2 1/2 Yr Old Suddenly Not Sleeping!

Hi G.,

I've actually had this problem too. The best thing we did was took our 3 year old sons naps away all together. I put him on a routine. He is in bed by 8:30PM and is up between 8:00-9:30AM. He does come into our room in the middle of the night but he brings his pillow and covers with him and makes a pallot on the floor at the end of our bed...not every night but most nights and it's almost at the same time every night. So if you find an answer to end him coming into the room in the middle of the night, I would GREATLY appreciate you passing along that information to me. Maybe if you put your son on a routine and take his naps away then maybe he will sleep through the night. Before I took my sons naps away, he too was taking 3 hour naps. With the weather getting warmer, maybe taking him outside more and letting him burn off some steam & in conjuction with him not getting a nap, maybe is the trick for your son to sleep through the night. On the days that the weather doesn't permit outside play, we sometimes take him to McDonalds playland. Either way, he gets worn out.

Hope you find your answer soon! Good luck & God Bless!

K.

My kids both went through this too... I agree with the idea that it's more likely that he's overtired than needing to cut back his sleep. Try an earlier bedtime. It'll take awhile. My son was getting up at 5/5:30 every morning for about a month. Now he's finally back to 7, Thank God!! Just be consistent about telling him it's not time to get up yet and he needs to try and sleep some more.

Another thing that worked for us (only so-so with my son, but worked beautifully with my daughter when she was that age) was having a light on a timer in their room. We picked a fun little lamp or light -my daughter's was a spinning globe ladybug lamp and my son's are currently a string of frog lights hung up along the underside of his top bunk bed- and plug it into a timer. Then just set the time you want them to be getting up and talk about how the "frogs" are going to be sleeping at night and when the frogs are sleeping, the child needs to be sleeping too. Or at least quiet in bed so as not to wake up the frogs. Then when the frogs "wake up", it's morning and we can start our day.
Like I said, with my daughter this worked like a charm. She stayed in bed and waited for the light to turn on and after a few days she ended up always falling back to sleep and then eventually sleeping until the designated time. (Also, make it a light that's not so noticeable that it will wake them if they happen to still be sleeping!)
With my son we started gradually... since he was waking so early, and I knew he would get frustrated waiting for 2 hours for the frogs to come on, we started with the timer set at 6am for a few days so that he got the idea and could do it, then 6:15, 6:30, etc until we got to the desired 7am that I can tolerate.

Good luck! I know this isn't a fun habit, but the need for sleep will eventually catch up to him!!

I would actually suggest that perhaps he is not getting enough sleep. I know that makes no sense, but with my oldest, if he does't get enough sleep he gets into a horrible rut and he can't sleep. It is a hard rut fo rus to get out of (usually takes a couple weeks) I suggest trying to get him to return to napping daily, but wake him up after an hour. Try bathing him every night with a lavander bath oil, you can even try warm milk proir to bed, could be a wives tale, but it seems to help my little ones. According to the experts he still requires a min of 12 hours of sleep a day.

Hi, G.. Sleep deprivation is so frustrating for all! You may hear from lots of people that some 2 year olds give up their naps, but I am a firm believer that children this age need their naps, as much as we need them to take a nap! Your son is definitely tired if he is moody all day. I would suggest a firm schedule for "rest time" and even if he does not sleep, he is to rest on his bed looking at books or whatever quiet thing he wants to do. He will probably fall asleep during this time. He needs to know that it is rest time for his sister and you, and he should not come out of his room until you get him. In the morning, he can follow the same rule. Go and get him when he has been up for 5 minutes, the next day 10 minutes, and each day extend how long you wait. I would also wake him up after 2 hours of a nap, so that is nap schedule is consistent. Once a firm structure is held each day, he will hopefully get back on schedule. It will take some patience and persistence on your part, though. Hopefully, he won't take long to get back on track! I hope this advice helps! Good Luck!

Try putting him to bed earlier. It is true I think that when my kids go to bed late they tend to get up earlier. Also I would try the shorter nap on a daily basis like the other poster suggested.

Good luck. I feel for you I have 23 month old, a 3 1/4 year old, and a 8 month old. It seems like the rare night that I actually get a night to sleep without any interuptions. Right now my baby is teething, and the other two are really congested.