son will not sleep?

Question

my son is coming up for 2 years old in 2 weeks and he will not sleep tho the night. he goes to bed at 6/7 tho the weekend and he is up at 2 and wake tell 5 back up at 6. sometimes does not go back to sleep it has been like this for months and i do not know what to do. i have put him to bed later and he is still up at them times.and he gets the older one up to.
can u help please

we have done a bedtime routine and it does not work.

Answer 1

Poor you..you must be exausted.I have been through this myself..my children are now 7 and 5.your son will have got used to this pattern of waking..does he ask for a drink at this time?..he does not need a drink..my daughter used to do this.
Basically it is down to a good routine everynight..tea at 5,bath at 6,bed at seven after a story perhaps..if he wakes up do not say anything to him,lift him up and put him back to bed..you may have to keep doing this..but over the course of a week it should and will work..he may scream etc..but see this through..no eye contact..and no talking otherwise he has got your attention..i felt awful at the time,infact one night i sat at the bottom of the stirs crying because i felt so awful..but it is good to remind yourself of the end result..you all get some sleep.It would be good also if your partner helped too as a part of the team work.Put lavender in his bath,check if his bed is warm enough..if all is ok then it is just down to him getting up.
You should see an improvment in a week,start tonight..and remember not to give in..thinking of you...Janine..Dartmoor.

Answer 2

I had the same problem, my son was waking through the night he wasnt upset just wide awake. I was advised to try and cut out his daytime naps and keep a sleep diary, it did help a bit, especially the sleep diary, he should have been having about 14 hours sleep a day including naps he was having about 9-10 hours, all the health visitor could say was he obviously didnt need that much sleep (not good when you have to go to work!) the only way I coped was to keep him awake till 8 or 9 and go to bed once he was settled, some nights he managed to stay asleep till 6am but keeping awake in the afternoons was sometimes impossible, if he really needed a nap I would wake him after 20-30 minutes. He is 3 and a half now and has been sleeping through all night for about 6-9 months, he started nursery last year and that has made a huge difference, he goes to bed at 8 and sleeps till about 7am.
Sorry there is no quick fix, some of us just have active kids, but hopefully it will improve soon for you, I know exactly how frustrating a very tiring it is.

Answer 3

I can fully understand where you are coming from, my son will be 10 this year, but for the first 3 years he never slept - regardless of all the routines i tried, fortunately he is an only child so didn't wake any other siblings.

Nothing i tried worked - so most nights just so we could get a decent nights sleep i would put him in our bed and surprise surprise its the only time he would sleep through the night - so don't think its anything i could suggest that you haven't yet tried but i do know and understand what you are going through.

have you tried a time out ready for bed, with a drink of horlicks and bedtime story about 9pm.

My son is still the same now doesn't matter what time he goes to bed he is still up bright eyed and bushy tailed at the crack of dawn - think they are of a generation who needs very little sleep

Answer 4

dose he still nap?
2 year olds need about 10-12 hours of sleep a night
try a latter bedtime and make it consistent every night
my daughter goes to bed every night at exactly 7:30 and wakes once during the night to go to the potty and then goes back to sleep until 6:30-7a.m.
whats happening from 2-5 a.m.?
he's up playing??
have you got a routine established?
talk to your doctor maybe something is wrong
is he getting new teeth?the last 4 molars come in at age 2

Answer 5

Does he still take naps during the day? If so, stop the naps - he can have "quiet time" in the afternoon when he can look at some books on his bed, alone, quiet, for an hour, but don't let him sleep in the afternoon. Is 6/7 too early a bedtime for him? What if you let him stay up until 8 or 9? Then you do a bedtime routine - bath, brush teeth, stories, that's it - g'night. Sometimes kids want that routine. Sometimes it's like this - you don't have to sleep, but you have to stay in your bed & be quiet.

Answer 6

hi hunny. you poor thing, you must be exhausted. have you tried a nice bath before bedtime? Also shorten nap in afternoon if he has one. Try reading to him once he is in bed for a while. I know it is easy to say, especially if you have another child, but when he wakes be firm and put him straight back to bed and leave him. Maybe put a mobile above his bed and leave that on, it may help him fall back to sleep again. It will be a killer for a week or so but you will get there in the end. If you have no luck, try talking to the midwife or doctor. I wish you luck and hope things improve for you.

Answer 7

must be tiring for you hun, that time is fine for a 2 year old mine went at this time until they were 7 and didnt do them any harm

dont give him a drink an hour before he goes to bed,let him have a little run about then bath him,if he cries just leave him, doesn't do them any harm to cry, as you know hes been fed etc so hell just want to try his luck all the time

does he not have a favorite toy he can take to bed?

good luck

Answer 8

Keep up the routine, it will be invaluable later. I have a baby about that age who is yelling from his room right now. It is a normal stage and it will pass. I think they want to know what's happening at night. It really helped with my older son when we put a radio in his room and put a nice lullaby CD on repeat. So far, it hasn't worked with the second one though. If possible, go to bed at 1:30 and ignore him. Or cut out all the noise and stuff way before 2 and then just keep an ear on him and baby proof his room but leave him in there to play himself to sleep. If you let him out, he will keep doing it.

Answer 9

Our son done this a lot as well and, we found that his bedtime routine was key. Try to establish a routine if you don't have one already and stick to it as best you can. We found that our son MUST have at least 5 minutes of cuddle time with Mom and Dad and at least 1 story and 1 song. Since we did that, he has slept through the night without problems. Good Luck!

Answer 10

My son did the same thing and unfortunately I did not cure it. Only time took care of this and sometimes he still wakes up and asks for something to drink and he is 7.

Try to put him to bed later for several consecutive nights and then try to prevent him from naps during the day, maybe that will help.