Son Taking up to 2 Hours to Fall Asleep!

I have 2 kids and it seems that the culprit for that is always the afternoon nap. My now 6 year old took naps until he was a little past 3 yrs old but then at night he wouldn't fall asleep until 10 - we took away his nap and he was back to normal, going to sleep at his normal bedtime. It is an adjustment (mostly for moms) when you take that nap away but the kids seem to do fine. My now 2 1/2 yr old has done away w/ her afternoon naps (on her own) and falls asleep by 7:30 pm each night. Each kid is different and require different amount of sleep. You might try a few days w/o the nap and see what happens. Good luck.

Hi T.,

He may just be going through a growth spurt or other changes that are temporarily affecting his sleep. Definitely don't cut out his nap... that will create sleep sabotage and make the problem worse! Both of my boys have gone through similar instances and got back to their original sleep schedule. My 3 1/2 year old is going through one right now, actually... a lot of changes going on, so I'm pretty sure that's what's causing it.

Good luck - and hang in there!
D.

That is AWESOME that he has been such a great sleeper so far. And that is the right amount of time for him to be sleeping. I would just try to keep that same schedule with him. Make sure you let him run around outside after his nap before dinner - fresh air and exercise make a big difference. The only other thing you might try is rocking him or something before you put him down to get the sleepy vibe going a little earlier. I agree - it's probably just a phase where he's learning things and wants to stay up to practice. He'll probably get over it in a few weeks. Good luck!

One last thought - even with the room darkening curtains, my daughter knows it is still light outside, and that has thrown us off a bit. So it may be a summer thing. Hopefully he'll get used to it soon.

I guess my first question would be, what time is nap time? Nap time should not extend past 2PM in the afternoon. For the not so good sleepers, if it is any later, they won't go to bed so easily at night.

I suggest limiting his nap to no more than an hour and not letting him nap after noon if you wish to keep his bedtime at 7:00 p.m. We moved our daughter's bedtime back to 9:00 p.m at 24 mos. because we were having a similar issue. She still wakes up around 7:00 a.m. (she's now almost 3) and naps from 3-4 p.m.
Good luck!

Does sound like some sort of growing spurt.. The repeating all of his words is a perfect example..

Do not take away the nap, but see if you can move it up by an hour.. Also make sure he is getting really active play in the morning and again in the afternoon.

Is it possible that the light is too bright in his room? You may want to consider black out curtains.. I used to hang quilts during the summer. Our daughter room was always very bright..

It sounds like the good news here is that he is willing to lie in bed and so his body is resting up to the point he falls asleep. There are a few sleeping "tricks" I have picked up over the years. My daughters pediatrician told us that when your eyes move it tricks the brain into thinking you've entered REM sleep. (That's where the old sheep jumping a fence idea comes from). She was supposed to trace the alphabet with her eyes. Your son is a bit young for that, but a small fish tank with half a dozen or so goldfish will give his eyes something to follow. (Feed the fish right at bed time so they are active). Second this phase of development is where reading before bed time starts for many families. Let him look at books for 15 -20 minutes at the start of bed time, set a timer (in his room), to help him learn there is a time limit involved with the activity. Another idea, you can try stories on tape for him to listed to. I would agree his brain is working on language development and that may be a reason for his chatter at night. So give him something to focus that language on. There are limited offerings available for such items. Part of why I created story CD's (only two so far, hope to make many more). In leiu of that, a talk radio station (if you can find one appropriate for a child to listen to) might help. Finally I would not worry about waking your child from a nap, if he has been asleep for two solid hours. Children in day care settings are often awakened at the end of a nap time, either slowly with lights, and increase in noise and they wake on their own, or even by gentle shaking or sitting them up. The only time I have seen that adversely effect a child is if they fell asleep within 30 minutes of being awakened. These kind of questions always have trial and error answers, because every child is different and responds differently. Take every suggestion you get to see what works best for you and your son.

yeah, that is kinda funny! I agree with the others so far, don't cut out his nap and it's probably a growth spurt or other "phase". 2 hours really is a long time, but it seems like maybe he's so excited about learning new words, among other things, and that impedes him from going to sleep. Miss Judy had some interesting suggestions and you may want to consider that. Even if you don't do real fish, there are plenty of crib toys with fish tanks, etc. that you can strap right to the crib. I wouldn't worry about that distracting him any, sounds like he has that taken care of on his own! ;) It seems like putting him to bed later should work, but really it's counter productive as you found out. I don't really know the mechanics of it, but sleep most definitely breeds sleep!

If it were me, I'd ride it out a few more days to a week, esepcially if he's not upset, and see if it corrects itself, if not I'd probably go with the book/fish ideas! Good luck!

I had a similar question a few days ago. My daughter is 14 months old and takes one nap (has for a long time). She takes a 2-3 hour nap and I never wake her up. Sometimes she just plays in her crib, like your son. We stick to going at the same time every day and night. At night she usually goes to sleep a lot quicker but will still sometimes take up to an hour to fall asleep. About him waking up earlier, I have no ideas but just wanted you to know every response I got back about just letting her sit and play was positive. Good luck!

as your child grows, you may not be able to maintain the same sleep/nap schedule. For this age group, ten hours is acceptable....with a good 2 hour nap. Adaptability is the key to surviving!

As for eliminating the nap.....don't do it! He'll be overtired & unmanageable!