Son Won't Sleep, 2.5 Years Old!

Hello...

My son - SAME - i ended up moving my son back into his crib, and our 8 month - into another crib (on loan) until he is ready to fully transition - this has been going on at my house for about 4 months - since i put him back in his crib (4 nights ago) by 830-9p - he has practically slept thru the night... now my 8 month old - another story.. but i wish you the best of luck!!

stace

Hi Lexi,
I have a 2.5 year old little girl and have noticed that her sleep pattern is all out of whack lately.

I have been starting our growing time (we don't call it bedtime!) routine at 6:30 (we wind down at 6:00, no T.V., no loud games... we reads, go for a walk, watch the turtles eat...) she is in bed at 7:00. Everytime she gets out of bed I take her hand and lead her back to her room. I don't say a word. I re-tuck her in, give her her baby and kiss her, I do this every time she gets up. She usually gets up between 3-4 times before she is down, she is usually asleep between 7:30-7:45. We get up between 6:30 and 7:00.

This has been going on for about a month and I have noticed that the consistency and routine is really helping. At first she wasn't asleep until about 9:30 (and getting out of bed about 10-15 times) and was up at 5:30. She is learning that she won't get to sit on my lap and watch T.V. and I won't sit in her room and talk with her. It is growing time, end of story!

It makes for a long night, but you hate for them to not get enough growing time and slowly but surely the routine is getting shorter!

Good luck!

I had a stepson, Bert, who was exactly the same and got to where he would only sleep for about 45 minutes per night. YES they grow when they sleep. Have him checked for ADHD. Bert's was severe and I got medication for him... the first night he slept for almost ten hours his body was so tired, but the family didn't believe in medication so they threw it out. He is in his 20's now and 5'1" and has had problems all his life. Good luck and God Bless

Hi,Im a single mom of a 16y/o boy and 4y/o girl. We have sleeping issues all the time because of my constantly changing schedule. This has worked for me: Keep him up LATE then wake him up early. KEEP him up and keep him VERY active all day. (no nap!)Works like a charm. Also monitor what he eats. Junk food and dyes are big no nos for little ones. No fruit juice or sodas. It rotts their teeth and keeps them awake. Also chocolate has caffine. If you are a fruit juice fan try just fruit instead. Also make sure he is getting protien and fiber at supper time. Its harder to digest and helps promote sound sleep. Also make sure their is NO stimulation at bedtime (tv, tickling, loud music, bright lights). And what is so wrong with him sleeping in your bed? Or lay down and cuddle til he goes to sleep then transfer later to his bed. Another thing that may help is a nice warm bath then a full body massage. I massage both of my children it is so relaxing for them. Do it right before bed time. Sometimes they even fall asleep during the massage. Also never use bed as a punishment. It causes sleep disorders. Hope all turns out well. Going to sleep should be a sought after comfortable relaxing time for all humans. Make it a loving happy time. We all have to go to sleep every day for the rest of our lives. :)

I feel for you because our 5 1/2 year old has always had problem sleeping. We talked to mutiple pediatrician and each one recommended something different. One thing I did not want to do was drug my boy.

My son would go days with a couple hours of sleep. Finally, we tried melatonin which is a natural sleep aide. I was told it is what your body produces to tell it's time to sleep and some people do not produce enough and therefore do not need as much sleep. He only get's it once in awhile because he has started sleeping more after taking it for about a month.

I would talk to your doctor before giving him anything. Someone told me that Europe pulled all the melatonin off the shelfs but she did not know why. Coule have been the brand but it's better to be safe then sorry.

Best of luck to you.

I had this at 5:30 with my daughter (3) the other day and I told her that it was still sleeping time upon which she threw a trantum. I told her I could turn her good night music on again, but that there were no other options for her. She did not want this and I walked out. We repeated this one more time , then the music was okay and she ended up sleeping again until 8 AM.
This had happened before a few times and I keep telling her that it is still sleeping time as anything before 6:00 AM really does not work for me. What happened the other day with the tantrum was a first, ususally she takes the information that it is not day yet a lot calmer : )

Hope this helps!
D.

I know this is going to sound like heresy in our high tech world...at least one study has shown mobile phone use disrupts sleep patterns. Has your son been exposed to a cell phone...either talking into it or you (or someone else) talking into it while he is close by? I am starting to question the waves coming from a lot of appliances we have now. The cordless phone bases we have in many rooms in the house generate EMF even when not in use. I have gone back to wired land lines.
There could be other things..foods, light exposure at night , chemicals, that have affected his pattern. His change in sleep might be quite a puzzle to figure out...and the problem may go away as suddenly as it showed up.
I am a strong supporter of co-sleeping. The whole crib/separate room idea is a strange modern creation. Just look at the majority of human cultures and history. Some say it much more reasonable to expect a child 5 years or older to sleep alone. If you really feel the need to "fit in" and push him away, back into his room, there at least are some more gentle methods out there besides cry-it-out.

I don't know why he isn't sleeping, but if you have the time- go to your local library. They have tons of books on parenting and things like sleeping. When I was struggling with my 1 year old, I went to one of the Chandler branches and found several different books on the subject. I checked them all out, tried everyone until I found a technique that worked.
Good luck dear!

L., I am a sleep consultant and I can tell you from much previous experience that he is probably sleep deprived. Sleep begats sleep. If he is not getting the required sleep one night it will cycle over to the next night and so on. A 2 1/2 year olds bedtime needs to be earlier than 8:30. He should be in bed between 7 and 7:30. Yes, you are going to have to begin being consistant and not allowing him out of bed. There is a whole process you can do. However, the lady with the suggestion of the gate is not a bad one. Parenting can be hard sometimes and we have to remember who is the parent in the house. Is it you or your son? Who is running the household? You may contact me if you would like help. I do not care to share all my secrets over the internet but I would be happy to help you.
PS He still needs the nap during the day also.

Hi,
I have a 2.5 year old son also. He used to give me a lot of problems about sleeping but now he is a great sleeper. I found that what works for us is we put a baby gate in his doorway. It is one of the extra tall bar ones so that he can't climb it. We started when he was younger but I would just tuck him in then close it and he wasn't aloud out. He had to stay in there with just a night light until he fell asleep. It works for the early morning problems too. He would whine and i would just leave him in there until he went back to sleep. Eventually they get used to sleeping longer. If your son is potty trained this will be harder of course. Mine is not quite potty trained yet.
Now he goes to bed at about 8:30 or 9:00 and sleeps until 7:00 in the morning.
Hope this idea helps.