Burst of energy before bed time - anyone else??

[olien]

My DS, almost 17mo, is his most active 1 - 1.5 hrs before bed time.

He runs around, dances, laughs like crazy, happily screams, plays with the dogs, toys etc. He does get more testy too & whiny if he doesnt get what he wants. So the fun can quickly turn into tears.

Does anyone else experience this? Is it bad for any reason? We really dont have a set routine before bed time. He just plays until he reaches a certain point where I know its time or he goes to the gate at the stairs & starts to signal up. Do you really have to have a set routine?

[treegardner]

I have found having a routine is helpful. Things don't always happen as they "should," but for the most part we stick to it. I know having a routine helps me, so I would think it would be helpful for DS so he knows what to expect.

[InMediasRes]

My son is like this too. It has morphed a bit as he's gotten older. He is still really grumpy about not having things exactly right at this time of night, but he also gets suddenly creative, imaginative, and laughs like crazy.

We noticed that he used to do it when he was little too. He woud laugh like crazy, disproportionate to whatever was funny.

For us, doing story time before bed has helped calm things down a bit, and we do some more structured energy burn-off activities like jumping on the bed and making pillow forts, not just bouncing off the walls.

[baileyann3]

What is the bedtime? Could it be that he is actually overtired?

[butterfly_mommy]

DS goes crazy running around laughing dancing playing instruments, entertaining us when he is over tired.

[SparklingGemini]

Yup. If my DD gets to the hyper, wild, crazy girl part, then I know that she is way overtired and its going to take longer for her to wind down.

Those are the nights we take a lonnnnnng bath and read more stories than normal to help her settle.

And I try not to let it get to that point because she gets out of control.

[sunshadow]

Yup. My daughter does this when she is over tired. It's harder to get her to bed and she doesn't sleep as well, so we try to avoid it. She is trying to skip naps right now, so we are trying to find the right bedtime when she does that. If we miss it then we have to spend some time dealing with hyper girl. She literally ran for 20 mins back and forth from her bedroom to the living room the other night when we were trying to put on her pjs. My husband and I just scratched our heads since nothing we said or did helped, and waited.

*eta* oh and yes we have a routine every night, but once she gets to that point it's hard to get her to go along with it!

[PatchChild]

DS goes hyper at bedtime as well. He never acts tired, he always gets wild as his sign that it's time to go to bed.

[Trinitty]

Hello.

We have that here too. We have a dance party before bed every night. DD (21 months) dances and sings and runs and claps and LAUGHS. Then she falls asleep. Hey, that's a routine, right?

Trin.

[CageFreeFamily]

Mine (7 &3) are pretty wild for the two hours right before bed. They are definitely not overtired though. We have a strong routine and a consistent lights-out time of about 7:45-8:15pm.

I think maybe it has something to do with the extended period of attention from both parents.

Although I, myself, tend to have a burst of energy about two hours before bed.

To manage it I just keep up with our routine, remind them that lights are out by 8:15 whether or not they have had their story. This has helped them to make decisions about jumping on the bed vs. having a story... squirreling around with their toothbrushes vs. me having time to lay down with them, etc.

[angrypixiemama]

My DD is three and still does this. We call it "revving herself up" - she does it because she knows she is tired and is fighting sleep. We do have routines in place in terms of bedtime snack, brushing teeth, reading stories, etc.....but there are some nights when the revving happens even before dinner. These are usually the days when she didn't get a nap or any quiet time during the day.

[indigosky]

We do have a going-to-bed routine, but part of it has become DD (25 months) running around the room with crazy high energy (usually naked), in great spirits. She bounces off us and the furniture, dances, and is generally goofy and adorable. She's not usually grumpy/testy, though.

Even though I still find it hard to believe, she settles down when we read books, and as soon as the lights are off and she's nursing, she goes right to sleep -- she either nurses to sleep if she skipped her nap that day, or lays down quietly and goes to sleep after I leave the room. The running around is exactly the opposite of what I would think would be part of a soothing bedtime routine (it was her idea, not mine!), but it doesn't seem to cause any harm in our case. We get ready for bed at 6:15 to 7:15 (depending on whether she napped or not), for lights out at 7 to 8.

So I guess my question for the original poster would be, does your child go to sleep easily when it's bedtime, or not? If bedtime is easy, then maybe you have no problem. If your son is too revved up to go to sleep, maybe an earlier bedtime or more quiet-down activities would help.

[olien]

thanks for all of the responses so far.

I never even thought of him possibly being over tired.

Lately his naps have been so eratic. If he skips a nap or naps less than an hour or so, then I can get him to fall asleep by 8:30. If he has as extended nap 2 - 2.5 hrs. then I cant get him to fall asleep until 10 or 10:30.

DH often doesnt make it home until 7 or 7:30. I hate to have them not see each other at all on those days if I get him into his room for bed by then. But it is after DH gets home that the crazyness sets in.

I often wonder If I should wake DS from his nap if it reaches a certain length of time so he would go to bed earlier at night. There have been a few times he has woken up crying after about 2hrs & I could tell he was still tired. I brought him downstairs & tried to soothe him, but keep him awake. It ends up being 1 - 1.5 hrs of crying, whining, clinging. I dont know if its worth the trauma during the day to have him in bed sleeping before 10.

Also at almost 17mo he usually wont fall asleep unless I am right next to him. We have a floor bed. How bad is that??

[FoxintheSnow]

Yep this is my dd. She will party and party and then finally crash!

[Lilygoose]

My DD (14 months) runs around like a crazy girl, plays, yells happily, etc. when she is overtired. this starts joyfully but within about half an hour degenerates into tears and crankiness. So, it could be a sign of tiredness.

[iris777888]

Originally Posted by olien

Also at almost 17mo he usually wont fall asleep unless I am right next to him. We have a floor bed. How bad is that??

Is it a problem for you in some way? I don't see why this might be bad. We had our bed on the floor for a few months when our kid was young enough to move around on the bed, but not yet able to get up/down.

Our DS sometimes has a burst of energy before bed too, but it's not because he's overtired. As long as he goes to sleep OK (isn't too wound up to go to sleep), I don't see the harm. I also nurse DS to sleep, which means I lay with him. He goes to sleep easily and sleeps deeply and for a long time. It works for us and that's all that really matters to me.

It almost sounds to me like you're seeking our approval. Just do what works for you and your family! If it ain't broke...

[SparklingGemini]

Originally Posted by olien

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Lately his naps have been so eratic. If he skips a nap or naps less than an hour or so, then I can get him to fall asleep by 8:30. If he has as extended nap 2 - 2.5 hrs. then I cant get him to fall asleep until 10 or 10:30.

How long after he gets up in the morning are you waiting before putting him down for a nap?

It sounds to me like perhaps you are putting him down for a nap too late which is cutting into his afternoon/evening awake time and making it more difficult to get him to settle to sleep.

At 17 months, my DD was ready for a nap about three hours after she woke up. So, if she woke at 7, she would nap at 10ish and sleep for 2-3 hours and then still be down at the "right time" for bed.

Maybe try moving the nap earlier and then moving bedtime earlier and see what happens.

Getting that extra rest, earlier, may make it easy for you LO to fall asleep.

[olien]

Originally Posted by SparklingGemini

How long after he gets up in the morning are you waiting before putting him down for a nap?

It sounds to me like perhaps you are putting him down for a nap too late which is cutting into his afternoon/evening awake time and making it more difficult to get him to settle to sleep.

At 17 months, my DD was ready for a nap about three hours after she woke up. So, if she woke at 7, she would nap at 10ish and sleep for 2-3 hours and then still be down at the "right time" for bed.

Maybe try moving the nap earlier and then moving bedtime earlier and see what happens.

Getting that extra rest, earlier, may make it easy for you LO to fall asleep.

Oh, I didnt think of this. He usually naps about 5 - 6 hrs after he wakes up - usually 5.
So, today for example he woke at 8:30(went to sleep at 10) and went down for a nap at 2:30 - 6hrs later.

Tomorrow I will try to get him to sleep 4 hrs after he wakes & see how that goes.

Do you mamas put your LOs down for a nap at the same time everyday or do you look for signs of tiredness or base it on x hrs after they wake if this varies?

[chirp]

for your first question....

DS absolutely has a hyper time before bed. DH comes home and we do dinner almost immediately. After dinner is bedtime routine, and DH likes to play with DS during that time too. It makes going to bed a little harder...but at the same time, they LOVE playing together. So they wrestle on the bed and chase each other around the house between jammies on and brushing teeth and whatnot. It's the only time they have together during the week for the "fun stuff" and since I'm not that into wrestling and the like, there's no way I'd take that away from either of them.

2nd question...

ds naps around the same time every day. although it definitely changes depending on the time he woke up. If he wakes before 7 he naps around 10. If he wakes after 7 he naps around 11. If he wakes after 8:30 he may not nap until 1. But that really only happens on weekend nights that we've been out later than usual. During the week, with regular bedtime, he's usually napping by 10:30.

[kcstar]

DS also runs around when overtired.

Originally Posted by olien

Also at almost 17mo he usually wont fall asleep unless I am right next to him. We have a floor bed. How bad is that??

At 27 months, DS still won't fall asleep unless one of us is right with him. We don't have a floor bed but we do cosleep. Part of it seems to be that DS still needs some "swaddling"/bear hug to help him sleep.