HELP My 2Yr Old Daughter and Sleep

Hi L.,

It might be that she's napping too late in the day and too long. I know when I let my daughter nap late in the day, she won't go to bed at her regular bedtime either. My daughter is 18mos. She's up around 8:30-9am and goes to bed at 8:30. I usually try to get her to nap from 1-3pm. I can't always get her down at 1, but I've found if she takes a late nap and she sleeps past 4:30, I know she's not going to sleep as well as she normally does for me. All children are different though...this is what I've found with my daughter.

Hope this helps!
J.

I think her nap time may be too late and too long. Can you move it up to 2:30 or 3? and maybe wake her up after 2 hours. My daughter used to nap from 2:30 to 5 and she hit a non-sleeping patch too. Now she naps from 1:30 to 3:30 and she sleeps much better at night. She is curently 2 and a half

Totally agreed with mostly everyone here. The nap time is too long and too late in the day....and you really have to cut back on the attention at night. It's hard to do and it's easier for someone else to say it than to actually do it. My daughter got into this habit recently where she wanted to sleep in our bed, and she just turned 3 two weeks ago. You have to be firm and say it once and mean it. Ever watch the Nanny? Let her cry, and if she keeps getting out of bed, don't get angry or irritated, simply just keep putting her back in bed and repeat yourself over and over....It's time bed time, good night. But I truly think that her schedule is changing. As she gets older, her body and her naps will change with her maturity. I nap my 2/3 year old now around 12 and she gets up around 2-3, depending on the day. She gets up around 7-8am and goes to bed between 8:30-9pm, sometimes, she doesn't nap at all. Every kid is different, yes. But when they change, you have to adapt to their schedules too.

J.

The problem that I see is that her nap might be too long.
Getting up at 6:30pm from a nap is probably the problem.
I would probably put her down earlier or just wake her
up at 5:30. Hope that helps.

Hello L.

I have a 2 year old daughter who sleeps well through the night. She goes to sleep at 8 and wakes at 7:30. She naps from 1:15to 3:30sometimes 4:00. A few months ago she was starting to have some trouble in the middle of the night waking. At that time she was napping later from 2:30-5:00. we slowly moved her nap time up and have had no problems since. Maybe because your baby is napping and waking so close to her bedtime, it's affecting how good her sleep is. She might not be completely and utterly fully tired to sleep through the night because she just woke from her nap. Just a suggestion. Best of luck.
A.

like everyone says, make the nap earlier and shorter. but just so you know, the daylight savings time always mess my kids up. it takes a long time to get back on a schedule. but remember, no matter what you do, there is a chance she may wake up different than usual. my kids have been waking 6:30 since switching the clocks, when usually they dont wake till almost 8.

fyi, my little girl isnt even two yet and only sleeps for two hours. it works best at 1-2, starting any time later is a mess at night

Every child is different when it comes to hours of sleep. Girls more often than boys mature earlier and require less sleep younger. My daughter slept through the nite from 5 weeks and then stopped at 18 months. What got her to sleep through the nite again was a shorter nap time. As a matter of fact she stopped regular napping at age of 3, to the dismay of the daycare workers. My son, on the other hand, still took noon naps in kindergarten. Try varying her nap duration or try it earlier. Good luck.

Hi L.!! Your daughter has been a GREAT sleeper!!! So the question is what messed it up. My second little guy was just like her. There was a point when I had to make his nap earlier as well just becasue they are growing and it takes them longer to get tired. I remember this time in particular, he was around the same age and he could NOT sleep later than 5 pm. I used to put him down after lunch, between 1:30 and 2 pm. He also would sleep between 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It was AWESOME and even now, he's almost 4...when he does nap it's almost always about 2 hours.
I hope the nap thing will help her sleep. Just be careful at night...you don't want to start a bad habit that will have to be dealt with on its own. Try letting her cry...I was always shocked at what my kids owuld sleep through when the other was screaming their head off at night...they always shared a room.

Hope that helps some!!!

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It sounds like she is getting too much sleep too close to night time... that is a really long nap for so late in the day. Will she nap a little earlier? If not, maybe wake her up at 5:30 so she is only taking a 2 hour nap. A 2 hour nap should be plenty for a 2 year old if she gets over 10 hours per night! My daughter, who is almost 4 will occasionally fall asleep in the car if we are out late in the day, if she sleeps later than 5:00 she will still go to bed on time, but tends to wake up earlier...

AGGH! Stop, don't do it! You really really can't go in there at 3:30 am and expect any different from her. She loves you, she's your daughter, it's a thrill to get some extra mommmy attention and time. You are reinforcing unwanted behavior. It's natural to go through sleep cycles and for a babe to wake up, but she should be able to put herself back to sleep. My also 2 year old has a pacifier to self-soothe as well as this Ocean Wonders crib side thing. Hands down both have been life savers. She's too old to start her on a pacy if she doesn't take one, but you can definitely get the Ocean Wonders thing. Part of our bedtime routine is that she hits the button to get the music going (it times out). She LOVES exerting that 'control' and the music helps her relaz herself. So when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she just hits it and goes back to sleep (I hear her on the monitor). She doesn't bother to call me. HOWEVER, we have a nanny during the week and since I have a 4 month old (we sure have a lot in common?) I keep the montior at night for the younger one and the nanny keeps it for the toddler. So my very smart and manipulative toddler has learned that if she is in 'crisis' (drops her pacy over the railing) that the nanny will get out of bed to come give it to her, comfort her and tell her to go back to bed. I tell the nanny not to do so or at least not to make it so easy but low and behold she does this anyway. But I tell you, my little girl is smart. She knows mommy isn't having that so on the weekends when I'm on duty for both babies and there is no nanny- all of a sudden there's no middle of the night crisis. She magically manages to hold on to her pacifier and to just turn on her little music and go back to sleep. (the 1x or 2x she pulled the serious crisis mode and I had to go in, I was NOT happy about it or nice/comforting but rather corrected her that it was still night night time and lay back down, etc.). She got it all right.

The other thing I want to say is that her sleep needs have diminished since she turned 2. We really have very similar schedules. My daughter would nap from about 1pm to about 4pm and nightnight was 9pm. That really works for us because during the week I don't get home until 8:30pm and would literally never see her all week if it wasn't for that. But we found that she has been staying up either most or all of her regular naptime. We still put her down for it though. What I am doing is putting her down a bit later and getting her up a bit earlier at times. For you, that's where I think you should tweak. I really can't believe she would even go to sleep all night after just 2 hours of being up. But anyway, pull up her nap times so that she is waking up from it earlier. Then she'll be more tired later. Best wishes, feel free to contact me if you'd like... N.

I have 12 yr old twins,a 22 month old son and am due in Dec. WOW, my son never slept that well, so congrats on that, but considering her age, I would shorten her naps. 3 hours is probably too long. I believe 1 1/2- 2 hours is a good amount of time for her to get her rest in and then sleep more at night. I know if my son takes a longer nap than that he will wake up earlier the next morning. If you decide to try this, I recommend starting to wake her up 1/2 hr earlier for the first few days and then add another 1/2 hour to that, try for at least a week or two at a 2 hour nap and see how she does. GOd Bless you and hope this helps.
H.
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My 2 year old is also starting to change her nap schedule. If she takes a really long nap (which she never slept 3 hours, that is wonderful!) then she is either up later that night or earlier the next morning. I agree with the others that said to both move her nap to an earlier time and cut it short. That is quite a bit of sleep only 3 hours before bedtime.

She naps from 3:30-6:30 p.m.?? No wonder she's not sleeping well at night! That's a 3 hour nap before bedtime! I'd cut that nap in half, atleast!
Lynsey

Start cutting her daytime napping down just a tad. Daylight savings wreks havoc on most children's schedules, mine are still going to bed at the same time but getting up earlier now. A 2 year old is a tough cookie, my (now 3.5) year old At that age, a 3 hour nap might be a little much, especially with the change in daylight hours. Try bumping the nap to earlier in the day, or wake her up a half hour earlier so she needs a little extra sleep at night. You may also want to let her have a toy in her bed, so when she wakes up early she can play with it until It's time to get up. She might be a little young for that idea yet, but at that age my daughter knew fullw ell she didn't belong ut o her bed until I came to get her.
Hope this helps!