Is your toddler a night owl? a little long...

[cinmell]

Is your toddler a night owl? Mine is . She just doesn't want to go to bed at night. She is two years old and doesn't want to stop playing or watching the Wiggles or Monsters Inc. I take her into her bed, I even try in my bed with lights and tv off and she just doesn't stop. Sunday night, she didn't fall asleep until 11:30 and last night she didn't fall asleep until 10 or so. Most nights she falls asleep around 9 or 9:30. She wakes up around 7 am. She doesn't nap either or very, very rarely naps. We try to get her to calm down between 7:30 and 8 but it just doesn't work. She doesn't eat alot of snacks like chocolate, icecream or Pepsi so it's not like she is hyper or on a sugar high. Is this normal? Are we the only parents with a night owl who doesn't want to miss anything??

 

[grinningghost]

Can I ever relate! My DD isn't a toddler, but she used to be. She didn't sleep as a newborn (seriously, we drove around with her at 2 AM many a night just to get her to sleep, only to wake up as soon as we took her from her car seat), she didn't sleep as a toddler either. She barely took naps - our way of getting her to sleep at night - didn't work. This kid was like the Energizer bunny. And ever since, she's been a night owl. She's now almost 14, and will stay up all night if we let her. But, the other side is, she is VERY big on sleeping in now. She'll sleep until 3 in the afternoon if we let her - maybe longer.

Do you see a pattern here? I wonder if your little darling is going to grow up like mine?

 

[crazyme5kids]

Mine is a night owl. My oldest (a girl) was a little night owl too. The three boys were very nice early to bed kids.

 

[cinmell]

Originally posted by grinningghost
She's now almost 14, and will stay up all night if we let her. But, the other side is, she is VERY big on sleeping in now. She'll sleep until 3 in the afternoon if we let her - maybe longer.

I don't want to wait another 11 or 12 years for her to sleep At least you gave me something to look forward to!

 

[KiminChicago]

My son was like that until he started school. Now he never lasts beyond 9 and since we usually start getting him ready for bed around 8, he's often asleep even earlier. My DD, on the other hand, used to be in bed asleep at 7:30pm, now that she's a little older, we'll hear her singing to herself until 10 or 10:30!

 

[twinmomplus2]

We have 2 year old, twin sons. one is a great sleeper, Needs about an hours nap during the day, Gets up for the am about 7. Goes to bed at night about 7-30, His brother however..... thats another story. If he does not nap during the day, And I mean not even a ten minute catnap....He crashes at 7pm. However any amount of sleep during the day causes him to be awake till 11pm....This may sound nuts, But, If she is not napping during the day, perhaps she has gone past her threshold, when that happens you can end up in a worse situation. For instance if baby number 2 in our house does not have a nap and is ready to crash at 7 and Uncle shows up for a vist at 6-30 and leaves at 7-30. Its to late I have lost my window of oppurtunity and he is up and hyper and crazy till midnight, You may want to try her at 7, It may sound nuts to you but, it works here. I have 4 children and 3 out of the 4 all had this cut off time before they had become to overtired. Good Luck I know from Experience it can be maddening.

 

[deirdrefitch]

I remember with my oldest son, the nurse at the hospital told me not to be concerned when I took him home, and all he did was sleep. This was normal for a newborn! Not!!! I went back to the Pediatrican at the two week check up, and wanted to know what happened with my normal newborn because the one I have doesn't ever shut his eyes. As a newborn he would sleep for two or three hours with four good hours of wakefulness in between.
He is now 18 years old, and still does not require much sleep.
It is quite amazing that we now have two children. Thank God the second child was QUITE NORMAL! Just to be sure we were recupperated, we waited five years before having that second miracle.

 

[grinningghost]

One little piece of trivia about my DD's sleeping habits. At least when she was little, when it got dark, she would get into pajama mode, would have a snack and we would read or watch TV - she would slow down. Not sleep, but settle down. But once those darned teachers at pre-K taught her how to tell time - forget it. It was all over.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Oh can I relate.

My oldest son was very much like that. I finally installed a small reading light next to his bed and stocked his night table with a few matchbox cars and books. The rule was 8:30pm on he had to stay in the bed unless he needed to get up and use the restroom. He could play with his toys or read a book, but he had to stay on the bed.

Of course he's 12 now and those teen-age sleeping patterns are starting to set in. I finally drug him out of bed at 10:30 last Saturday.

 

[believe]

DD#1 has always been able to stay up late and wake early. No matter what time you put her to bed she is still awake by 7am. If you put her down early then she is awake between 5-6am. Good thing she learned early how to get her own breakfast.

DD#2 is not a late night person or an early riser. She is usually asleep 8-9:30pm and awake 9:30-10am.

 

[clutter]

When my dd was 3ish, she was JUST like that. If I put her to bed at 9, she'd fall asleep at 10:30. 9:30, it was 10:30. Finally, I just started bedtime routine at 10. And if she napped -- even for 10 minutes -- she was up past midnight!!!

Since starting all day, every day school, she's been out at about 8:30, so there may be hope.

Funny story, a friend has a 3 yo that wakes up EARLY every day. We did MVMCP together this past december and got home well after 1am. The next morning at 6:30 I could hear her in the connecting room, hitting the ground running!!! I'll take my night owl, thank!!!

 

[Minnie824]

I'm having sort of a different problem with my 18 month old. She goes to bed at 7 usually....sometimes a little before, or a little after. She falls asleep in our bed then I move her. Usually no problem. But, she's been getting up at 6am or sometimes before. And she doesn't want to nap during the day either - unless we go somewhere, she'll sleep in the car. Or, finally take a nap at 2pm (I'm more tired before she is...I don't understand). Anyway, I think she's adjusting herself to daylight savings time before it happens....both her bedtime and waking up time are getting earlier.....what I wouldn't give to 'sleep in' til 7am!!

 

[browneyes]

My dd is a night owl. She'll stay up later than me if I'd let her. My ds will tell me he's ready for bed, then he'll go to bed at a semi-decent hour sometimes.

My puppy is a night owl.