Now that I officially have a 3 year-old, I have been reflecting on what my son put me through when he was 2 years-old.  Let me tell you, he certainly put my sleep consultant skills to the test!  

Here is what having a 2 year-old brought me:

Skipped naps:

This happened countless times over the course of the year.  Here is what I knew:  It was always temporary.  He was not ready to drop his nap completely.

Sometimes there was no reason, he would just lay in his crib, roll around, and talk to his stuffed animals.  

Sometimes it seemed like there was no reason, but then I would sit down at the end of the day and realize that he probably didn’t burn off much energy prior to his nap.  This usually happened on dreary, rainy days when we couldn’t go outside.

Sometimes there was a good reason, like recently when we started to potty train.  Big developmental leaps will almost definitely lead to sleep regressions!  Speaking of sleep regressions, I have a free guide for that, so check it out!

So we stuck through every single time.  If he refused to nap I put him to bed early.

Bedtime Battles:

Oh man.  This was a big one.  One day, my son was nicely following our bedtime routine without complaint.  We bathed him and he got out of the tub when we said tub-time was done.  He changed into PJ’s and flowed right into picking out a book.  We sang our songs, had our cuddles, and tucked him into his crib.  Boom.  Done.

Then, things changed.  He started stalling.  

First, it was physical stalling.  I would ask him to get in the bath, he would run the other way and giggle.  He would kick and scream when it was time to change into PJ’s.  I would tell him that it’s time to get in bed and an all-out tantrum ensued.   

Then came the verbal stalling.  Parents, you know this well.  Suddenly, there were a lot of questions and excuses.  Or sometimes, just flat out, “because I don’t want to!”.

My husband and I started to dread bed time.

I knew what I had to do.  So here it is:

1. We stuck with the routine, even though he didn’t always want to follow it.  If you don’t have a bedtime routine, you need one.  Implement it NOW, not just when things seem to unravel at bed time.

2. We reminded him of the routine.  Every. Single. Night. 

   Yes, I know it sounds redundant.  But your toddler needs to know what to expect.  Even though it can get a little annoying, one of my son’s favorite questions (and he has many) is, “what are we doing next, Mommy?”  Toddlers and preschoolers love predictability.

3. I finally took the “okay to wake” clock out of the box and set it up (*this one is my favorite).

   This gave him a visual cue of when it was time to get in bed.  

   His clock turns yellow when it’s time to get ready for bed, blue when it is time for the last step of our routine (songs), and pink when it is time for him to get in bed. It becomes a “race against the clock” type of thing, and he finds it to be fun!  He knows that if he does not complete all of his routine before the clock turns blue, we don’t have time to sing songs.

4. We implemented a routine chart.  

   This is a great visual reminder to him of the steps of his routine.  Every time he completes a step of the routine, he moves the task to the “done” area of the chart.  Plus, he thinks that it’s a lot of fun to complete!

   This is the one that I bought. Since it’s a digital download, I can reprint different tasks and still use it in the future when bedtime routine changes. I chose to laminate mine.

Freedom

Skipped naps every once in awhile weren’t a big deal during year 2.  So if we had somewhere to be during nap time, we just skipped it.  It wasn’t an every day thing, or even an every-week thing.  It was a holiday, fun event kind of thing.  It always meant an early bedtime to compensate!

Crib Life Forever

Okay, not forever, but I really encourage parents to keep their kid in the crib as long as possible. Unless it becomes a safety issue because they keep climbing out, leave your 2 year old in the crib.  I know that skipped naps would have gone quite as smoothly if my son had been in a bed.  Bedtime battles would have been amplified by him trying to leave his room after bedtime.  Night wakings go a lot differently when your kid can climb into your bed.

So as tempting as it was to switch my son to a big-boy bed, I didn’t do it (I still haven’t).  He is happy in there, he feels safe in there.

The last sleep-related thing that I learned- 2 year-olds are stinking exhausting.  I am so tired by the end of the day, and I have a good sleeper!  If you are exhausted at the end of the day and don’t have a good sleeper, I encourage you to reach out and book a free evaluation call with me.  I love to work with 2 year olds and would love to help you family get more rest!

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