Toddler Sleep Wackiness.......?

Question

My 27 month old daughter's sleep patterns have been really wacky off and on, and lately it is becoming more frequent.

She used to take an afternoon nap around 2:00, but now she is energized right up until around 5pm, at which point she zonks until midnight or 1 am. Then she is up for 3-4 hours before finally going back to bed for a few more hours and then getting up at her normal time (7-ish). (She's *killing* me! lol)

She is still getting a normal amount of sleep, it is just broken up into odd chunks.

I am wondering if she is in transition trying to drop her nap and going to bed earlier to get all her zzzz's in at night.

I do recall that around 16 months she had some unusual sleep changes, and the end result was dropping from 2 naps down to one.

Did your child go through something similar when giving up nap time?

Any thoughts or insights on toddler sleep-wackiness? Any thoughts on easing this transition (for me or her)?

Answer 1

My 27 month old son thankfully still takes his afternoon nap, but my 26 month old nephew is on the same schedule you just described. I think the best thing to do is try to keep her up in the afternoon as long as you can. Take her outside to play and keep her entertained until at least 7pm, then hopefully she will start sleeping through the night. With my nephew, my sister has found that keeping him up as long as possible in the evening and not letting him go to sleep at 5pm has really helped to keep him sleeping longer at night.

Answer 2

God yes. Just keep her up however you have to until at least 8 pm. If she still gets up, keep all lights off and tv volume way low if shes in lr. if shes in her room keep her light off with low lighting. try to get her to go back to bed every so often.

Answer 3

I remember when mine were doing that. thankfully, we're about four years past that now. I started getting my kids up earlier, then putting them down for a nap around 12. they didn't have to go to sleep, but they did have to lay there for 45 minutes. after that, I kept them up through dinner and bath time. if we made it to 8 pm without one of them falling asleep, we were doing good. especially considering we had two that were trying to conk out on us. a lot of days, they only stayed awake because of constant poking, prodding, nudging and jostling. then they got their second wind when they realized I would not allow them to go to sleep.



remember that this is only a phase. you'll get through it, even though you probably feel like you're sleep deprived right now. something else I did was make sure my daughter knew the rules about waking up at night. she could lay there quietly and watch tv (DVDs set up in her room) or she could lay there and not watch tv. those were her only two options. (this is after she got up in the middle of the night about four times, got the keys to my car and set my alarm off. we're talking 2 am, and I had to go out in the cold and turn my alarm off.) most of the time, she would call me to turn her favorite cartoon on, and she'd be back asleep in 15 minutes. my step-daughter wasn't so easy (but they didn't live with me at the time. she required someone sleeping with her, or she woke up screaming. we didn't get her out of this one until she was nearly six. she had to have someone in the bed with her and the tv on. I put the squash on that one soon after we all moved in together.) but I had ways of managing when she and her daddy spent the night. keep in mind that even when a child gives up a nap time completely, she will still be tired late in the evening sometimes. both of my daughters fall asleep in the car on the way home from after-school care. I allow them to sleep those ten measly minutes, and then they have to stay awake until bedtime. good luck with finding a schedule that works for both of you.