daytime sleep advice....just turned 2

[cja]

Hi,

My DS has just turned two. He has stopped sleeping during the day. He has gone from having to be woken up after 2hrs to refusing to go to sleep at all. Now we are having grumpy afternoons and an earlier bed time.....

When did your kids stop having a daytime sleep?? What did you do to avoid the cranky afternoons??

We only have a 2bedroom house and DS shares with 10month old DD, this makes it a bit tricky to go into the room too many times or let DS complain in bed because she really needs to sleep at this time...

Any advice....thanks...

[mim1]

My ds is 2 and he sleeps from 2 - 4 hours in the afternoon and 10 - 12 hours overnight. Every child is different in their sleep requirements. His paed recommended that we inforce the afternoon nap time, even if it means he's in his cot for a 'rest' rather than a sleep.

I suggest trying to reintroduce the afternoon nap and inforce it as much as you can. Don't wake him up - let him sleep as long as he wants (if he sleeps) and keep putting him down early at night if he doesn't sleep in the afternoon.

[pixiemum2]

I found at around 2 years 3 months DS started protesting about having his day nap. He would sleep for 1.5-2 hours. He was also a lot harder to get down in the evening. So I stopped making him have a day nap. He was really cranky come about 4pm until bedtime at 7pm and a couple of times he did fall asleep on the couch.
It took about 2 weeks for him to get used to not having his day nap and now at 2.5 he is fine without it. Sometimes if he does get a bit cranky towards bedtime I will put him down 1/2 hour early. He goes to sleep straight away now instead of fussing and playing in his cot for an hour or two.

[Just Add Water]

Master 4 has not had daytime sleeps since he was about 18 months old, he does sleep well at night though. If he gets woken up early then he can be quite grumpy but most of the time it's really not worth fighting with him. He just goes to bed a little earlier. Where as Miss 5 is at school and quite often has naps during the day on weekends and sometimes even after school. She sleep for about 11 hours a night but not as heavily as her brother.

I think all kids are different. If he's fighting it then maybe put a movie on for him with a blanket to lie down with, at least then he'll be resting. No resting no movie. Good luck :)

[coogeemum]

We haven't reached that stage yet, but the advice my mother has given me is to make them have a quiet time in the afternoon for 1-2 hours regardless of whether they sleep or not. This may mean putting them to bed, or asking them to stay in their bedroom with a pile of books or a quiet activity. Having a quiet time may mean he doesn't get as ratty by late afternoon. It has the added bonus of giving you some time alone to save your sanity :)

[summermumma]

My DD starting ditching her daytime sleep around 22 months. Up until then she would skip it every now and then and cope OK, but then she went 4 days in a row and was so grumpy and awful by the 4th day. I kept persisting and ensuring she still had some 'quiet time' in her cot for an hour or two. I also started making sure I got her up every morning at around 7am (she goes to bed at 7:30/8pm) as otherwise she would tend to sleep in until 8am or later to catch up. After a few weeks we got back on track more or less and she now has her day naps probably two thirds of the time - for between 1.5 to 3 hours. So I think she still needs it. Otherwise she has a rest in her cot. She can cope with missing a day or even two here or there, which is good if we do want to go out at that time.

So, I would keep trying for a little while if I were you. Maybe try fiddling the bedtime / wake up time, although there's no guarantees and you always run the risk of waking them up earlier and then them still not sleeping (!) Good luck!

[cja]

Thanks everyone....I think I will keep trying for a couple more days. Fingers crossed for this afternoon!

[brisbanegirl]

For the last couple of days my two year old has started "fighting" his day sleep and lies in his bed for about an hour and a half before he finally falls asleep for another hour and a half. One day he was in his room for over two hours without falling asleep and I subsequently put him to bed half an hour earlier than normal. I am all for the "rest" time in the afternoon particularly with another baby coming soon. Not sure if he is starting to not need his afternoon sleep or just a toddler phase!