how long does your toddler take to fall asleep?

do you pop them down and they self settle or do you stay with them, either way how long til they fall asleep?

9 times out of 10 Moo will just fall asleep with minimal fuss. We might hear a bit of rolling around and giggling.

But if this goes on for more than 10 minutes one of us goes in and pats him off to sleep. If we don't go in he'll carry on for as long as it takes for us to go in! If we let him go it just escalates into crying and screaming.

Argh.

DD2 takes about 15-20 minutes with DH in there with her.

DD1 and DS - can take up to 1.5 hours to get down for the night. I read them some books, and then DH takes over when DD2 is asleep and stays in there until they both fall asleep.

Im ashamed to say but DD does not go down without a fight :wall: on a good night 20 minutes but most nights anywhere up to and well over an hour. Its a helluva lot of patting, singing and cuddling :)

We lie with DD to get her to sleep and this can take anywhere from 20-30mins....we read two books before bedtime as part of her routine.

I left her today to fall asleep for her daynap as she was having trouble while I was in there, so I left her alone a bit and she seemed to be settling fine without me so I am hoping this means she's soon ready to do it herself!! :D

I lie next to her with my iphone and play with it while I wait for her to fall asleep (we lie back to back) hehe

DS can be anywhere up to 1 hour. On a good day where he is totally worn out and hasn't had a day sleep, maybe 20 mins with me laying there. But if he has had a day sleep, it takes ages!!! Grrr! But then if he doesn't have a day sleep he is feral, so I lose either way :lol:

DS1 was great from 14 months until just after 2 years old (would put in cot grizzle cry for 5 mins then sound asleep) However when we put him into a bed it changed! First few weeks were great went to sleep no worries at all no fighting. But started to get harder some nights he goes easy other night she is up a million times and taking till 2300 some nights to stay asleep (starting trying generally at 1945 or 2000).

If he has no day sleep he is a bit easier generally to get to bed but not always, the last 2 weeks have been the worst.

Generally DH reads him a book or 2 and leaves him, some nights need to lie there for an hr with him.

DS2 feeds to sleep and will only sleep with me, occasionaly get him down in cot for an hr or so.

I either feed or rock DS to sleep (I know...a rod) but if I left him on his own he'd be bouncing around until midnight.
Darc was the same until I figured I 'had' to stop that so we went from 5 minutes to 2hours of self settling with me sitting next to her bed....gradually got it down though and tonight it's taken oh 3mins I reckon.

DS1 takes hours, 3-4 hours some nights, other nights he can still be awake at 2am. DS2 usually takes about 10-15mins on a good day. They both get put to bed at night around 7-7:30pm and self-settle.

DD1 - Will lay herself down when she is tired and she is usually asleep within minutes.

DD2 - If she is tired she will go to sleep within 10 minutes. If I go to put her to sleep (I usually feed /pat to sleep) and she fusses then I will let her play for another half hour and try again, then she will go straight away.

I personally do not see the point patting and rocking and all for an hour and a half, if she/they are not settling I give them some more time and it is usually enough to wear them out and then go down easily, DD2 is in bed by 6.30pm (7pm on a bad night) and DD1 is in bed between 6.30 and 7.30pm.

ETA: I have on the occasion had trouble with sleeping times and not wanting to go to bed until late, this is when I have found a change in routine has been required, eg: wake earlier in the mornings or drop/move forward day sleeps.

DD is still BF to sleep and takes 5 mins most nights. Just have to wait for her to want to go to bed (she comes and says she's tired and wants to go to sleep) otherwise it can take longer.

I put DD1 down at 7pm, have a hug and kiss, say goodnight and leave the room. Usually takes anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour. But she plays quietly in her bed

DS goes straight to sleep on his own, DD though who is 4 in March takes hours and i lie down with her and play on the laptop. Actually, thats exactly what we are doing right now... She has been stuffing around since 7:45 and i am starting to get cranky. Hmmmm, just realised how ridiculous this really is! Told DD off about it, and she is telling me that when she is 4 she will sleep in her own room and won't need mummy anymore. Well, we will see!

If DS has a day sleep (hardly ever these days) it can take up to 2 hours before either he goes to sleep or we give up :lol:

But night times are quite easy now - we have a solid routine which means that he's out to it in minutes... He's a pretty easy-going kid though. :hug:

both my ds's who are 3 & 5 take hours, whinging sooking sneaking about, it is endless. i am amazed each night they are actualy asleep befor 10! (and thats after trying from 7-8) ive tried heaps, even getting up at 6 just so they can get up eartly, dosent work, even driving arround untill they are asleep dosent have an effect.

DS1 takes anywhere from 10 min to an hour of singing and chatting to himself nbefore he goes to sleep. but thats after bath/teeth/game in room/2 books and being told a story... (he is 3.5)
DS2 - about 20 min sitting by his cot. after bath/teeth/books/cuddle - he is 18 months

I used to breastfeed DS to sleep until 21 months old. Of a day he usually crashes out on my way home from errands and I put him into bed for his nap. If he doesn't crash in the car he will tell me he's tired about 3pm and ask for big hugs, then he closes his eyes , and he is GONE lol, of a night ....

After bath time and book reading, We turn all the lights off and I usually lay watching Telly whilst DS falls to sleep on my chest before putting him down around 9. I know that's late but his day sleep is two hours and sometimes he sleeps late, and it works for hubby's work schedule too .....

usually I let him go to sleep when he's tired, rather than trying to fight him, I tried that once and we were both in tears.....

Still waiting! Coming up to 2 hours now...

30-60 minutes usually. Sometimes more like 1.5 hours.

DS has a bottle still and we put him to bed with his teddies and bottle and he falls asleep as soon as his bottle is done. DD then gets a story, brushes teeth and hair and sometimes a special story while in bed and we say goodnight, it takes her anywhere from 5-60 mins to go to sleep and if she is up it's to go to a poo or tell us some other important trivia like "Mama I pushed myself BIG on the swing at creche today :rolleyes: A chart has helped with her though and it's taking closer to 5-10 mins now! :)

he has his bottle while we do the night nappy, pjs, sleeping bag routine....then we turn the lights out do the kiss and cuddle into bed, tucked in, finishes off bottle, throws bottle away, we put the dummy in and leave. Most nights that's it, he self settles and we don't hear a peep...some nights he takes a bit to get over the hump and we have to go in and rock him to sleep in the rocker then transfer to bed, usually 10 minutes or so.

wow very interesting..its one of those things when you think you're the only one with a toddler that takes ages to go to sleep, especially when tyour first child was/is reallllly easy and falls asleep in about 2 mintues lol!

thanks for the reassurance
xx

If Natalie hasn't had a day sleep then she takes around 20 minutes (that's after stories, chats and cuddles) to fall asleep. (And she likes me to be in the room with her - I play on my phone while lying on the floor.)

Phoebe varies. Anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour-ish. But generally she only needs us to stay in her room (again, DH or I will play on our phone in an armchair) until she is in the 'zone', then it's ok for us to leave. On her unsettled nights she might cry out for us to come in and give her a cuddle and/or sit with her for a few more minutes (like 10). She's definitely off to sleep faster if she's really tired, but she's also a complete feral at dinner time on those nights too, LOL!