Help!! any moms of toddlers

[MARY1616]

I need some advice, my ds who just turned 2 is suddenly waking at night. He gets up at 1,2,3,4 and than goes back to sleep and wakes at 7:00. he currently takes a 2hour nap from 1-3 and bedtime is at 8:30-8:45. Recently we did go away which I do know is stressful for him. Anyway I was thinking maybe he is getting the 2 year old molars and my husband says no more naps. My ds needs naps(and so do I)he gets cranky and I would think that if it were his naps he would just wake up early not throughout the night. I would love any advice or input. Thanks

 

[shopaholic]

Hi,
First of all you know that your ds needs his nap. What do hubbies know? First of all, I agree traveling always messes up a kid's sleeping . Second, is he showing signs of teething? If so I would give him tylenol before bed. Also, if you leave ds alone, will he fall back to sleep on his own? If so try to ignore him and see if the pattern stops. Is he cheerful during the day? If he is fussy during the day as well, check with your pediatrician, maybe its a bug. My guess though is teething. My dd's 2 year molars came in right around her 2 year birthday.

How are you feeling?

 

[MARY1616]

Thank you for asking!!! I am feeling ok, the strange thing with this pregnancy is that I have insomnia. I do have to nap around 1:00 but usually a 1/2hr will do the trick. I totally agree with you about the teeth as well, my husband is so quick to get rid of the nap. I am going to try and let him cry a little at night he maybe trying to start a new thing with me tucking him in over and over again. He is fine during the day so I dont think it is a bug but when he lays flat I bet the gums start throbbing. Thanks for your inout

 

[EricaH]

One more idea. Does he have any sugar or chocolate close to bedtime? My dd was getting up in the middle of the night and was totally wired. One night, I thought that she acted like she had a cup of coffee and realized that she was having a small piece of chocolate every night for dessert (this was right after Easter last year). We stopped giving her chocolate and that fixed things right away. I doubt that this is your problem, but I thought I should post just in case!

My dd did give up her naps before two years old. If she napped, she would be up all night. The transition period was kind of tough - I would just let her sleep while we were driving for about 15 minutes until she didn't need that rest period during the day anymore.

Erica

 

[tricia]

Hi Mary,

I just wanted to say that you definitely don't want to get rid of the daytime nap. According to my own personal sleep bible, "Sleeping Through the Night" by Jodi Mindell, a 2 year old should be getting between 10 - 12 hours of sleep at night, with a daytime nap of 1 to 2 hours, a total of 13 hours on average for the day. A few things to think about are, do you have a set bedtime routine? (It sounds like you do, but if not - that may be causing a problem.) And yes, teething or travel can screw them up for weeks during or after. So you may not really get to the cause, but the effect is night wakings. I would suggest you implement the checking routine if you haven't already. This way your son knows your there for him but aren't going to let him get up. You just go to him when he cries, reassure him until he stops crying, then tell him it's bedtime and leave the room again. Wait 5, then 10, then 15 minutes, and so on. DO this as much as you have to until he falls back asleep. It might take a few nights (I'd say 3 or 4), but he'll eventually get back on schedule. Until then, I wouldn't make any changes to his overall sleep routine because that would just put you back to the start. I swear by Jodi Mindell's book, because from the time I started to use her techniques, we've had a very successful sleep routine with my 3 year old and our twins who are 11 months. Night wakings happen, but if you deal with them, they do go away!!

Good Luck,
Tricia

 

[emy]

Another vote for do not eliminate the nap! It's one thing for the child to quit taking it, but any parent who takes it upon themselves to eliminate the nap for the child is NUTS! Kids (especially young ones) need more sleep than adults. My 2 year & 3 months old boy just got his last molars in. I know it is hard to see into a toddler's mouth to find out. I had to squeeze my finger in the back to feel around as he was trying to bite it off!

Anyway, everyone else had good advice, so I'll just second what everyone else said.