2 1/2 Year Old Falls Asleep Too Late at Night

Its deffintaly time to get rid of the naps or atleast cut them down. My all most 3 yr old hasn't had naps for months now because she wouldn't go to bed at a decent time. It was rough at first getting rid of them. But we're all much happier now that they are gone. She goes to bed at a decent time and gets up at a decent time. I would start by cutting back and see how she does for bed. If it is still to much I would keep cutting back until you either get rid of it or find what's right for her.

My daughter is 2 1/2yrs old also. I know it is different for every kid, but here is what happened with her... She always would take a 2-3 hr nap daily, but then she kind of would start not talking them, even though I still thought she needed them. But the other thing was is that i couldn't get her down before 9:00pm. So a neighbor suggested trying to either cut out the naps completely or just on those days ya know she needs it. Since then she has been in bed and asleep no later than 8-8:30pm on the days she may have had a nap and on the days without a nap she is usually asleep by 7:30pm. It has been great. and she will sleep for 12hrs. and its great. And it does seem on those days where they haven't had a nap and she is just dead tired, I have put her down at even 7:00 and she seems to even sleep in more. But on those nights were she might go down past her bed time she will always wake up in the night more and earlier the next morning. It is weird, but I definitly see earlier to bed, no naps, has worked great for us.
D.

Our 4 yr old has always stayed up until 11pm with us regardless of nap or not, long or short. They change as they grow and some days need more than others, growth spurts, etc.
Lately by 9:30pm she's tired, so we start routine earlier. Sometimes we get all ready and she's tired, then she gets 2nd wind. We try to be flexible.

As others have said, I wouldn't worry too much about it, as long as she's getting enough sleep all together. One thing we did with our 2 and 4 year olds last fall was use the end of day light savings time to move their bed time a half hour earlier. It was less of an adjustment than doing it any other time of the year. They didn't even notice.

I will just give my little bit of advice I have a 2 1/2 year old a 1 1/2 year old and a 7 month old so I have done this a little bit. But I did find that getting rid of the nap actually worked to make bed time go a little better. Some days it doesn't and it is difficult to deal with them from about 5:30-7:30 but it is worth it to me.(If we have nap time going to bed wasn't a nice process it was putting him back to bed a thousand times until 10:30 or so, so ours was a little extreme) We do still have quite time while the younger two are sleeping the oldest watches a movie or we read books quietly to get a little down time, which is a must for us. But all in all bed time does go much better now. There are some days that we still have that nap when we have been really active and think that has been the difference is that we have been stuck inside all winter so getting enough energy out of them is difficult. If it works out this summer I might go back to nap(Which would be wonderful, I do love having some down time in the day!) I hope this helps you a little, but you always have to do what works for you the best.

Consider waking her up half an hour earlier in the morning. OR, phase out the naps with one every 3rd day or so.

Why do you think your daughter is falling alseep too late at night? What time does she get up in the morning and does she seem well rested? My oldest son, now 4 has never gone to bed before 9 pm. Like you, we tried for a long time different things, starting early and skipping naps, and finally we have just accepted that he has established his bed time around 9:30 pm.. he gets up at 6:30 am or so and is well rested and some days he naps, others he doesn't. Not all kids sleep the same and some go to be really early, and I guess ours do not!

It may be time to phase out the naps, I know for almost all of mine I had to stop naps at 2 or nights where endless. This can make the evenings a little more difficult for the first few days, but the earlier bed times are so much nicer! And well worth the effort. Good luck which ever way decide!

Sounds like she needs some more physical activity. My little boy had the same issue cause we were inside alot during the winter. (also watching alot of tv seems to keep their brains running long after it is shut off) But once I got him outside and let him play.... he can't wait to fall asleep, well, he still fights it, but once his head is on the pillow, sleep comes whether he wants it or not cause he's tuckered out :o)

A.,as the mother of 6 I have had many trials and successes with the naptime thing. One thing is for sure, they DO need that extra 2 hours, but YOU have to decide when those 2 hours best fits their needs. At night, or in the afternoon when you can have a minute for you.:) I have found that children will only sleep for however long they need to and NO MORE! So your little dd is getting the amount she needs and won't be able to sleep till her body is ready. Phase out the nap slowly, if that's the route you choose to go. Or you can go every other day without a nap till you feel she is fine and going to bed when you want her to. Good luck and happy sleeping!

I had the exact same issue with my daughter when she was about 1 and a half. She would stay up late ten eleven at night if she did take a nap. But, at the same time she didn't take naps very easy I would lay her down for a nap and she would just keep getting up. So I would lay down with her and pretend to be asleep and then look at her and she would look at me and hurry and lay down and pretend to sleep. So then I stopped having her take naps all together and bed time became a lot easier. You may want to start by waking your daughter up after an hour nap and then fade it out a little out a time or just see how the hour works. Hope my words are helpful.

Start phasing out the nap and putting her to bed earlier. Start your routine at 6:30 so that she's in bed falling asleep by 7. The earlier she goes to bed, the better and longer she will sleep.

My son is 19 months, and goes to bed around 9pm. I am a SAHM, so I don't see a problem with it in our household. He sleeps all through the night and does not wake up until 8 or 9 the next morning. So he's getting adequate sleep during the night. Maybe look to see how many hours she is getting during the night, determine if that is plenty of sleep for her, and if the time she wakes up in the morning greatly affects your morning schedual... like if you are a working mother, or go places during the morning hours. Hope that helps, sorry! Good Luck

That was when we phased out naptime! (Which is so sad for Mommy) We changed bedtime from 8 to 7 after a couple of days since no nap meant she was exhausted by then. You have to give them a few days to adjust, but it's worked really well for us.

I think you should try to phase out her naps. See if that works.

Out of my seven children (the youngest of whom is six years old) I have only had one child nap past the age of two for the very reason you are talking about. It was much more important to me to have them go to sleep earlier at night than it was for them to take a nap, so the naps were eliminated. For a while after making the change they would fall asleep during the day once or twice a week, which was o.k., but i would wake them up after about an hour.
Good luck!

A.,
My daughter is 12 months and she goes to bed at 8:00 every night no matter what. She also takes a 2 hour nap during the day. If you are not sure about taking her nap away then maybe take one hour away from it and see if she adjusts. Making it a 1 hour nap and going to bed at 8:00. Just an idea. She may be ready for no naps and going to bed at 7:30. I guess I would base it on how she acts at night for you. If she still seems a little fussy the days when she does not get a nap then maybe let her sleep one hour during the day. Just some ideas. I really am not there yet so I can not say for sure. :) Good Luck!!

J. S

The fact you said if she misses her nap and she falls right to sleep then that is a huge indicator that she may be ready to give up naps or take a shorter one. Is she really grumpy without a nap? If not then I would say just make it a hour nap then maybe not any at all. At her age she should be getting at the very least 12 hours sleep a day either all at night or at night and adding naps in.

If you are worried that she still needs a nap. Just limit her nap to a hour. And if you don't like that idea you could alway have your daughter more active during the day. Have races, dance around etc. But usually I just lessen the nap and get rid of it entirely. It takes them a while to get used to it they are grump. But I would just reduce how long her nap is for starters and after 2 weeks if she still isn't falling asleep until late you can either get rid of it or make her more active. I have 4 children ages 9-23 months.

I am no expert by any means, but from what I have read over the years (I have three children) kids NEED their naps. The chart I recall seeing said that even kids up to age 5 can benefit from a 30-45 min. Nap. Kids are growing lots and their bodies need the recovery time. My suggestion would be to look at the time you are putting her down to sleep. Is there enough awake time between after the nap until she goes to bed? Perhaps adjusting the timing of the nap will help. If that doesn't work, then start your bedtime routine sooner. Have her IN bed by 7:30 or 7:45ish. If these options aren't working, then maybe it's time to shorten (not elliminate) her nap. There are creative solutions aside from just taking the nap away all together. My oldest stopped taking naps at 2 1/2 yrs. and it was a tough transition for us. She really needed a little bit of a nap still. Even just an 1/2 hour would have been helpful. Look into some sleep books as well. There are a plethora of authors who have written on this very subject. Good Luck.

You didn't mention what time she is waking up. If she's waking up at 8:30 or 9 am she's probably just getting all the sleep she needs (including the nap) and it's just going from late night to late morning. My daughter who just turned 3, goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 (and usually falls asleep within 20 minutes), wakes up anywhere from 6 to 7 and usually takes a two hour nap.

If she's waking up late, you can reset her clock by waking her up about 15 minutes earlier every few days until she's waking up about an hour or two earlier and then she'll be going to sleep and hour or two earlier. If she's waking up ealier, then she's probably just getting the sleep she needs.

Is she crying from 8 until 9 pm? Or is she just quietly laying in her bed? If she's being quiet, she's probably just decompressing and re-hashing her day, like we all do. How is she during the day? Is she usually happy or is she grouchy and unbearable? The latter indicating a probable lack of sleep.

Think about her behavior and her sleeping habits before making any changes. Things may just be fine the way they are, it's just not happening on the time-table you'd like. If she's clearly in need of sleep, then don't phase out her nap otherwise she might be too tired to fall asleep.

I hope what I said makes sense. :-)

Bedtime for our children is 8, but my 2 1/2 year-old-daughter, like yours, usually falls asleep around 9. She just talks or sings to herself in her room. I see no problem with this, and I think it is her own way of winding down and enjoying some alone time. She also takes a daily nap, which I am grateful for because it helps me keep my sanity!
I wouldn't worry about it, as long as she is not out of control!

She is still taking naps!! you so lucky, lol

That is the culprit right there. If she takes naps during the day, she will fall asleep later, there is no way around that. My son stopped before 2yrs old. He wakes up at 8-830 up all day then in bed by 7pm. Like clockwork.

When my son was three, I struggled to keep him down for a nap. I think I needed one more! He too would not go to sleep at an appropriate hour. I cut the nap and almost instantly, he fell right in step with our bedtime routine. I wish I had made the change sooner. Try reducing or stopping the afternoon nap, be consistent with your bedtime routine and see how she responds.