Sleeping Habits Of Toddler

sanjuruby3 · Jul 17, 2017

My 3 yr old is very bad in sleeping on time. She won't sleep till 9:30 /10:00 pm and its like fixed schedule. No matter how active her day way. Like she is waiting for perfect pose, perfect moment and perfect stars configuration, then she will fall sleep and it is so tiresome for us.
When in car, she sleeps fast but for night time, I can not drive randomly everyday for 30 mins so she sleeps.

At home she will not sleep alone in separate room or bed and needs her dad to lie down with her till she sleeps. Thats usually 2 hrs process. She prefers her dad. If he not available, or outside, she keeps missing him and won't sleep again.

We both have to chores waiting once she sleeps. Like I have kitchen work standing and office work for him. So after 1 hr ot bed with her and she still singing, shifting but no signs of sleep, person with her gets frustated and gets up. Then turn of next person. If some one not lying down with her, she will keep calling to come to her or sometimes start crying which again delays her sleep.

I can not cut her nap. She goes to school and they have nap times. Then at home on weekends or holidays, many times she is too excited too sleep and again I, waste 2 hrs in the afternoon trying to get her to nap, but in the evening, she just crashes. I forcefully wake her up to eat and also with fear that she won't wake up in the middle of night or for hunger. Sometimes, I feel excited that it was active day for her and quick nap so she would sleep early but in my dreams...

She has also those toys to burn her energy but she does not like anything after 1- 2 times of usage.

I tried music, books. No magic works on her. Please advise.

Anisu · Jul 17, 2017

OP,
I think you should stop the habit of the whole exercise of trying to make her sleep early. The more we force , the more do they oppose. I was facing this issue with my kid at the age of 2. It led to frustration. So one day i decided to stop trying to make the kid sleep. I would tell a bed time story and say time to sleep. The kid would take time , but slowly get adjusted to this routine.

Also, the kid would need some outdoor activity like going to park and playing so that the energy is used there and will not be hyperactive once back home.

priyasaki · Jul 17, 2017

Hi,

My son is 3.3 yrs old. I was in the same situation until 45 days back.

He was going to playschool from the age of 2 yrs and they had afternoon nap time for 2 hrs.
He will sleep nicely in play school and his sleeping time was not before 11pm.
We all at the home got frustrated and our energy will drain before he sleeps.
Some days i will start crying in frustration and my hubby consoles me...

he started going to pre kg from this june.. he returns by 12.30pm and goes to daycare by 2.45pm.
So he is not having his afternoon nap, he returns by 6.45pm..
we both(me and son) will chat or play for sometime. By 7.15 his dinner is served.
He is made to lie on sofa in hall itself after dinner.
He gets drowsy and sleeps by 8pm.

Skipping afternoon nap worked well for me. But u should engage him properly from 5pm to 7pm.
This may not work out with ur kid, but think of something different instead of spending 2 hrs in bed.

sanjuruby3 · Jul 17, 2017

I kind of want her to know that by 8:30 pm, she should be in bed. She goes to school and they do all those activities so if it was me, I would already be so exhausted before dinner. When she comes back, I feel rush to wash her up and make her eat on time.
Days she is home, she will be always jumping up and down so much. I try to engage her in outdoor but she is always hyper active. Skipping nap on weekends is not working for us. She crashes at 5/6pm then regains energy :-((

viki123 · Jul 18, 2017

@sanjuruby3
Have you tried to sleeping along with her. My DS also prefers sleeping with us, so we sleep early around 9 with him. But wake up early at 5 to finish any unfinished tasks. Even when he tosses around we ignore & sleep and he will sleep eventually.