How do you put your 2 yo toddler to bed/ nap?

[landgyrl]

I'm going a little nuts. Every time we go away (to visit family, which inevitably means overnights) our to-bed routine gets out of whack with our DS. I co-sleep when we are away, as we learnt early on the hard way that it wasn't going to happen any other way. However he sleeps in a crib at home. Before our latest holiday voyage, he was falling asleep on his own. Now he wants me to sing him to sleep. This has taken 30+ minutes the last few days. I am falling asleep and just exhausted from the experience. He is almost 2 and I am the only one who has ever put him to sleep (ok, 99%). DH is not an option, he can barely calm him down.

How do you get your 2 yo to sleep if not a co-sleeper? Is it reasonable to want him to be tucked in and lights out or should we be giving him water for the sixth time and giving into his mamma requests for yet another song?

[onelovelivity]

When my 2yo won't sleep I put her in the Ergo in a back carry and go about my usual stuff in the house until she sleeps. I just did this tonight and I do it for nap-times as well. It works everytime, usually within 10-15 minutes and I find it a little less frustrating/tiring than 30 minute sing-songs or fidgeting 'cuddles'!!

Having said this I am looking for a new bedtime routine for my 1yo & 2yo...but that's another post. Best of luck!

[landgyrl]

Originally Posted by onelovelivity 

When my 2yo won't sleep I put her in the Ergo in a back carry and go about my usual stuff in the house until she sleeps. I just did this tonight and I do it for nap-times as well. It works everytime, usually within 10-15 minutes and I find it a little less frustrating/tiring than 30 minute sing-songs or fidgeting 'cuddles'!!

Having said this I am looking for a new bedtime routine for my 1yo & 2yo...but that's another post. Best of luck!

Thanks for your reply. I wish I could get him to sleep in our Beco and transfer but he awakens every time. Hopefully we'll figure it out.
 

[entiti]

You know what has really worked for me? Back rubs! Ha....oh my gosh, dd (just turned 2) saw dh giving me a back rub a couple of months ago, and decided she wanted me to move over so she could have one. Well, dh started rubbing her little back, then her head.....and I kid you not she went out like a light in 10 minutes!!

So now, we're cutting back on nursing due to pregnancy, right before her nap, or even bed time to make nursing time super short (like less than 5 min), or cut it out completely, I rub her back and scalp, and she goes limp and drifts off within 10 minutes every time. It is so funny to me, and also has been a lifesaver.

[Courtney-Ostaff]

We read her to sleep.  It doesn't always work, but 90% of the time, she'll fall asleep within 20 minutes or so. When I say we, I mean my husband. :)  It's kind of funny, because before we tried this, he couldn't put her to bed ever.  We just have a rule that if she wants to hear the story, she has to be laying down. Works like a charm, most of the time.  Also, we avoid chocolate before bedtime. :(  We live with my mom and she thinks it's "cute" to feed her chocolate in the evenings!! 

[landgyrl]

Originally Posted by Courtney-Ostaff 

We read her to sleep.  It doesn't always work, but 90% of the time, she'll fall asleep within 20 minutes or so. When I say we, I mean my husband. :)  It's kind of funny, because before we tried this, he couldn't put her to bed ever.  We just have a rule that if she wants to hear the story, she has to be laying down. Works like a charm, most of the time.  Also, we avoid chocolate before bedtime. :(  We live with my mom and she thinks it's "cute" to feed her chocolate in the evenings!! 

Ha on the chocolate...DS has never had chocolate but he might as well be made of chocolate the way he's wired and can't settle down. Is your DD in a bed or crib or cosleeping? We are thinking of converting DS's crib into a day bed to enable the bedtime story...it's not cozy leaning over a crib to massage or sing or read...our routine has always included reading books before bed, but mishmashed with putting on pj/ pottying and then bed. But combining them might work...I hope! Thanks for your post!
 

[Courtney-Ostaff]

NP.  She coslept until 2 1/2, and then we converted her crib (never used) into a toddler bed, which is now squished between my side of the bed and the wall.  It's lower than our bed, so she has kind of a warm little nest to sleep in. The husband lays down beside her, on my side, and reads her to sleep. We do 1) bath, 2) pajamas, 3) teeth, and then into bed.  

Sometimes she just can't sleep (thanks grandma!) so I've been known to stay up reading with her while she zones out watching TV, or my husband plays a puzzle video game, or my husband and I just go for a drive & she falls asleep in the car.  But 9 nights out of 10, the routine works well.  

Oh, we also heat her comforter in the dryer while she's in the tub, so her bed is nice and cozy, which helps too.

[Baby_Cakes]

She lays on a mattress in her room ( or if we are away, in the bed we are using) and we read a few books.  Then it's lights out, I lay with her, and sing songs until she falls asleep.  Once she's out, I sneak away.  Sometimes she STTN, sometimes (usually) she wakes once at night and calls out to me.  I'll go to her, tell her to lay down and go back to sleep, maybe help her get comfy and hand her her stuffed animal, and wait for her to fall back asleep.  Then I leave again.

Sometimes I'm singing for 10 minutes, sometimes for half an hour.  Usually if she's still chattering away or asking me why I'm singing, I calmly tell her she needs to be quiet and close her eyes, and go to sleep.  I know once she's drowsy and her eyes are closing, I can switch to our slow lullaby and generally she'll fall right into a deep sleep.  I can't start with that lullaby.  She gets upset and needs a little faster of a song -- kind of like working her way up to sleep, if that makes sense.

[Agatha_Ann]

My 2 yo sleeps on a twin bed that has built in rails all around. I just carry him up the stairs, lay him down with his special blankies, binky, and his turtle, give him a kiss and I leave. He shares a room with one of his brothers so sometimes they talk for awhile at night or get in each other's beds. At nap its only him though. Sometimes he yells "Mommy!" and I open the door and say "It is not time to yell it is time to sleep" and he'll go to sleep. Now and then he will cry on our way up the stairs, but he almost always stops when he sees his turtle haha.

On a rare occasion they will ask for another song or story and I'll tell them I can't wait to read/sing/whatever in the morning, so lets sleep and then it will be time!

[CoBabyMaker]

We lay her down and tuck her in with her two Curious Georges.  Then we sing a few short songs.  Right now it includes Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves me and Jesus Loves the Little Children.  Kiss her and remind her to go right to sleep so we can have a great day tomorrow. 

[p.s]

i have no solutions, but it seems like every one else i know IRL have kids that go to sleep well on their own.  Will say that my 23 mo old now takes only 30-40 min to put down, versus the1.5 h that it used to take.  And I am rubbing the back, or patting belly, or gently brushing hair or eyelids with my hands,

i really hate that it takes so long, and have tried to leave him alone for a few minutes routine... which didn't work.  All I know is that I have averaged <5h of sleep per night, since he was born.  Am completely exhausted.....And know that as soon as he sleeps on his own, I'll miss this needing of me and feel quite wistful of this phase.   arrgh....

[Lillitu]

30 minutes seems like par for the course around here. I lay down next to him, whisper to him stroke his hair, feed him. Sometimes I sing. After he falls asleep, I leave. He wakes around midnight then again around 4-6. ONly for a few minutes. If he gets milk, he falls right back to sleep. (Yay for co-sleeping!) At 11 months, he doesn't yet STTN.

[Momofjames]

I still rock my son to sleep. First we read a couple of stories then lights out, turtle night lite on and rock with his blanket and favorite stuffed animals until he falls to sleep. I put him in his crib and most of the time he STTN. I have been told by some that I should break him from rocking because he will never learn to put himself to sleep, but I cannot bring myself to put him in his bed and let him cry it out. Besides, I mostly enjoy the time we have at bedtime.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Since we moved her to regular bed a little before she turned 2 (about 8 months ago) here has been our routine.

Potty

Change into diaper and pjs

Read The Foot Book and a story out of her Jesus Storybook Bible

Pray

Bring her whatever stuffed animal/blanket she wants to sleep with

Turn on the noise machine and off the lights

Kiss her goodnight

She falls asleep on her own

This routines takes about 15 minutes and she falls asleep within 5-10 minutes of us leaving the room.

[treeoflife3]

My kiddo will only nap nursing laying on the couch.  No where else, has to stay nursing the whole time (she used to nurse and then I could put her into bed *sigh*)

for bedtime, we get diapers/pjs on, we pick up toys, we read stories, we say good night to everything we see while we walk to her room and close the door, and then she nurses until she falls asleep (I have to wait for her to pull off herself or she'll wake up and demand to nurse more) and then I can move her to her crib.

She won't let me do anything else and I'm not prepared to spend a great deal of time with her crying to try and change it.  I can't stand the routine.. i'd really like to be able to nurse her awake (if at all!) and then bring her to her room and just tuck her in.  i'm lucky I even figured out how to get her to nap though.. she had stopped for awhile and it was a nightmare!  She is extremely specific about sleeping (and she doesn't sleep well when we travel because it isn't HER bed in HER room.  our last trip she finally started going to sleep fine but she'd wake up 4 times a night and often insist on joining me in bed which sucks a lot for me) and has been since she was born... it was rough getting her to stop fighting sleep as an infant so I'm a bit nervous about trying to change anything now although I need it.  I fear it'll be even more rough this time around.

[Nicole730]

I used to have a nurse to sleep little guy and then a very, very careful crib transfer.  We've gradually worked ourselves into a pretty nice bedtime routine.  Although it started after I stopped nursing him at 14 months (got pregnant).

When he was almost 2, we did brush teeth, wash hands and face.  Then pick out jammies.  He would get to pick out one book and the other book was always The Going to Bed Book.  After stories we'd pick him up and have him turn off the light and touch his circles painted on his wall.  We'd kind of distract him with those asking which colors he wanted to touch and then do a "crash" landing in the crib.  We'd give him kisses through the rails and then say Good Night and leave.  We let him sleep with a sippy cup of water.  Turned out, he would nap better if I changed him into jammies at nap time too. 

Now he is almost three and it's a little different since he's in a bed.  We do potty time, teeth, wash up.  Jammies, 2 stories - he picks both.  Then however many kisses, hugs, and "lay with me's" - which are tight squeezes he wants.  Usually 9 of each.  It was seriously a process to get him to this point where he just goes to sleep without asking for a million things, but I've found if I just do what he asks right away, he gets satisfied and goes to sleep. 

Also, I just incorporated massage for naptime yesterday and he took a nap, his first in months that wasn't in a car.  He totally needs the sleep, but would not settle down for naps.