bed time

[alanmcn2]

i have a 2 year old son who never sleeps for more than 20 minutes during the night without awakening. he gets plenty exercise and doesn't sleep during the day.can anyone give any advice.

[Hgrove]

Standard advice is that perhaps he is too tired and could do with some afternoon rest - perhaps one hour to hour hour and a half but not longer.  Some people find that once you reinstate the afternoon sleep, the nights improve as well.  I have not tried this myself.  I have read it somewhere, possibly in C. Green's book "Toddler Taming".

[enigma]

Does your son want to play when he awakens or is he quite grumpy ? The reason why I ask is because he may be over stimulated at bedtime and needs to just wind down. A good betime routine is very important because it lets your son understand that by the sequence of events which he is following , bedtime is imminent. After dinner , I let my toddler have some gentle playtime - nothing too boisterous , then I pop her in the bath and when she's dried off , I give her a quick drink of milk ,  brush her teeth and finish getting her ready for bed. I dim the lights to let her know that it's bedtime and I talk to her softly rather than encouraging her to play and I praise her for being so clever in getting ready for bed. I read her a little