2.5 Year Old Talks for Hours Before Falling Asleep

I don't know, but try to get a tape of it as a keepsake. It will be very cute to listen to later on.

My son did this for several months at about that age. He seemed perfectly happy (it was rather fun to listen to him talk to his stuffed animals about everything) and just gave it up spontaneously and went back to falling asleep quickly. Since he didn't seem tired, we didn't worry about it. Never considered dropping his nap. He napped until he was 5-1/2.

i don't see anything to fix.
sounds to me like a happy, secure little girl who has found a terrific self-soothing technique and is happily employing it.
since the whisper is very low and hard to decipher she's probably in a semi-sleeping state for at least some of it.
does she seem tired in the morning?
let dozing toddlers lie!
khairete
S.

If she's not crying or getting out and running around - let her chat it up! She's intelligent - her mind isn't quieting down and it's full of good stuff.

My daughter used to wake up at that age in the middle of the night and talk for like an hour and then fall back asleep. Needless to say, she's a chatterbox!

I would say that you are very lucky that she isn't getting up and driving you crazy, because you are putting her to bed way too early. She is clearly not tired. She is clearly not overtired, because if she were you would be dealing with an overtired child the next day.

She obviously does not need to be going to bed so early and/or doesn't need to be taking a nap or at least as long of a nap.

She doesn't need as much sleep as you think she does. Consider eliminating her nap or letting her stay up later. As kids grow, their sleep needs change, and it's ok for her to go to bed later.

My daughter, now five and a half, still whispers to herself before bed. At your daughter's age, she would be up for a good two hours engaged in self-talk. Assuming she is not afraid of anything, and you're not seeing an overtired, cranky kids the next day, I'd let it go. She is self-soothing, learning all about her world and replaying it in her mind at bedtime. One thing I did find immensely helpful (and still do) in lulling my children to sleep, are lullaby CD's that I ordered from Amazon. I heard from friends that "the Land of Milk and Honey" is a good one but we don't own it, and also Nick Lachey: A Father's Lullaby, but we don't own that one either. I can, however, speak to this one...it is the one my kids listen to each night http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Most-Relaxing-Classics-Kid...

Good luck. I remember actually loving when my daughter did this...I found it such a creative process that she would verbalize her day as she lulled herself to sleep. Now, three years later, she still does it occasionally and is a super verbal, creative little girl!

My kid did this (though not for hours on end) and I know other parents whose kids did it to some extent too. I think it's pretty normal on a lot of counts:

She has a new baby brother and is very well aware that he's the center of attention right now. She's entertaining herself. I'd let her do it, because it beats her getting up out of bed and coming to you over and over each night, or calling out to you over and over. Take the talking! It is her way of self-soothing right now; it also is her way of maybe working through things in her head. And it's very normal for kids this age to love to list things and put things in order, such as going through the names of the family, the princesses, her stuffed animals, her favorite whatevers.

If she is still napping, it may be past time to end her naps gradually. I know that with a new baby you really want her to nap so you can have time with the baby and/or time to breathe yourself, but frankly, many kids give up napping between their second and third birthdays and there's not a lot to do about it (unless you want to put her and baby both in the car and drive them around each afternoon). But I wouldn't do the drive. She may sleep better at night if you drop the nap. It's going to happen someday anyway; her time may be now, even if it's not great timing for you and baby.

If she is napping in the day well and you can't bear to drop it, then push her bedtime a little later. But Id' vote for reducing the naps gradually and maybe even moving bedtime a fraction earlier.

If she is not cranky and overtired the next day after her long chats to herself, she's doing OK for now. Yes, it would be best if she got more sleep but no one can force another person to sleep (or use a toilet, or eat--which is why so many parenting questions are about sleep and potty training and eating issues!).

Be glad she's self-soothing and not shouting or demanding attention or yelling for her binky back That too may come, so enjoy this. I'd be wanting to listen in and hear what her little mind is coming up with! This is a phase and a normal one.

What about napping? It may be time to stop napping.

Sounds like my 3.5 yo son too :) I don't have any solution, sorry! But just know that your daughter is not the only one :)

Sounds like a self-soothing thing
My only thought was make sure she isn't going to bed too early.
Maybe try a Pillow Pet. She pushes the button, it projects lights onto the
ceiling & shuts off after 15 mins. She could push the button again at that point.
Make sure she gets enought activity throught the day so she's actually tired by bedtime.
Again, look at her bedtime & maybe adjust that to a little later.

I wondered about a nap too. If she's still napping, it's probably time to let that go, which is a big bummer! My daughter napped until she was 4 and still slept great my son gave up his nap about 2.5 and I didn't love it, lol!

Other than that, I think she's okay. Since she's staying in her room and not crying, I would just let it be. It's hard because of course you wish she was asleep and it may be hard for you to relax knowing she's not asleep, but maybe turn off the monitor for a few hours so you can not think about it.

My daughter did this. Taking out the nap helped, but honestly we finally figured out she was so scared to go to sleep. When we moved her into the same room with her sister, she would fall asleep within 20 minutes.

We didn't think she was scared, because she didn't act like it. She would just talk and talk, but would never say she was scared.

After about 15 minutes or so, tell her "no more talking". If she keeps up, reminder her again. I had to do this to my daughter at that age too. The talking keeps them awake.

Mine would do this more at nap time - I'd hear them talking softly to themselves when I put them down, or that's how I knew they had awoken .. I'd hear little whispers on the monitor. I'd leave them until they called out to me. Very cute.

I think it used to last 10-15 minutes or so (certainly not 3 hours) so I don't know what to advise you there .. I used to go by my kids' cues to base how much sleep they needed. If they were tired some days, they had naps, other days they didn't. I didn't have a magic formula - gave up on that with my first one. I used to just make sure they went to bed when tired, and napped if they needed to.

Hope that helps :) I think it was when we had given up soothers too now that I think back

is she still napping? if so, time to drop the nap.

Sometimes kids are like this...busy, busy bees! It is hard to control your mind & as children we are just learning...

For the most part I think leave her be to learn some control herself...although if you feel she is struggling or scarring herself I would advice a noise machine or soft music...that helps some.

~I feel obligated to speak up b/c I had a doom & gloom brain as a child & nighttime before bed was the worst, I wish someone had given me music earlier. One of my favorite songs has a line about just this very same thing...
"the moon will illuminate my room & soon I'm consumed by my doom"

My kids never went to bed before 11:00. Our whole family are night owls though. Still it shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour to fall asleep IMHO.

Two of my four children cannot stand silence. It makes them physically and emotionally stressed to be in a silent place, especially alone. Both of them would also chatter for hours before falling asleep. It was their way of filling up the silence.

Other people suggest a "white noise" machine that plays sounds of the ocean, or music on low, but I think that becoming dependent on some electronic device is a bad idea. If she's happy whispering to herself, let her whisper. She's not frightened. She'll be fine.

Her mouth was busy sucking on the binky and comforting her. Allowing her to relax. I guess this is what you got when her mouth has nothing else to do. Better than figuring out she can suck her thumb if she wants to suck!!!

I think it's awesome that she stays in bed that long. I agree with Suz T., it's not a problem.

When my daughter was that age she would be awake that late as well if she took a nap, which she had to do at daycare. It was 2-3 years of torture for me since she wanted me to lay down with her and rub her back, and I never got any grown-up time. I'd go to bed as soon as she finally went to sleep. So you are doing an awesome job of teaching her to stay in bed and fall asleep by herself.

With my daughter, it was only this year when she started 1st grade and had to be to school at 8 am that she started falling asleep before 9 pm.