Need Help Getting My 2 Year Old Son to Sleep

I know you updated and say that he goes to bed at 9 and you sleep in in the morning , but still , 9pm is too late for a 2 yr old to be going to bed. He needs to be going to bed around 7/7.30 at a push and a nap around 1pm for 1-2 hrs. I would rather be up earlier in the AM and have my evenings to myself. If he doesn't wake up until 9.30am then of couse he won't go to sleep until 11pm , he must be taking a really late nap also getting up that late in the morning. Get him on a better schedule , he needs to be used to going to bed earlier and getting up earlier , because when he starts school he will have to.

Sounds like you need to put your foot down Momma. No TV and bed time is bed time. If he gets up tell him nicely the first time that it is bed time and walk him back in there. If he gets up after that just take him back to bed without saying anything. It will take a few nights but it will work.

Do not allow him to get out of bed, if he does, put him back. Choose a time (at our house it is 8) and have him in bed at that time every night, and if he gets up, tell him no, it is sleep time, and put him back. Make sure his room is somewhat dark so he can not get up and play in his room, and than just be firm and consistent until he understands that bed time means just that.

He may be overtired...possibly needing to get in bed earlier. Sounds like he mya be missing his window and becoming "wired". See if starting your bedtime routine 1 hour earlier might help. With our 3 year old we started taking away whatever toys or activites he is most into at the moment. He used to call us back into his room at least 3 or 4 times before he finally went to sleep. Can get really annoying! Now we make sure to talk about everything he needs to talk about when we get into bed...is the kitty in the room? Are all "protectors" in his closet? Is his sheet pulled up and tucked in? Then we go over what it is that will be takin away if he calls us back in. It took about 2 weeks of him not being able to play with certain things. He's much better now. I also started using "mommy magic dust" to help him go to sleep. I put some water into my hand after we turn out the lights...sprinkle it over him and in the closet on his protectors. He gets so excited when he feels the "dust" on him!! Good luck!

What time does he wake up in the morning? 9 seems a bit late for that age, maybe he is over tired? We just moved our son into a toddler bed (27 months) and told him that he needs to stay in his bed until we come get him or we will have to go back to a crib. Knock on wood, he hasn't gotten out yet. Plus, we have a gate across the door.

There are nights though that he will stay up and talk to himself, but he doesn't get out of bed.

We let our kids know that unless there was fire, flood, earthquake, bleeding or trowing up they had to stay in bed. If he will not go back into bed on his own, then carry him in. Everyone in the house needs to support/enforce this. No chitchatting, etc with him when he comes out but asking right off - ' Is there a fire, flood, earthquake, etc? No - then you should not be out here - get back into bed right now.'
Clearly he is just wanting to play and his not afraid. I would do your nighttime routine, remind him of the ground rules and turn off the lights and leave.
It may take you some effort but if he sees consistency of enforcing the rule,
he will start staying in bed and not coming out to play. =-)

Good luck!!!

I'd start trying to put him to bed earlier. Do 1/2 hour increments, he sounds over tired to me. I know he 'sleeps in', but that doesn't mean he's getting enough sleep. Try making sure he only has one nap that starts around 1 pm and then try putting him to bed between 7:30 and 8:00. It may seem counterintuitive but sleep begats sleep and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised! :)

I would agree that 9 is too late but if that's what works for you and your family then continue doing it. It does sound like he can't wind down once he gets in to bed and that's why he's getting out of bed, asking for water etc...because he can't fall asleep. Have you heard of something called Calms Forte? It's made by Hylands (most people are familiar with their teething tablets).

"Temporarily relieves the symptoms of restlessness, sleeplessness, night terrors, growing pains, causeless crying, occasional sleeplessness due to travel and lack of focus in children"

It is all natural 100% natural. I have this in my house in the adult strength for times that my husband and I have trouble falling asleep and I discovered it for kids.

My son recently has had trouble napping. He lays there for 2 hours but cannot fall asleep even though he's so tired. I see him trying to relax but he just can't fall asleep. For the past week I've given him 2 calms forte kids before his nap and he's not only napped for 2 plus hours but he's fallen asleep with in 20 minutes every single day.

This has been a life saver for us. It does not make him drowsy or lethargic or anything it just relaxes him to the point that he can fall asleep. I've recommended it to 2 of my friends in the past week and after trying it with their kids both of their kids are now going to sleep on time and doing great.

Best of luck if you decide to try it.
A.

My daughter would get out of bed, I would put her back, she would get out again. This went on and on for hours sometimes. So what I did (I saw this on Super Nanny) is sit in her room on the floor, my back to her w/ my head down, no talking to each other until she would fall asleep. She always stayed in her bed and wouldn't get up. She would try to talk to me but I just had to ignore her. I did this for about a week and it worked like a charm! A friend of mine recently tried this on her 2 yr old son and it worked for her too. Good luck!

When my daughter started getting out of her crib by herself, it seemed like her sleep was doomed. I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and needed to go down when she did. Since I was sooooo desperate to sleep as well I came down pretty hard on her. At nap time I threatened punishments if she was up in her crib or got out (she was instructed to lay down and close her eyes). I threatened her with punishments when I heard too much noise in her room and boy I followed through. She learned not to mess around with mom when it was time to lie down and close her eyes. If I hadn't been so desperate myself to sleep, I'm not sure what would have come of her new found stalling techniques.

We have just begun a "new phase", with my 2 year old daughter not sleeping and wanting to get up all the time. If she gets up twice, I put her back in bed and close the door. She soon falls asleep when she knows she cannot get up and out of her room. I do not go in for a good while. Then I open the door before I go to bed.
I can't believe my luck, but this is working for us right now.

Start earlier, much earlier. He sounds exhausted. Rules, you make them, he doesn't. Make a list of what he would like around bed time: books, covers, night light and don't deviate from routine for anything for a while. TV around sleep time stimulates their brain.

Out of bed? No talking, don't look at him, right back to bed. He's loving all the attentions he's getting. Give him a ton of attention during the day and ziltch after night routine is complete.

I felt heartless when I started this, but she sleeps like a dream and knows and feels confident in the routine. Kids crave parameters.

Jen