sleep expectations for a 2 yr old.

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February 10, 2012, 03:41:56 AM

babies, babies everywhere!!! no news today.

8545 Posts in 1170 Topics by 17633 Members
Latest Member: knodiaunloari

ok we're trying to figure this out. for 2 whole weeks Charlie was content for me to put her to sleep for naps by tucking her in, a kiss and a few words about seeing her when she woke up then closing the door. yes, there'd be a whimper, but only for a few seconds. but now its a no go, kicking and screaming affair and she mucks around if we try to cuddle her to sleep.

so is this her thinking "i don't want to have a nap(though she is completely a wreck, walking zombie mode) and if i muck around and stamp my feet enough i wont have to have a nap" and therefore i should probably persist or should i try another tactic.

the 2 things i do are:
1. the above with kisses and a closed door = 2 minutes for me and prob 5-10 minutes for c to fall asleep for her nap.
2. lying with her, her mucking around, me giving up on the nap for 15 minutes and trying again, and again = 2hrs till she finally goes to sleep or she crashes on the lounge room floor at 3 in the afternoon.

she's started to do no.2 for going to bed at night too. she was just cuddling with Tristan for 20-30 minutes, but now she's mucking around.

any suggestions? for 2 weeks we had a really good thing going with no.1 and i don't want to go backwards. i'm wondering if she's acting up because the PILs have gone away again.

so am i expecting too much that when its bedtime(flexible 7-8) and she's tired that she should go to sleep with out much heartache, i mean for nights dh puts her to sleep, its not the nap scenario.

Megs,
You're number 2 is the main reason that we never really would lay with Jocelyn on a regular basis to get her to fall asleep - it wasn't that we cared so much about her falling asleep on her own but it would take sooooooo long for her to go to sleep if we were there with her that it was ridiculous.

Jocelyn has been fighting her naps a little so I would guess that Charlie may be protesting because she just doesn't want to sleep even though she needs to. Bedtime is never really a fight.

Could you try and extend your naptime/bedtime routine with C a little so that you're spending a little more time in her room before she actually gets in bed? At bedtime we spend about 25-30 minutes in Jocelyn's room reading, getting her animals in bed, etc. Naptime is the same general routine but abbreviated - more like 10 minutes or so. She is much more likely to protest going to sleep if I try to rush her into bed because I want to take care of something else. I know its got to be tough with Asha there as well so I'm not sure if spending the extra time is a possibility. We also just walk Jocelyn back to bed and tuck her in again if she gets up - most of the time she just asks for a certain animal or for us to fix her covers and sometimes she cries a little but it is definitely a tantrum cry and not a scared or upset cry.

For naps I would say that the most important thing is for you to be consistent with having her take them and not letting her get up every fifteen minutes until she crashes somewhere. Does C nap at a time when A is also sleeping so that you can just lay there with her long enough for her to go to sleep even if it takes a while?

I don't think you're expecting too much for it not to be a battle to get her to sleep but Jocelyn has been relatively easy (most of the time) in the sleep department. Even when we did spend a lot of time walking her back to her bed (when she first transitioned to the toddler bed) it was mainly a game for her so there really wasn't a lot of tears - mostly us trying to keep from laughing at her!

I hope you figure out something that works!

Oh how i wish we could just walk Charlie back to her room. She just would kick and scream at the meoment and then wake up Asha. that is one of the big concerns i have is that with us enforcing her going to sleep that she will wake up Asha in the process. I would lie with her for naps(i was doing it once Asha was alseep) but she just mucks aropund with me, less tears actually if i leave her in her room than if i stayed.

I'll try lengthening the wind down time, i think that could be key.

was about a month or more ago when maddox basically stopped having ady time naps, he has the occasional one but gernally made it through the hwole day without to much trouble ...

i never really forced him to have a nap in our bed or anything and he took to having a blanket and pillow on floor of louge room and he now knows if he is tired in teh daytime he can lay there and go to sleep and maybbe 3 times a week he does that of his own accord.

he doesnt get particularl grupy when tired though so im lucky.

and i did tend to use the dvd card a bit when he was very tired... hed jsut lay down and watch 5 minutes before drifting off...

she definitely still needs a day time nap. major hissy spits last night again, mainly because dh was sick of the mucking around and c didn't want me, she wanted her dad. we'll get through it.

this to shall pass
this to shall pass

thats what i keep telling myself..

that and 'if it wasnt this it'd be something else"

...

Ok, I'm really no help in the sleep dept b/c I let my kids sleep on me on the couch, which doesn't seem like is something you want to do. So, anyway, no advice here...just lots of (((HUGS))).

ok after a chat to the MIL in Nepal we've figured out its all got to do with c feeling she doesn't have control, so we're giving her a bit of freedom with nights, just to let her know she can make a decision. so we still do the routine but we leave the door open and if she wants to stay awake, no biggie. last night she decided to fall asleep on the lounge room floor pretty much because we were being boring(reading adult books). so at the moment its about letting her know she can 'decide' to go to sleep if she wants to or not.

Success!!!! thumbs up

It only took 2 days of late nights doing MILs suggestiona nd we now have a 2 yr old who puts herself to sleep for naps and bedtime(we tuck her in etc of course. How awesome is that. I thought it would be so much harder. now i hope it continues.

Wow, that's awesome! thumbs up