[Closed] toddler vs sleep

2am-3am.

yeah i dont understand where they get all that energy from and ours needs very little sleep!

Had been running round all day yesterday with no nap, didnt go to sleep until 10, then wide awake happy as anything at 6am this morning. Whereas me, wake up at 6 knackered, sit on my arse at work all day and i'd happily fall asleep at 9pm! I think somehow she's tapping into my energy and sucking it dry!

Somehow need to motivate myself to go on bike tonight but its not looking good. I'm checking the weather half hoping for rain....

Edit - obviously i have the luxury of lots of sleep compared to OP, but still cant work out how toddlers are so active

5am-6am apparently, poor Mrs SE. I just sleep through it.

hour long tiz kicked off at bedtime - overtired from a lack of normal afternoon snooze

and 4am the night before

the joys, oh the joys

our 2 lads have been rotating illnesses for the last couple of weeks, I cant remember when I last got an uninterrupted 6 hours

we have some friends staying this weekend and trying to get the house tidy is being made extra awkward by snotty kids and grumpy [s]wife[/s] parents

Pffffft. Amateurs.

Mini-chojin has had a grand total of 2hrs sleep last night.
Conveniently broken up in to 15 minute chunks.

Tired doesn't cover it :/

3.35am to 4.25am - 9mth old is teething but last night was one of the better nights thankfully.

I think somehow she's tapping into my energy and sucking it dry!

Does feel like this sometimes. Was half twelve till 3am last night. No idea what was wrong. Not a hint of a problem before bed and he seems fine this morning.

Though to be fair on Blobby Jr, having read some of the baby threads on here we don't have it too bad most of the time.

Somehow need to motivate myself to go on bike tonight but its not looking good.

This goes double for turbo training motivation 🙁

2 year old didn't go to sleep until 11.30pm. Woke again at 6:30am.

Second time ever that she has got herself out of bed (even in the mornings, she just sings to herself), so can't really complain.

A little while ago, our toddler had a chest infection, and the resulting cough kept her awake the entire night - none of us slept a wink. Obviously, having a week-old baby as well added to the party...

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Have a king-sized 2 month-old baby boy who we are currently working on getting into a routine. Its hard, especially with a stinking cold. Sat here at work like death warmed up.

EDIT: Okay he's not a toddler, but I've got one of those too. She likes to wake in the middle of the night and sing loudly so that it blasts through the baby monitor and wakes the baby boy just as he's finally gone off to sleep.

sometimes my 2 yr old comes into our room at like 2.15am completely convinced that it's 6.30am and time to get dressed for pre-school. Very funny when she starts saying 'come on mummy wake up, come on.'

Either or

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This probably isn't the right place to say that Little Miss CFH sleeps soundly every night from 1930 to 0730 the next day, is it?

I feel your pain, for quite a while our daughter (just turned 4) was ok at sleeping, she always woke fairly early (5.30 -6am) but slept through the night.

She seems to have started having bad dreams at night, and will not sleep in her own bed once she is awoken, last night i went to bed about 11pm and she came into our room about 1.30am and kept us awake all night and this has been the problem for weeks now. I almost completely lost my rag with her last night!

No its not. There's always someone who proudly boasts about their childs sleeping prowess. You're not welcome round these parts... 😐

This probably isn't the right place to say that Little Miss CFH sleeps soundly every night from 1930 to 0730 the next day, is it?

it won't last...

Seems I'm on the right track with this parenting lark TonyD, yep to both. 🙂

tonyd plus 1 - groclocks are brilliant!

Just don't set the audible alarm - no point in waking them up unnecessarily!

[gloat] 4 year old and a 1 year old.
4 year old sleeps from 19.30 through to *06.20 when his groclock tells him it's time to wake mummy and daddy and 1 year old sleeps all the way through til 06.30 with just a little grizzle sometime during the night. 😀 [/gloat]

*Although 4 year old could be heard this morning singing Old McDonald to himself in bed at 05.45. 🙂

Tonyd, the first is tempting but usually only means I'm even more grumpy when I do get woken up. What age for a growclock?

CFH, how old? We were quite smug about the sleeping routine until we hit teething.

To be fair on Blobby Jr, he does sleep soundly from 7pm till 7am more often than not. And when he does get up all he usually wants to do is get back to sleep. Last night was exceptionally bad for us.

No 2 on the way in less than a month here and the excitement is heavily tempered with dread about the sleep situation 😕

She's 14 months now, Mr B and has been sleeping like that since about three months old. Nearly a full set of teeth in there as well.

I think it's all down to the massive amount of effort Mrs CFH puts in to mothering. In fact, it is all down to that!

mine is 4-1/2 weeks.

Sleep, what is this sleep you speak of?

Good effort there Mrs CFH. Think a lot of it is definitely teaching them how to settle themselves and sleep but reckon there is a fair bit of luck there too 🙂

We've had a groclock since our first was about 18 months old, took a little bit of getting used to, but now both (ages 4.5 and 2) are brilliant at not getting out of bed until it's time. They often wake early and chat/play though! (they share a room).

20 month old.
comes in to our bed anywhere between midnight and 6am.
spends at least an hour a night kicking me in the back, headbutting the wife and practicing his words - mainly who he has met the previous day and what he had for dinner.
stays in bed until 07:30 though which is good.

Flashy drug induced sleeps don't count.

Wait until they are teenagers, canna get them out of their beds

This probably isn't the right place to say that Little Miss CFH sleeps soundly every night from 1930 to 0730 the next day, is it?

Yes. Yes it is. (Expectant father with sprog due any day now)

I sleep on the sofa, fully dressed, for at least three nights out of seven. Just waiting for the howl from the intercom. I'm beginning to smell bad.

I spent the hours between 2 and 4 on Monday morning trying to convince LimboJunior that, actually, he didnt want to have a story, that he didn't want some porridge and that no, none of his stuffed animals needed 'Nappy, nappy.'

He had been waking up at the same time for the previous 10 nights. Last night I left the dimmer switch on a low light. Not a peep out of him all night.

🙄 Doh!

Both of ours (3 and 4) got a gro clock when the sides came off of their cots, so about 2 years old. Took a few nights/mornings of putting them back to bed or sitting with them to watch the sun come up, but they never come in until 7am these days unless they need a wee or something.

Zokes, the key (I think) is routine. Mrs CFH has worked really hard at getting Her Babyship in to a nice routine from birth, and one that has gradually evolved as she's grown up. Such as dropping the morning snooze in favour of a slightly longer afternoon sleep, moving feed times around to accomodate etc.

Whisper it quietly, but it's basically Gina Ford, without the rigidity of such strict timetables. Just work out whatever timetable works for you and Mini-Zokes.

Best of luck to you and your impending new family! 🙂 It's ORSUMZ!

We did the same Flashy, read and digested Gina Ford and then adapted it to suit us. Worked a treat.

so you've used the Gina Ford approach of removing your baby's soul.

Eh?

Hardly, brakes, she's an absolute riot! 😀

Zokes, the key (I think) is routine

This +1

Over Christmas we let our 2 yo stay up longer as we had family staying etc but it really made him very difficult to get to sleep. 2hrs plus just to get him to settle. When we went back to work and back to the normal routine and constant 7.15 bedtime, after 3 tough nights he was back to his usual pattern. Picks a book to read, stands by his cot waiting for me to lift him in and is asleep in 20 mins.

So stick to the routine, it works.

Who is Gina Ford? Did she do the Eurovison? 😀

Eh?

bloody smug parents with sleeping babies 😉

ours has a very good routine, he just chooses not to stick to it 😀

My kids slept all night from about 6 weeks old they still do it was routine with us too that and they were good at feeding so never woke hungry after their last feed.

All kids are different though.

Wait until they are teenagers, canna get them out of their beds

You say this like its a bad thing?

Both little Speeders are playing a game of tag team insomnia with a helping of nightmares thrown in for the 2.9 Y/O boy and teething for the 1 Y/O girl. *

Add that to the 16 hr days (own boss) and I'm a "bit tired"

* 2 under 2 was a really bad idea 🙄

I feel your pain speeder, 13 months between our two boys. I still have no idea how we got through the first few years, sleepwalking mainly. Mine are 3 and 4 now though and it's getting much easier.

so you've used the Gina Ford approach of removing your baby's soul

when our son was born we stuck him into a steady sleeping routine and stuck to it and it worked. we did the same wit our daughter who is now 19 months old and the method still works. even when we have family or guests round we still stick to it.
there are times when we plonk her on the bed and she thinks its playtime and gets a bit giddy but as soon as she's been tucked into her bed she knows its time to sleep and she'll knock out after about 15 minutes. if she doesnt go to sleep i usually stick her in our bed and she watches me play on the phone in the dark and that usually does the trick. if the phone method doesnt work then the last resort is to give her a warm shower/bath, after which she is definitely out like a light.

2 under 2 was a really bad idea

I am choosing to ignore that comment.

8)

Research has shown (many times) that babies aren't habit forming up till 8 weeks (and in plenty of cases, a few weeks beyond). The trick is doing whatever it takes to keep them happy until they're around 12 weeks at which point you should recognise what works for them and you which can evolve into a routine.

Interestingly, nobody ever posts "I tried Gina Ford and it was bollocks" which suggests of course a big stinking pile of confirmation bias. Anecdotally, I've seen the book gathering dust on the shelves of some friends who aren't getting any sleep 9-12 months into it. The only thing I'd ever advise regarding sleep routines, is to keep the bedtime routine post say 6pm pretty regular and relaxing.

Babies are different and some are better sleepers than others. I was given a brief insight into having one that doesn't for a week with teething and a virus. It was a shit week and emphasised that nobody likes a Smug McSmuggins. 🙂

I'm convinced that there are three types of parent - 1) those whose babies/ toddlers have interrupted and irregular sleep at some point between the ages of 0 and 4, 2) those who are kidding themselves and 3) those who are liars 😀

I found (the hard way) that actually putting ours to bed earlier helps - otherwise she'd get 'over tired' which meant she'd go manic for hours.

Obviously if they still have a daytime nap that might need changing/removing.

I feel your pain.

brakes, I think category 3 is the weightiest subset. 🙂

And, ^^^ I agree. Early to bed is better IME.

Yip if you wait to late they get a second wind and go bonkers, found this out over the Christmas holidays.

Cat 3 parents are normally super mother types based on the ones wither side of me in the queue to the pool last weekend. They were having a boast off about how many meals they had made for the week ahead while Jeremy was in the office on Saturday morning and Jilly was at horse riding. I nearly pissed myself laughing.

Both little Speeders are playing a game of tag team insomnia with a helping of nightmares thrown in for the 2.9 Y/O boy and teething for the 1 Y/O girl. * Add that to the 16 hr days (own boss) and I'm a "bit tired"

I really don't know how you cope with this.

* 2 under 2 was a really bad idea

Oh dear... this will be us in a few weeks time.

babies aren't habit forming up till 8 weeks (and in plenty of cases, a few weeks beyond). The trick is doing whatever it takes to keep them happy until they're around 12 weeks at which point you should recognise what works for them and you which can evolve into a routine.

Was reading something the other day about this and how they are born a few months too early and need a womb like environment initially. Going to put that into practice with no 2.

We were all over the place for the first few weeks with no 1, it was hideous (though not sure you can ever be properly prepared for it.) Wasn't until we got a good book (not Gina but along similar lines) that we got into a decent routine. Also controlled crying sounds awful at first too, but you do get to know the different types of cry and quickly realise that being in and out and picking him up all the time is not helping him.

Oh and firmly cat 1 here!

We have a 1.5 year-old and a 4-year old.

Both sleep pretty solidly from 7pm to 7am. The ingredients are:

- lots of outdoor exercise; walk, scoot, cycle everywhere possible
- no telly...as in the one we have lives in the loft (until a Homeland season!)
- only occasional iPlayer on laptop for the kids
- a proper playroom that is only for playing
- can come into our bed, but only for a snuggle before I do fake snoring and rolling onto them

I realise some of that is mainly to make us feel good, but I think it works!

5 month old twin daughters 😐

They are pretty good and sleep from 7 - 3, quick feed, then down until about 7. That is on a good night. On a bad night it feels like the little swines are a tag team and we are the hapless underdogs.