How to manage night owl toddler and night terrors. Sorry its long ladies .. My little girl has always had a different sleep routine to most bubs. From almost birth she slept 10-12 hours straight but would not settle till 8-10 pm and woke about 9 am. As hubby works till 7 pm, didnt bother us as they got time together at night, and she slept in so we had free time then (we just were always late for play dates!). She would always nap 2-3 hours from 2 pm. She is a very spirited, independent and busy busy toddler. Not going berserk or destructive, just very confident and curious and happy to dive in head first into most things. So Bub no 2 was born. First born dropped daytime nap at 23 months (sob) but still fights bed time, and wakes earlier! Now at 2.5 years I Sometimes can get her to have a sleep in car but only about 4 pm and she then crashes until 630 pm. Then its a battle of course to get her to sleep before 930-10 pm. But even if she doesnt have the afternoon nap, we are still fighting to get her to sleep before 9 pm. To top it off she never really gets cranky or grumpy. She is wide awake and happy right up until the moment we say bedtime. If we go out for dinner she will stay awake till 11 pm without a drama (rather than sleep in pram). She shows no tired signs at all and has tricked all the babysitters so when we get home she is still up as she didnt seem tired. She has dinner and tv time (abc2) from 6-7 pm, then play, bath, teeth, stories and lights out aiming for 830 pm lights out. We would do it a lot faster but she drags everything out fighting each step. We now have to lock her door and leave night light on (as she would otherwise have huge tantrum) and last night could see her on monitor at 10 pm still awake chatting to herself! Often though she will yell out, cry, kick door and whinge and of course wake up Bub 2 so its not easy behaviour to ignore. She is very active, constantly on the run, eats very well with no chemicals/preservatives except the occasional bit of chocolate or vanilla ice cream at nannas, which doesnt make a difference. lately she is having what I think is night terrors, but usually about 2 am (and apparently night terrors are usually earlier). She is screaming, sobbing, thrashing in bed calling for us with her eyes open looking at us. The books say to leave her but it goes on for ages and is so loud wakes up Bub 2. We usually have most success turning lights on, walking around, even resorted to watching tv, offering to play, singing, sitting quietly, reading books. She is totally not interested because she is so tired but distraction calms her down and then if we lie down with her she will go back to sleep solid till 8 am again. This can happened probably 12 times over 4 months. She cannot yet communicate enough to us if she remembers or why. she does not do quiet time, she will play a bit but then look for me to join in. The only way to get her to rest is to put a Disney movie on (which feeds another level of guilt but hey I am getting over it!), in a dark room with air con on praying she might drop off but nope she just keeps on going. I literally go to bed after wrangling the toddler to sleep by 930-10 pm, then up at 530/6 am with Bub 2 so I dont even dare watch Tv or read or take any time out in case the night terrors start, as I know the next day the toddler will be awake all day again and I will be exhausted. I just wanted to hear advice from other mums who have toddlers similar - not the ones that are tired, cranky and fighting bed, but those who genuinely are happy night owls and how to get them down earlier (or how you changed your mentality). I have not met one mum who has had this problem as all their bubs want/need to go to bed between 630-8 pm (in my dreams!)
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:00:00 +0000
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