Sleep Regression? Change Sensing?

My 2.5 year old has always been a great sleeper. I’ve always been able to lay him down. Say night I love you and he just goes to bed and doesn’t make another sound. BUT…. For the last month he has REFUSED to go to bed. Nothing with his routine has changed. He will lay down like normal but not even 5 minutes after I shut his door he’s yelling “mama! Mama!”. (Crying it out for a few minutes doesn’t work and wakes up his 7 yr old brother who than climbs into bed with us… ) I’m 7 weeks pregnant. And it started around the time I found out. Im so tired 😭 and sooo fustrated. He has a night light, his favorite stuffy, his blanket, and his cat that sleeps with him every night. I’ve even tried keeping him up a little later and it doesn’t work. Tonight he told me “No Nap” as I was changing him…. Last night I put him to bed 3 different times and he woke up yelling for me every time (2 of the times he was sleeping when I laid him down) 😭 I ultimately ended up sleeping in the chair with him. If he ends up in our room after refusing to go to bed he falls asleep within 5-10 minutes Im wondering if he’s sensing hthat a big change is coming and thats why? (Photo of him and his kitty for attention. Trust me she was enjoying being held like that)

Show your support

Giving in and letting him sleep in your room is where he's getting you. He's getting close to 3yo and they are able to start understanding causation for their actions. Like when I do this, mommy does this etc. I would get back into the routine and if he gets out of bed or is screaming for you, the first time go in and say it's time for bed good night I love you. And after that it's just putting him back to bed CALMLY (no matter how irritated you are) no eye contact, no speaking. It might take a few hours but if he sees he's not getting an emotional rise out of you and you're not giving in, he will likely understand that you mean business. My almost 3 yo (at the end of May) is doing the same things. Starting to push boundaries hard. It's been rough

Sleep coach here! 👋🏻 Sounds a bit like a separation anxiety peak! Totally normal and a really common reason for bedtime battles in this age group! And yeh you’re right in thinking he might have picked up on a big change coming :) Concentrate on connection! On the lead up to bedtime make sure he’s getting one on one time with zero distractions, use words of affirmation, eye contact throughout, physical touch, that kind of thing! It’s absolutely fine if he’s needing more support with falling asleep- it’s a really long period of time without you, so I would just meet him where he’s at atm. Try camping out in his room for a little bit or setting up a little bed in your room and tell him he can sleep there if he needs to. I’ve got a few other strategies for bedtime battles in this age group so give me a message or an email (email address in bio) if you need any more help!

@Gemma Thank you! ❤️ I will reach out if I need too!

My daughter went through 2.5 tr old sleep regression and it was brutal.

@Makaila I’ve been having night time sickness with this pregnancy so with him not wanting to sleep I’m having g a hard time. His dad try’s to help but all little man wants is mom. Idr his brother going through it like this.

@Nichole yeah I was like 8-13 weeks pregnant and that sickness was kicking my butt on top of that the heartburn made me want to slap the nearest adult near me (my husband) she would throw these huge tantrums when we tried to go to sleep because she was awake and it was so unbearable. The screaming and fighting was just exhausting. I hope it gets easier for you. It got easier for us after a month

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌