Bedtime Suddenly a Problem with 26 Month Old

J.,

I certainly can't compete with 26 years of experience! But I would definitely say that this is one of those "phases" - I'd watch him. Some kids "grow out" of needed naps. That doesn't mean that overnight they don't need them anymore, but moreso that it becomes to difficult/too much of a fight to get them down for one than it's worth. What about "quiet time" instead of a nap? Can he watch a movie? "Play" in his room? If you change what you call it and change him being put in his crib, and instead allow him to play with a few toys with a radio on, I know I've had success with this. I even made a "bed" for all the dollies on the floor and space to 'read'. Either the child falls asleep on the floor-bed or recharges their battery enough to be tolerable for the rest of the day. Just be advised if you do this, you may need to push bedtime up 1/2 or so.

Good luck!

My second daughter is about the same age and, based on my experience with my two, I might guess that your little guy's nap is too long and too late in the day. A few kids even start to drop naps at this age (not mine). Also, a 9pm bedtime is pretty late for a child this young.

My 28 month old sleeps from 7:30pm to 6:30am and naps for about 1.5 hours starting around 12-1pm. I've always found bedtime to be difficult if I let naps go past 3pm. You might consider checking out the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (or something like that) by Weisbluth. Not only does it provide good information about children's sleep needs and habits, but it addressess sleep issues and how to change them for older kids and not just babies.

As some others have mentioned, you might also want to start thinking about the transition out of the crib. It is hard at first, since they no longer stay where you put them and you have to work on that. But, this is different topic!

I wouldn't recommend moving him into a toddler bed if he's not trying to escape his crib. Cribs are always the safest place (unless they're trying to escape). You may have more issues if he has the freedom of getting in and out of bed.

To me, it sounds lie his internal clock is changing, and his routine needs to be altered a little bit.

I would try to do the nap earlier - we have issues if our kids nap past 2-2:30 or abbreviate its length.

Perhaps consider a new routine in the evening. Maybe a bath would help calm him (we usually do our baths around 7-7:30) followed by a few books that he gets to choose. It's working for our 3.5 year old. A lot of times, though (last night included) he's hungry for a snack and can't fall asleep until he has something in his stomach. We did a granola bar, and he was good to go.

Your son is probably transitioning to no nap. I had to stop naps at 2 years old because my son wouldn't go to sleep at night. He was a little tired during the day but eventually adjusted. If your son doesn't want to nap, you can try to do some "quiet time" so he can rest - maybe watch a video or something so he is sitting still and relaxing. If you want to keep the nap, make it earlier so it doesn't interfere with bedtime. We found if we did a nap before 1 PM it wouldn't interfere with bedtime.

Good luck!

Reduce his nap time to see if that makes a difference.

Consider a big boy bed...maybe he's getting more independent and doesn't want to be caged up.

If he's throwing his binky out of his crib and disrupting falling asleep, I'd think about getting rid of it.

he could be waking up because he's having nightmares or night terrors. Or because he's more 'aware' now so he reliazes that by sleeping, he's missing out on toys/playing/you guys/etc.

Good luck!

I think I might reduce his nap hours and see if he lies down better at bedtime.

my 27month old is now not taking naps everyday. Some days he will still go into his room for quiet time. He's in a big boy bed and so since he isn't trapped he will just play. Some days he'll play for an hour and then decide to take a nap, other days he'll play for a couple hours. Then there is a day like today where he's been asleep for almost 3 hours now.

I think everything thing at this age is a transition. Maybe you should transition him to a big kid bed or take the rail off the crib so he can be free to play. I just tell my son that it is quiet time and even if he doesn't want to nap he still needs some time to de-stress and be alone. The first couple days of doing this he would whimper or cry for 10-15min, but now he LOVES his time alone without sister.

Depending on what time he wakes up, he may need to go to bed earlier.