give us more than we can handle right?

Kim-I completely understand, I always thought I would be sleep deprived after Sam but it is Abigail who causes my sleep deprivation!

Alison-Abigail woke up about 30 seconds after I posted that! But she did do a 1.5 hr nap so I guess I can't complain!

[Carys' mom]

Hi Cindy,
It looks like you've got the roll call right, except my dd's name is Carys (rhymes with Paris) - no biggie - mistakes happen a lot with her name. By the way, Carys' napping has gotten worse lately. She's been sleeping around an hour and 10 or 15 min. and then won't go back to sleep in either her crib or in the rocking chair with me. And she's only been getting about 9hrs, 45 min. of night sleep.

[mattandcindy]

Oops Melanie-Sorry about that-I should know better-Abigail has a friend carys in her gymboree class!
And sorry about the naps going to pot. That happened with Abigail about 2 weeks ago and I had to
actually start putting her down earlier for her nap and it got better. What time does she wake up in
the morning and what time does she go down for her nap? Abigail is up at 6am usually! And I put her
down at 12:30ish for her nap....could she be overtired? Also, has she gotten her 2 year old molars yet?
I know this is currently bothering Abigail!

[Carys' mom]

Hi Cindy - no problem on the name . Carys usually wakes around 5:30am, but sometimes 5:15am - way too early! Lately, I have been putting her down at 11:45am for her nap (it used to be noon or 12:15pm). I don't really want to put her down earlier than that because she'll have a super long stretch of day after her nap to get through. We put her to bed at 7:30 or 7:45pm. It could be her molars - they still haven't come through. I'm hoping that when all her teeth are finally in, she will sleep better.

[mommy2connor]

Hi all,

Okay if I jump in? My DS is not even two yet - he's only 19 months and consistently sleeps less than 10 hours at night and fights his nap pretty much every day. This has been going on for a while. His laundry list of sleep issues include: long fall-asleep time, late fall-asleep time, early wake-ups, short sleep duration, refusal to nap. Here's his typical schedule:

5:45 am: Awake
6:30 am: Breakfast
11:00 am: Lunch
12:30 pm-2:00 pm: Nap (if he does)
7:00 pm: In Bed
8:00 pm: Asleep

I feel your frustration, and it hurts me even more as he's still so young!!! I've tried everything to try to get him sleeping better (even hired a sleep consultant for $295), but things seem to get worse all the time, not better.

I just don't know what to do anymore!

[mattandcindy]

Wow Chrissy. Sorry to hear about your sleep problems.
I am so curious, what is a "sleep consultant"? And did she give you a refund
when it didn't work!?!?!?
Maybe an earlier naptime? Seems like maybe almost 7 hrs is too long to go before nap?
Just a thought?

[Alison_3]

I have to tell you since I got Ben to go to sleep on his own, (AGAIN!!) he is sleeping much better (for him!).   He has been sleeping 8:00-6:00 almost all week.  The naps aren't great, but I'll take it.  Now if I only I could get Charlie to sleep more than three hours at night!  I think he's following in his brother's footsteps as far as sleeping goes and with his reflux!  I can handle the sleeping, but I was really hoping to see what is was like to have a non-refluxer!  Oh well, in the whole scheme of things I could have much worse problems.

How is everyone else doing?

[Colesmom]

Hey girls,

Add me to the list   Cole typically does 12 hours total, 10 at night and it's broken sleep as he's still waking and 2 for nap.  the longer nap is the only thing that keeps me sane (And I work, so I only have two days of insanity!)  His schedule is like this:

wake 6:30ish (on the couch, with me  )
7:00 breakfast
8:30 snack
11:30 lunch
12:30-2:30 sleep
~2:45 snack (or when calm from waking, always clingy and grumpy when waking)
6:00 dinner
~ 8:30 pm bedtime.

Bedtime is usually exactly, within 5 minutes, after 12 hours of AWAKE time. so, with a 6:30 wake and 2 hour nap, he goes to sleep at 8:30.  If he has a 1.5 hour nap, he'll go to sleep at 8pm.  I have to time his bedtime precisely on the 12 hour schedule or we get lots and lots and lots of tears.  Last week was our first cry-free bedtime since he was born.  And the first time he lay down happily and I covered him up with his blanket.  Of course, we've had tears again over the weekend, but I think he's getting teeth. 

I'm working on GW and I'm ALMOST out of the room.  I'm dreading that step though...as I'm sure it will involve lots of tears again.  His room is very small, so even though I have been moving away from his crib in increments...i'm still only about 4 feet away.  Yesterday for nap was the FIRST time I said "want to go in your crib with woof woof?" and he said YES!!! I lay him down and he just said "hold my back mama".  Even though I've been doing GW at night, I've still been holding him for naps, so this was a HUGE step.  Of course, last night he wanted me to hold his back again.  Anyway, I used to have to hold his hand or rock him for all sleeps so this is much improved.

I'm still going on the couch at night when he wakes (usually around 1:30am)  I want to get out of the room at bedtime and see if it helps his waking, before working on that.  One thing at a time to keep me sane.

He has never gone to bed happily, and always wakes crying so it's a LONG day for me.  I have never been able to let him "play" in his crib before or after sleep.  I'm not pregnat YET, but if/when it happens I sure hope #2 is a better sleeper or I will go koo koo

ahhh, thanks for letting me share 

I wanted to share a quote I read somewhere.  "You can't assume your child needs less sleep unless they are sleeping through the night and taking proper naps for their age".  I always thought Cole just needed less sleep.  So I am continuing to work on his night sleep until he sleeps through, then I will reassess.

wishing you all many sleep filled days and nights

[mommy2connor]

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for your reply. We have two sleep consultants that work in our area (Vancouver, Canada). Basically, you hire them for a lot of money, to lay out a sleep plan for you to help your child sleep better. It's like having someone guide you through a sleep book in the flesh. Honestly, she didn't really have anything new or groundbreaking to tell me. I was pretty much already doing everything "right". In the end, she still couldn't help us! And no, there are no refunds!

I'll definitely try the earlier nap as that's what I did yesterday and it worked like a charm. But Connor's a "patternless" child, and never repeats his past successes, even if I duplicate the entire routine, down to the minute! He's just a stubborn little guy. I'm starting to realize that he is just a LO who needs little sleep. Sigh!

Chrissy

[lilmonkey]

Traci - have you try making his room warmer/cooler?  Although dd has a blanket, I found that dd sleeps better if her room is about 22 degrees C in the winter and about 19 degrees during the summer.  Of course this doesn't eliminate the nw but it does reduces it significantly.  Also, when I was trying to get dd to fall asleep indep., I often use a small pillow and placed it next to her.  It gives the impression that she is nested.  Good luck with the GW.

Could you ladies help me?  Would you sacrifice a long nap to get your lo to sleep longer at night?  After recovering from the stomach flu and a nasty cold within the last few weeks, dd's sleep has suffered.  I have worked on getting her nap to be back at around 2.5 hrs but her bedtime is getting later and later.  Yesterday it was 9:30 pm and tonight was 9:15 pm.  She now wakes at 6 or 6:15 am and nap time is about 6 hrs of awake time.  I want my 8 pm bedtime back as I am really tired by dinner time (6 pm).  I have tried shortening her nap to about 2 hrs but it didn't last.  The girl loves her nap - once she's asleep!   

Mimi

[mattandcindy]

Mimi-Honestly, that is up to you. I would prefer longer nighttime sleep than a longer nap but I think everyone has different preferences. If Abigail isn't in bed by 7:30pm I freak because then my time with dh suffers and I LOVE my time with dh. My dh gets up really early for work and therefore we have to go to bed by 9pm so it is really important to us that dd is in bed by 7:30pm.

Chrissy-I totally hear you on the "patternless child". I get so excited when Abigail does something new in the sleep area, but she too never repeats it. We are on vacation in Laguna Beach right now and I thought she would sleep later because of all the activity but no, she is still up at 6am!!!! Not much of a vacation here!

Alison-I am SO sorry you have two refluxers. Abigail is a severe refluxer and I was SO worried about Sam. He has been great up until the last 4 weeks. It seems like he is getting reflux which I didn't think they could get this late but maybe so? Reflux messes with their sleeping so bad though! I feel your pain!

Colesmom-Welcome! I have a quick question. What is GW? Sounds like you spend ALOT of time with Cole during the day. Here is to hoping he can become a more independent sleeper and you can have some more YOU time!

Hope everyone else is doing great!