I have a question. My 20-month-old son will not sleep through the night. He did when he was a baby; this is a new development within the last couple of months. He sleeps in his own bed in his own room. We have a bedtime routine. I have tried, sleep/lavender bath soup, children’s melatonin. He’s fed, changed. He takes a nap in the afternoon. Usually, from 12:30-3. He has no problem going to sleep at night, but he consistently wakes up around 11 to crawl into my bed. Then he usually doesn’t go back to sleep until 2-3 am. During this time, it does not matter if he is changed again or has a snack. He will still not go back to sleep. How can I get him to sleep all night?!
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Drop the nap and try a white noise machine.
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Most likely sleep regression, if he was sleeping thru the night before and not now. Try shortening his afternoon nap from like noon until 1:30, and then keep him up and active until bedtime. Set a routine and stick to it.
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Oatmeal before going to bed.
Cut back on the naps
I recommend stopping the melatonin. If you read the bottle it doesn’t recommend using for more than 14days and also can cause seizures .
Try using baby lullabies /white noise
Afternoon naps either become earlier or shorter
Make sure he’s not getting toooo much liquid before bed or eating anything too heavy before bed either
Cut out the naps in the day, oatmeal before bed (works for my daughter during sleep regression periods)
Lose the nap. Just went though this with my 2 year old
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Shorten the nap to an hour, he still needs to rest but have a short nap
Bath before bed, warm your blankets in the dryer and tuck them in
Has he cut his Molars yet? I don’t recommend removing the nap, but maybe shorten it. Push back bedtime by an hour possibly?
My son seems to go through phases. One thing we did is that we shorten his naps. Or reduce the number of naps. Also, my Dr advice me not to let him sleep in my bed once he comes into our room. So, we started taking him back to his bed when he woke up. It took about a week or so and two very tired parents. He slowly started to fall asleep quicker and then sleep through the night again.
I agree with everyone else, cut the nap back or lose it all together. Hes almost 2 so the nap shouldn’t be too hard to cut down or out all together. My daughter just turned 3 and her naps are often an hour if she has one at all. Usually she will put herself down for bed around 8 if shes really tired.
You could shorten his naps to 2 hours but also increase his physical activity after his nap. Change one thing at a time though.
My suggestion is get another pillow you can put behind him when he sleeps so he feels like your next to him. Sometimes its just about wanting to be next to mommy. I did this with my kids I’d lay next to them until they fell asleep then put a pillow beside them it helped them rest through the night
Have you tried a white noise machine, as well as a nightlight? My daughter was a bad sleeper when she was that young, so I tried those two things and she started sleeping through the night.
I was taught by classes that were named “Early Intervention program”
Above suggestion was the simplest when put to bed with all their needs met you simply put them back to bed ,no eye contact or conversation, it would only take a few times before they know that nothing else will happen but this, it works if you are Consistent.
My little boy recently went through this. He is 3 now. We brought him a night light as the doctor said it’s when their imagination really starts kicking in and can cause nightmares and fear of the dark/sleep.
I also cut his naps back. Anything after 12 was only an hour tops.
Good luck mumma!
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Try to shorting his afternoon nap try 12-1:30 dont let him sleep past 2 because then he will be awake at night. I had my daughter did same for my son i had them take naps from 12:00 to 1:30 from 1 years old to 2 then when 3 i had them take naps from 12:00 to 1:00 when my daughter was 4 she stoped taking naps completely so she sleep from 8:00pm to 7:00am so she could get used to it for school only time she did take naps when she was 4 and 5 was when she was sick only time she is 6 now and still doesnt nap unless sick. My son as soon turned 4 stopped taking naps as well unless he is sick then he will take nap he will be 5 in june. Try lowering the naps he should be able to sleep at night if you have tv or radio leave it on for sound that helps with them fall asleep then when fall asleep then turn it off
Just give him a glass of wine n a pipe will do.