2 Year Old Who Doesn't Sleep

I am glad to know I am not alone. My son is 21 months old and wakes three times a night. He goes to sleep around 8.30pm and wakes at either 12 or 1am, and by 4.30am he is done with bed. Unfortunately, I don't have any good advice but I do feel less alone knowing there are others going through the same thing.

Cut his nap down or out completely! Make him get good exersize during the day, and make sure he is not eating to much sugar during the day. Have a consistant bedtime rutine... bath, reading a book, warm milk, what ever you can do to relax him. Also, limit how much he drinks or eats in the evening so he is not woke up by a wet or dirty diaper. 1 hour before bed turn off the TV or anything that might stimulate him. Let him cry it out, he's old enough, it won't hurt him. One thing that worked for us, and we are still doing with our 3 1/2 year old, is running a box fan in his room on med speed. I don't blow it on him directly, it just creates some white noise, and moves the air a little. Hope this helps... just try to be consistant!!! You know what's best for him, a good nights rest.

My son was well over 2 before he made it one entire night without waking up. He is 4 now and is better but still not a great sleeper. The thing that I learned was he had way more trouble sleeping when he was overtired and had been stimulated a bunch during the day. He falls asleep easily in the car which in my opinion is because he is physically restrained and is limited in the things he can do to keep himself awake. so often I would go somewhere in the early evening so he would fall asleep in the car and I could put him to bed earlier. My only recommendation would be to not let him get too tired. I also had to be very strict about what he could when he did get up during the night. No activity, no talking, no anything remotely fun or entertaining. Now that he can count, I have him count as high as he can till he falls asleep. Otherwise, I say hang in there, it does get better slowly. My sympathies are with you.

You are not alone, and I feel for you. We have the same problem with our daughter. She will be two in five weeks, and she still wakes at least twice a night. We have tried everything from warm milk to white noise and massages with lavender lotion before bedtime. Our pediatrician said we should let her wake and fall back to sleep herself, even if it means crying herself back to sleep and increasing the amount of time we let her cry each time - even if it means letting crying for a very long time. He says this lack of deep sleep for all of us will go on until we do, and that she is in perfect health. We are going to try it this weekend, but it sounds awful. I thought I would share that advice with you. Good luck to your family.

My daughter who is three has never slept well. She just doesn't require as much sleep as some children but at the same time, if she doesn't get enough it will be a rough day for everyone. Her sleep level is a very fine line to walk. When she was two she used to get up 5 or 6 times and night and she shares her room with her younger sister so we couldn't just let her cry it out. We tried a lot of things. One thing we tried to was to reward her with something if she stayed in her bed the entire night. That worked for a few weeks. Another thing we tried was that we would talk with her before bed about our next day's schedule and all the fun things we would do. That also worked for a few weeks. We also stopped giving her liquids before bed because she was getting close to potty training and she would wake up if she used the bathroom in her diaper.

Probably what has worked the best is not making her take a nap. She does have to stay in her room and stay quiet for at least an hour but she doesn't have to sleep. On the days that she's really tired she will fall asleep but sometimes she doesn't. Now she only gets up about once a night and occasionally I get an entire night's sleep. If she does take a nap, then we only let her sleep for an hour. If she sleeps for two hours, she will have problems going to bed at night and won't sleep through the night.

She is very weird in the fact that the more tired she is, the more trouble she has sleeping.

I hope he starts letting you have more sleep soon.

Here is just a BROAD list of things to consider:
He is 2 and becoming more aware of surroundings. If he is hearing or sensing fear or anxiety in others or in the news or tv shows he may be being impacted emotionally by this and in no way could communicate that. This could affect his dreaming and disturb his sleep.
Does he have growing pains or leg cramps at night. I did.
He could have a food allergy making his digestion irritated.
He could have an environmental allergy making him feel bad, headachy, or having difficulty breathing.
He could have sleep apnea(temporarily stopping breathing) that is waking him up and the feeling from the loss of oxygen makes the brain anxious. It is difficult to calm down and go back to sleep sometimes. And the sleep apnea can make you have bad dreams.
Is he having night sweats? That is one sign of cancer. I am not saying this to worry you or that I think thats it. Just to let you know to look for other things than just not sleeping. Any signs and symptoms will help lead to a solution.
He could simply feel insecure.
When does he eat? For me I cannot sleep on a full stomach. For my husband he cannot sleep on an empty stomach. So to each his own.
I was very sensative to sounds. My older brother would stay up and watch scarry movies or shows. If I saw part of it I could not sleep. If I could hear the weird sounds from the TV I could not sleep. The sounds would make me have nightmares if I was already asleep when I could hear them. When I was little scarry tv included: Star Trek, 20 thousand leagues, travel to the center of the earth, and some show about molecule sized people traveling inside a human body, I don't know the name. I am sure I am dating myself but all of these shows have already been redone. WOW.
God Bless,

Michele had great suggestions.
There are also so me other "tricks" we discovered. When we would read to our daughter right before bed time. We would make sure she was in bed all tucked in. The lights very low. As you get towards the end of the story, begin reading slower and slower. Also do not be too expressive or loud while reading the book. Our daughter loved to fall asleep to books on CD. The other thing we did was purchase an alarm clock that was also a "sound machine". Sometimes she liked hearing the rain or the ocean sounds as she was falling off to sleep. Once she got to middle school, she has used an eye mask to also block out any light.

They just have a lot going on in their heads. And some kids just do not need much sleep. Our daughter would go in cycles based on growing spurts. We just learned to be prepared. Now she is in college and says she listens to the books on CD to block out the noises of the dorm and of course uses the eye mask in case her roommate is up at night.

Do you still breastfeed him? My almost 2 year old was waking 4 times a night when I was breastfeeding her to sleep. When I only gave her water it took 3 days until she was waking up at most once and usually not at all! The trick is to remove their incentive to wake up!

Hi S.
I am a Nikken consultant.We have a magnetic pet pad that is almost as good as our sleep system. I you send me your address I would be glad to loan you the pad to see if it works. If it does then you will buy it from me.
Have a terrific day
L.

Hi S., When my second son was that age, he did not sleep either, was awake and wanting a bottle or something, my sister-in-law told me to get the doctor to check his iron count, it was low, so the doctor prescribed some liquid iron, it took two big bottles, but when he finished that he started sleeping & never had any more problems. You might try it, can't hurt to have it checked.

Good luck, W.

2 year olds don't sleep well. That's one of those parental surprises no one told you about, but it's true for just about every two year old. For whatever reason, they revert back to baby ways of sleeping for a while. Just be consistent, be firm, and make sure he knows you love him. He'll work it out.

MY son who is now 6 soon to be seven did not sleep throught the night till he was 2, and still doesn't sleep well. We have had him to doctors, and never gotten much of and answer. We has sleep apnea, and shows signs of restless leg. We have found that the key to getting him to at least not come out of his room, that a TV in his room will keep him busy, and he will watch for a while and then fall back to sleep. ( even though it is not according to pediatricians the correct thing to so) We have also taken sugar, and anything that may even contain caffeine out of his diet after 6 pm or earlier if bed time is sooner.

Hi S., I have been a mom of 5 and a grandma of 1--I am also a massage therapist of 20 years. I didn't know much when My children were little, but with my mt training in aromatherapy and nutrition I was able to help my grandaughter with sleeping problems--so here goes. Lavender has long been proven to help the sleep cycle--not the synthetics found all over the market place but the pure essential oil. 3-4 drops on the back rubbing in a downward direction will help a lot. also about 10 drops in the bath. Rubbing a toddlers back DOWN aids in relaxation. Giving foods high in triptophan, turkey, chicken, and some root vegys help also. If your son is consuming a lot of sugar or carbohydrates after 6pm at night chances are there will be sleep problems. Another HUGE help is chewable calcium tables at night. Milk just doesn't do it. I hope this helps--D.

I use an essential oil called, Peace and Calming. I put a few drops on the bottom of my son's feet, my husband, and myself. A couple of drops on the pillow is great too! It works and smells wonderful.

My son was 2 in August. I still lay down with him to go to bed at night. Then most nights he wakes up at least once, if not two or three times. He slept better in the beginning when he was a newborn.

I don't have a lot of advice, but wanted to let you know you were not alone - my almost 2 year old does not sleep either! At least 3 times a week she will wake up and it takes 2 hours for her to fall back asleep - it is like she has insomnia or something. We have darkened her room with black material over her curtains, and that seems to help some. We also try to load her up with carbs, like cereal, right before she goes to bed. If she doesn't eat well, she will wake up at 2 am yelling "Lunch"! Last night she ate 2 fish sticks right before she laid down, and she slept 11 hours! Worth a try ;)

Good luck fellow mama!