Afternoon sleep a nightmare

Hey there,

Just wondering if anyone can help me out before I LOSE MY MIND!

Charlie (almost 2) used to go to sleep really well in the afternoon, but even though we do all the same things he has started to become a real problem. We take his toys out of his room, read him a story and leave the room. He would usually sleep for between 1 1/2 to 2 hours and wake up happy. Now he runs around like a lunatic for ages and no amount of going in there to tell him to stay in bed and go to sleep works. He just laughs at me, which makes me really mad. He needs this sleep - if he doesn't get it he's grumpy all afternoon, and he's being woken up by Toby's (newborn) cries at night so he's more tired than usual. I really feel like I'm at the end of my rope here. Can anyone suggest anything?

No, but I know someone will, just wanted to let you know we are thinking of you.:hug: and he won't be 2 forever.

my two both pretty much gave up sleeping around 18 months-2years:(bree is starting to not nap somedays now (17.5months)
i missed my 'me' time (not that you get it with 2 iykwim;)) - but you can't 'force' him to sleep, not all toddlers nap forever or up to school age like we'd like to believe:P

maybe you could try to skip the nap and put him to bed earlier? he may wake at the same time...
can you put him farther away from toby at night so he doesn't hear him? maybe a temporary mattress on the other side of the house?:P

If he won't stay lying down and sleep, perhaps you could try to persuade him to sit down and play quietly or look at some books for a while? Or sit and watch a DVD? Or would he maybe lie down with you and have a quiet chat, cuddle etc? I know it's not the same as a sleep, but at least he'd get some sort of down time. What's Charlie like with settling in the evening? As a last resort, you could try just putting him down an hour earlier at night, and then do whatever you can so that Toby doesn't disturb him so much.

God I can sympathise with you here. However I dont have a newborn to look after too. That must be so hard, and it crosses my mind all the time, since I am considering TTC no 2. Anyway, my DS has NEVER been big on naps during the day, and since i need "me" time, more like "housework time LOL" . The only way i can get him to nap now is to tire him out all morning when he wakes up, keep giving him something to play with to ocupy his mind, then I give him a bottle, and he crashes!!! Thank heavens.
I have also had to put him in the car and just drive until he fell asleep, then i would come back home and leave him in the car with the windows down, depending on the weather.
Do you have anyone who can take your DS for a day a week? Or even childcare for a day per week. I think it is really important to get a break. Perhaps the Child & Youth health hotline, may be able to give you some advice.
Sorry i havent been too much help, but i do wish you well.

my two gave up day sleeps just after the turned 2. Instead for a while we had 'quiet time' in the arvo so that they had a chance to revive. I also changed their routine so that they wouldn't fall in a heap around 4.30. I would bath them about 4 and put them in their pjs. Have their dinner at 5pm, and then if they fell asleep after that, it didn't matter as they were dressed and ready for bed.
Another thing i did was give them a big smoothy made with fresh fruit in the blender. This often gave them the extra boost to cope with the rest of the day. Also giving them a pentivite vitamin, gave them a pep up as well.
Its no use fighting the day sleep. Once they start to give it up, it is easier to work with it, than trying to battle them to keep snoozing during the day. I used to use the time to take them to the park, as not many little kids use the park in the arvos.
HTH

Is he in a big bed? Have you tried laying down with him on his bed so he has a nap with mummy, and then get up when he's asleep? Or try napping with him in your bed and then get up? We used to do this with Jonah when he wasn't wanting to go into his own bed (cot) so we would take him into our bed where he'd be asleep within second and then transfer him into his own bed.

Maybe it's just a phase too? Jonah has phases of bad sleeping, we just got over bad nights and it's been wonderful but for a while there I thought I was going to go insane with lack of sleep.

Have you tried putting him down earlier? mabye he's overtired and needs to go to sleep sooner? He might be over sleeing in the day, but my daughter had a day sleep until she was 5, so I tend to think they need it. Good luck xo

Thanks for the advice ladies. Sometimes it's just good to know that I'm not alone. In the end after trying a few different things we had to resort to putting a lock on the door. I know some people will disagree with this decision, and believe me, I had some tears about it, but he is at an age where he still really needs a sleep and it was the only solution for us. If I didn't have Toby to look after too then I might have been able to try some more things but it's just impossible to handle Charlie getting out of the bed in the afternoon when I'm trying to put Toby to sleep. It was the only option, I'm afraid. He goes to sleep so well after the inital grizzling period when he realises that he can't open his door. *sigh* I still feel terrible about it, but what can you do? Thanks again.