My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.

Sleep

Can you share your 2yo sleep routines?

9 replies

PenelopeChipShop · 20/08/2014 13:21

We're having ishoooos with early waking but I am not complaining too much as my DS has only recently started sleeping through the night, so the novelty of 7 hours' consecutive sleep has not worn off!!

However he is waking up at 5am at the latest, sometimes even 4.15/4.30 and won't go bak to sleep at that time, I guess because he feels he has had a long sleep by then (settles in cot around 7.30/8 on average).

This means he is so grumpy and lethargic in the mornings, and wants to nap by about 11am which makes it difficult to do any nice activities before he completely crashes. Although I can cope with the early wakeup, I think he needs to sleep later for his sake.

Any ideas?? We have a gro clock and I've been banging on about Mr Star as Mr Sun for weeks bit I don't think he totally gets it (is 2 and 2 months). Also I keep giving in and taking him downstairs before the sun is actually up so I suppose I'm doing that wrong anyway!

Anyway would be interested to hear if this is typical or not? My friends IRL all have slightly different ages dc so none of just turned 2 to compare to.

OP posts:
Report
BikeRunSki · 20/08/2014 13:26

Erratic and random at best. Full night's sleep unlikely.
Which was a shock after ds who is a sucker for routine and has been a champion sleeper since he was about 2 months old.

Report
freshstart4us · 20/08/2014 13:32

DD (who turns 3 in Nov) has gone through patches of early wakings, usually resulting in me amending her nap. For us, bedtime has always been dictated by naptime, which naturally feeds into wake-up time; she has always been a "global aggregate" sleeper, every few months dropping an hour off the total, so now she totals 12 hours with 10.5-11.5 overnight and half-to-an-hour during the day.

How long is your DS's daytime sleep now? You may want to move bedtime closer to 8-8.15, cut his daytime sleep to 45 mins, max an hour (one sleep cycle), and see if that helps lengthen the overnight sleep?

Report
teacher54321 · 20/08/2014 19:24

DS is nearly 2 and 1/2. He usually goes to bed around 7.15, drops off within half an hour or so and then wakes around 6.30, so has about 11 hours overnight. He has a nap just after lunch that I usually limit to about an hour. When he wakes too early (like today Blush) he's a clingy whingebag! (Bless him!)

Report
ROARmeow · 21/08/2014 13:17

DD dropped nap at 15 months. she's now 2 years old (this month) and goes to bed around 6.45pm. sleeps well till midnight when she appears in our bed, grumbling a bit till she's comfy (about half an hour) then sleeps till nearly 8am.

Report
notaflamingclue · 22/08/2014 09:44

DD still only 18 months but has been a pretty consistent sleeper for her whole life. Bath, story, milk, teeth all done and she's in her cot by 7pm. We have a Gro clock and always say night night to Mr Sun. She sleeps until about 7am (or 20 mins either side) with a few moans before midnight (usually needing her head extricated from the cot bars).

Naps for 2 hours when at home, just over an hour when in nursery. When out and about we'll try to plan it so she gets a short nap on the way and on the way back in the car. I think the key for us was consistency, consistency, consistency. She has had her ups and downs, but has never, ever come back downstairs and only come into our bed if she's genuinely poorly. The thing that works the best for us now if she's unsettled is to lie quietly beside her cot for a few minutes, then just get up and walk out - even if she's still awake it doesn't bother her when we go.

Report
Superworm · 22/08/2014 22:54

DS is 2.5 and we had the same problem for a while. Cutting his nap down helped. If he has around 45 mins at midday he wakes between 6-6.30am still early but at least it's in the sixes!

Report
hollie84 · 22/08/2014 22:57

At 2.5 when he started sleeping through:
Up about 7am
nap 1pm-3/4pm
bed about 8.30pm

Report
BigWLittleJ · 25/08/2014 04:34

Mine has just turned two. He has an hour and a half nap from 12/12.30 and goes to bed at 7. He chats to himself and looks at his books for a while and is usually asleep by 7.30. He has also only recently started sleeping through and wakes at 6/6.30am. Very occasionally he'll sleep until 7 which is lovely.

We've just been through a patch of early mornings due to his teeth, but as soon as they popped through he went back to waking at a more reasonable hour.

Report
TravellingToad · 25/08/2014 14:18

do NOT take him out of his room or interact with him before the sun shows.

If you have to set the sun to show at 5am then so be it but he has to get the concept of that. DS is 27 months and understands completely because we have NEVER caved and let him out of his room (baby gate) before the sun.

This means that now when he wakes up we point out the star and he happily agrees to go back to bed or stay in his room because he knows arguing is pointless!

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.