Sleep Issues with Toddler

If he stays in bed do the vacuuming in the time he is awake. I did this when my twins kept getting up and I had to go back to work. Worked for me, good luck!

This is common. This is what they do at this age. BOTH my kids did that too.

If he is not crying/yelling/screaming... just let him play in his crib. It's fine. Then they get tired again and will need to sleep.

It's just that they are changing SO much at this time physically, cognitively, that their sleep gets quirky too.
It's a phase. It will go back to normalcy. Believe me.

Just don't punish or scold... they can't help it and are not doing it on purpose to irk you. It's just part of "growing pains' for the Parent - LOL.

In the meantime, just keep everything dark... don't turn on any lights, keep things calm and quiet and "boring"... try not to interact too much... and he should settle back down.

And yes, at this age as well, they get different manifestations of "separation anxiety." All normal. At various ages... separation anxiety comes up in different forms, throughout childhood.

All the best,
Susan

When my daughter started to wake up in the night to play, someone suggested that I move her nap time earlier. Soon I had her taking naps about 2 hours earlier (moved them from after lunch to before lunch, then to after morning snack). Once she got used to the schedule, she no longer woke up in the middle of the night.

I suggest thinking about his daytime activities, food consumption, media consumption (TV, computer, etc.) and sleep schedule. I would cut out TV in the evening, cut out sugar and caffeine (pay attention to the places that sugar and caffeine are that aren't as obvious- I recently read that caffeine can stay in there system for 6 hours). You also don't want to eat too close to bedtime.

What time does he take a nap? Probably should be around 1ish for 2-3 hours. And his bedtime should be around 7/7:30 and he should probably sleep close to 12 hours. Sometimes when kids are overtired they have sleep problems. Toddlers should get around 12-14 hours a day- I tend to push more for the 14 hours.

Do you have a consistent and simple bedtime routine? Bath, PJs, teeth, book, hug/kiss, bed type of thing. Lights off, door closed, a sound spa to help drown out other sounds, a dark room...??

Is he still in a crib?

Also, may want to check out my sleep blog www.lullabyluna.com

I have 3 kids, so, I am beat at night. I know this will not be the popular answer-but, I'd just leave him in his room. All my kids wanted to play at night-after the 1st one, I just ignore them-they are in their room in a crib, perfectly safe. It lasts a couple nights, and then they realize-hmmm it must be sleep time, and they lkearn to put them selves back to sleep.

Do you have access to a pool or a park? Make sure he is really running off the last of his energy at the end of each day. Some boys just come super-charged. Sounds like you have a sweet little guy -- just highly energized.

Don't go in to him, he'll soothe himself back to sleep.Once you go in, he thinks it's party time. Let him cry a bit if need be.

I agree with Chrystine. Don't go in. If you go in of course they want to play. Let him cry! It will take a few days but well worth it. We just went through this with our 21 month out after being in the same room together at Christmas (never the case at home). It took 2 days and he didn't get up anymore.

Good luck!

When my son did this (he is also 21 months) my husband told him he had a choice. He could go to sleep in his room with daddy or he could come to bed with mommy. He'd start carrying him to his room and my son would cry and say mama over and over again. So my husband would walk him into my our room and put him to bed with us (where he sleeps most nights anyway). When he starts to fuss, I'd ask him if he wanted to go to his room, he'd say no, calm down and give me kisses, this might happen three or four more times before he'd finaly fall asleep. It seems to work for us. Good luck.

Hi there, My daughter of 20 months does the same thing. Although we are training her to stay in her toddler bed. She cried and cried in her crib, so we allowed her to co-sleep. I figured what do I have to lose? She doesn't sleep in her crib anyway. So my daughter gets out of her bed a million times a night for a few hours. I feel like we are doing it for a purpose though. I was hoping that is would only take her a few days to adjust, but it is taking way longer. It has already been a week, and she still gets up for hours at a time. so, I sympothize with you.
If your son is still in his crib, then just let him cry. He will fall asleeps eventually. That's what I have to do with my baby girl.
Good luck!
Here's my email if you want to talk. ____@____.com

I'd check to see if he is getting his molars in. That will mess up a sleep schedule.

My son who is just over 2 had trouble falling asleep. Now, I realize this is a bit different than your situation. However, it may be similar in that it is a sleep issue. I struggled with him for over 1 month. I went in and laid down on the floor beside him until he fell asleep. After doing this for too long, I realized it really wasn't helping. What finally did the trick is either eliminating his nap or shortening it considerably. Now he falls asleep on his own and quickly. I wonder if that might be helpful for your son. Perhaps he too is getting too much sleep in the daytime.

He loves you. It's not the best time to connect, but he wants to be with you. It's really sweet, but not practical for either of you. I went through years of sleep deprivation with my girls. It's rough.

I know you'll get lots of good suggestions on adjusting his behavior. If you want to talk to a sleep consultant, my dear friend, Eileen O'Sullivan is really good at this stuff. I've worked with Eileen on different projects so I know how good she is. Her number is ###-###-####.

Good luck.
D.
www.betweenparents.org

First of all, he might have to do without his afternoon nap. That way he will be more tired, at least until you do the next step, which is...to let him cry it out. He needs to be in his own bed and stay there for the whole night while the rest of the house sleeps. Tell him that everyone sleeps at night and he needs to let mommy sleep too so she won't be so grump during the day. Be strong and DO NOT PLAY with him during the night. Why go back to sleep if mommy will play with me? Good luck!

Our son is almost 4 and sometimes still does that. It's so frustrating. He won't stay in his bed. We just give up and bring him into ours. Sometimes it takes 2-3 hrs for him to fall back asleep. You just have to keep things quiet, dark and no fun, no stimulation. It should pass. Hopefully won't happen very often.