Sleep help - at my wit's end. Long.

JENandJEH

DS has never been what I would call a wonderful sleeper but he was pretty good up until the holidays.  I know traveling for 2 weeks totally disrupted his normal routine but he was still sleeping relatively normal at my parent's house (still taking a 2 hour nap, going to bed at normal time but waking up an hour early). 

 

Since we got home (1 week), he has been hit or miss with naps (somewhat normal, he'll normally nap but it takes him awhile to fall asleep and sometimes he only naps an hour or so) and TERRIBLE at bedtime.  He doesn't fight going to bed, but once in bed, it takes him almost 2 hours to fall asleep.  The past few days, I know he's exhausted because he's only been napping for 30 minutes and his mood has been TERRIBLE.  He's irritable and defiant and just plain miserable to be around. 

 

I feel like he still NEEDS his naps because when he doesn't take it, he's a pill to be around, BUT I am at my wit's end with him laying in bed for 2 hours talking/playing/piddling around before falling asleep.  He's exhausted in the morning, has bags under his eyes and I don't know what to do.  We tried moving bedtime up tonight (from 8 to 7pm) and it's almost 9 and he's still awake.  His wake time never changes.

 

Any suggestions?  My sanity is teetering on the edge and DS2 is due in about 2 months.  I'm terrified of his sleep staying like this and having a newborn in the house too. 

ilovemygirls

I think that he's phasing out of naps.  The beauty of that is that you can usually get them to bed a little earlier & it doesn't take them long to fall asleep.  Will he go for instituting a 'quiet time' instead of forcing a nap?  Where he would have to be in his room for a specified period of time but no rowdy stuff allowed during that time- quiet play only.  That could give you a bit of a break & some downtime for him to hopefully help with the crankiness.  fwiw, both of my kids gave up naps by 2.5 and never would do a quiet time- these are just things I know have worked for other parents I know.  Good luck! 

JENandJEH

We started calling it quiet time recently when he was having such a hard time falling asleep, but I kid you not, every single time I called it quiet time, he would fall asleep and sleep for 2+ hours.  Then, it seemed like he decided that quiet time = naptime and decided to say screw it all. 

 

And, I'm skeptical of dropping naps = an earlier bedtime for him because even on the days he totally skips naps (there have been weeks at school where he didn't nap at all, just stayed on his mat the whole time quietly playing/reading) he would still take an hour or two to fall asleep.  Ugh, I'm just at a loss.  Sleep issues always stress me out!

AZ123

Don't skip and give up naps or you'll make it permanent. DS1 did this and it was temporary. We still did quiet time but then after about 4 weeks he's now back to full on napping. Always keep the same schedule and do it for a week (don't deviate from it). Lunch at 11:30 or whenever, go potty, read books, nap time. I tell DS1 to listen to the music playing and close his eyes if he's having a hard time falling asleep. but either way, quiet time in their room. Also, do the same for bedtime. Dinner at 6 pm, playtime, bathtime at 7pm, books and bed at 7:30 pm.