My husband’s making me ask… normal toddler behavior or not?

Hi,my name is Anne,I did the following:
Question: My husband’s making me ask… normal toddler behavior or not?

lol… sorry, but I guess it’s bugging him. Our 22 month old has a real hard time sleeping. He always have had – from about 3 months onwards. Where other 3-month old babies slept, our son would only take two or three 1 hour naps during the day and woke up 4 or 5 times at night.

Anyway, it hasn’t gotten any better and he still wakes up 3 or more times a night. Some nights, very rarely, he’ll sleep through the night. Mostly, he’ll wake up for a few minutes but there are nights when he gets up and comes to our room – not sleepy and looking for comfort at all, he’s looking for entertainment! He already starts laughing when he pushes open our door!

If someone goes back to the room with him and lies down with him, he’ll sometimes go back to sleep, but unfortunately that’s also the exception… He’ll play with my hair, or see how many fingers he can stick in my nostrils.

While he has normal 2-yr old behavior, throwing tantrums and trying to push his boundaries, it’s worse when he had an exceptionally bad night.

He takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon (sometimes three hours) and wakes up at around 3 – 4 p.m. He goes to bed at 9 p.m. I’ve tried making his daytime nap shorter, but that didn’t help at all, in fact he slept worse on the nights that I cut his naps. He’s up again from 6 a.m. and goes non-stop.

I keep telling my husband that he’s just a little hyper – I was exactly the same way, and very soon he’s going to complain because the kid does nothing but sleep… but I suppose he wants to know if it’s normal or not, and get some peace of mind.

Oh yeah, it’s also hard to get him to go lie down and sleep in the first place – there are days when I think he’s over it, when he’ll go to bed and fall asleep almost immediately, but it never lasts long.

He screams bloody murder, or will get up a few times before he finally falls asleep. We tried everything, from ignoring him (which never works), to lying down with him, to trying to keep everything calm before bed. He seems to go to bed easier if he’s overstimulated – but that doesn’t stop the frequent wakings.

I am exhausted, I get up most of the time and it feels like I haven’t slept for 2 years straight now… lol. While I’m here, if you have advice I’ll appreciate it.
It’s the middle of winter here, and we’re having a cold one. Swimming is out for the time being, but he does run around a lot and gets plenty of exercise.

He gets 100% fruit juice twice a day – no sugar allowed after 4 p.m. If he eats candy once a day it’s a lot… he does like fruit tough. I don’t think it’s a sugar issue – as I’ve said he’s always been a bad sleeper.

I did cut his naps, for almost 2 weeks – it made no difference what-so-ever.

Q&A:

Answer by talktomebaby
Does he eat a lot of sugary foods or juices? I had the same issue with my daughter and i found out hubby was sneaking chocolates and candies to her (more than he should have)

Also, go to the park or a gymnasium to burn off some of that energy. Swimming is a great way to do it too. Playgroups are good.

You really have to cut his naps too… it may be hard the first couple of nights, but it will get better.

Good luck

Answer by I<3 Sarcasm!
Soul sister I feel you! I have a son that just turned 2 on June 8 and since birth I’ve struggled with him. I’ve been doing TONS of googling and so far I’ve come up with two things:
A) He has a sleep disorder called night terrors (the Dr. told me this too)
B) He has ADHD

My son is extremely hyper, he climbs everything. He doesn’t nap at all!
I’m at my wits end and I’ve scheduled an appointment with a neurologist to see if they notice anything.

Answer by sparki777
Have you had him evaluated by a doctor?

At this point, I can’t tell if it’s behavioral in nature or an actual sleep disorder. Yes, toddlers can have sleep disorders, too.

Answer by avonmom
this is goig to be a shot in the dark, but I think it may be a sensory issue. Have you tried putting heavy blankets on him when you lay him down?…or pretend to squish him and briefly press him firmly into the mattress ( not enough to hurt him, of course) with your body. My suggestion is to find a book called “the out of sync child” and look through it. I did not realize that both of my boys have minor sensory issues until a friend made me read this book. It has descriptions of different sensory problems and how to change a child’s activities to make them behave more typically for thier age.

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