Almost 3 Year Old Takes Sometimes over an Hour to Fall Asleep

Maybe the nap time should change or it is just a phase and wait it out. Some kids distract themselves with pacifiers or other objects instead of going down easier. Find some quiet time before hand for him to mellow down at least 30min. before scheduled nap time.

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No biggie.
Adults don't instantly fall asleep either, once their head is on the pillow.

Kids also need time to wind-down.
So, factor in that wind-down time.

Your son IS falling asleep.
So that is good.
That is just his rhythm to it.
He DOES fall asleep.

My son naps every afternoon. He is 4.
He takes that amount of time to fall asleep too.
He even told me, that that is how he falls asleep. Gradually.
Then he does, fall asleep.
Fine.

Just be happy, your son naps.

Don't do anything overly stimulating before nap.
Make things QUIET and calm before sleep.
You need to set the stage for sleep/naps.
Otherwise, the child needs to key down, first.

Once he asks for his P, what do you do? Do you take him to his room? Does he expect you to sit with him?

When our son was about 2 1/2 we began expecting more from him at bedtime. Previously we had rocked him to sleep or lay down with him. So, we began sitting next to his bed. We let him know that this was the new routine and it was time to go "night night." The first couple of nights he would climb out of bed, but we just kept putting him back in bed. Once he was used to this we began making up excuses to leave the room: "I need to use the restroom, I'll be right back," "I'm going to put the clothes in the dryer and come right back," "After I put soapy water in the sink I'll be right back." We always came back. We kept increasing the time we were gone, but we always came back. After a few nights, he would be asleep when we got back. He's now almost 5 years old and a champion sleeper. We don't even have to do much after we take him to bed, give kisses and say goodnight.

Find a routine that you're ok with. Once he gets used to it, you can tweak it to make it shorter or better. If you need ideas, I'd try "The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers" by Elizabeth Pantley. Lots of good ideas.

My son was like this... until 8 months ago when his occupational therapist who is also trained in craniosachral therapy worked on his craniosachral rhythm. It changed our lives! My son, who previously took 1-2 hours to fall asleep no matter what we tried, started asking to go to bed and fell asleep within 30 minutes, by the end of the 2nd session. Now I know when his rhythm needs adjusted again because his sleep gets wacky. I sincerely hope that this helps other parents. It was a big event for my husband and me to finally get some semblence of our nights back! Good luck to you!

People just can't make themselves fall asleep. In fact, the harder I "try," the more elusive sleep becomes. And I clearly recall needing a long, long time to fall asleep as a very young child. It was out of my hands.

You little guy might be a little overtired when he asks for his pacifier. That also requires more time to unwind for most little kids. It might be helpful if you were to start him toward bed a bit before that's likely to happen.

Other things that can mess with with a child's ability to sleep is emotional tension in the household (maybe only specifically about "bedtime"), television or screen time within 2 hours of bedtime (the stimulation and blue-light end of the spectrum interfere with the production of the sleep hormone melatonin in the brain), lack of enough daytime illumination, lack of exercise and active play, exposure to nervous-system irritants (in many common house-cleaning and laundry products), and exposure to certain food colors and preservatives.

But if you can eliminate all those causes, and he still takes a long time to fall asleep, then he's possibly just one of those slow sleepers. I think that includes a fairly large segment of the human population. You may need to adjust his bedtime to accommodate so that he doesn't become sleep-deprived.

Here's an extremely informative website on children and sleep: http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/sleep.htm

My daughter will be 3 next week, and this must be a common thing at this age. She was (and still is mostly) a wonderful sleeper. But the last few weeks we have been having what I call the "bedtime dance". It has been taking her 30-90 minutes to fall asleep. She will think of any excuse she can to keep getting out of bed. I just put her right back in bed and tell her "your a big girl now, and its bedtime". Also, a few hours after she falls asleep, she wakes up and climbs in bed with us. Not every night, but its about 50/50 with her crawling in bed with us in the middle of the night.

I don't know what the answer is, but I just wanted to tell you that you are not alone. Good luck!

My daughter is like that. Anything less than an hour was a good night. We had wind down time, we cuddle and read a story, etc. Tried adjusting nap times and schedules. Nothing worked. It just seemed that was how she was made. I was something she very gradually grew out of it. It was like she needed to learn how to calm herself.

Google transition time activities. Little kids need at least 30 minutes of quiet time before their little bodies even get the message it's time to go to sleep then it takes time for them to do so.

It is perfectly normal for him to take this long. Try starting a few minutes earlier and start by playing something less busy, more geared to calming down. Maybe bath time next. Then have a routing of reading as soon as PJ's are on. He needs more time to get mentally ready for bed.

He may also be sleeping too many hours. Some people put their kids to bed early and don't realize as they get older they don't need that many hours of sleep. He may be ready for a later bedtime.

If you're doing naps still, toss them. Do quiet time instead. I'd also consider looking into how much sleep he needs and adjusting it. It sounds like he needs about an hour less of sleep at night (unless he's been taking naps, then toss the naps, and keep the night sleeping the same). So, if he hasn't been taking naps, drop an hour off of his sleep at night. Anyway...that's what I do with mine;-)