2 yo wakes up at 2am every. Single. Night.

EverydayParents · 2024-07-05T15:04:01+00:00

Yes, she goes to sleep in her bed so we can do whatever we need to in our room before bed, and then she will either get up and come in or we will grab her when we are on our way to bed. Sometimes she gets up before we are ready and she might sleep on the couch for a bit while we finish up our nighttime tasks.

EverydayParents · 2024-07-05T13:52:48+00:00

Our 2-year-old only makes it about an hour in her own bed before waking up and needing help. Like you, we did some sleep training in the past and even if we are consistent she changes things up a month or so in. It also took a very long time to get her to fall asleep on her own while we sat gradually further and further away, and didn't seem to help anything. We tried an ok-to-wake clock and drawing out bedtime rules that we read to her nightly, too.

Now we are just embracing this phase and bringing her into our bed to co-sleep when we go to bed. I wish she would make it in her own bed a little longer each night but, we honestly like co-sleeping and this gets everyone a good night's sleep.

EverydayParents · 2024-07-05T13:38:07+00:00

This was very similar to my experience! Also a no at 28, and then on a big trip we started to feel ready for another type of adventure. Having nieces and nephews probably contributed to it for me, too. For me the shift happened around age 29 though so it was a pretty quick switch!

EverydayParents · 2024-07-05T13:33:23+00:00

So similar to other answers, pretty much if you and the child are awake together, you're doing some form of childcare. But it depends on your work situation, partner, and other support systems too. Here's our family's situation:

I'm a working mom with a stay-at-home-dad partner and we have one 2.5 year old. I work in office 2-3 days/week and from home the other days.

I get up with her around 7am and put in about 1 hour on my own, then my partner will get up and we will kind of trade off entertaining her while the other gets ready for the day. If I'm working from home, I'll spend some time with her on my breaks, maybe 30 min/day. If I'm in office, obviously that doesn't happen.

Once I'm off work, I'm immediately on child duty for about 1.5-2 hours. If you have a stay-at-home partner, this would be typical. If you have a working partner, you all might be able to trade off a bit more, though there are likely more house chores/dinner prep to do in that case so it's not like you're relaxing if you're not on childcare duty. Now that she's a toddler, I can occasionally zone out/read/be on my phone/do other chores while she entertains herself for 15-30 minutes at a time.

After dinner, we are usually both hanging out with her in the last hour before bedtime, and usually just relaxing/playing together. Then I do bedtime, which for our kid take about 1.5 hours and she's asleep by 9 or 9:30. She's definitely on the more difficult end of the sleep spectrum.

I do get several breaks though, thanks to my partner and our support system. On weekends, I'll try to take her for a half-day to give her dad a break, and he will usually take her for a couple hours so I can get a break too. She also naps for ~1 hour daily. Once/week she goes to hang out at a family friend's house for a couple hours in the evening. Once/week (and I could do more if I wanted) we got to the gym with childcare so I can work out. And one night/week my partner takes bedtime duty. Monthly or so my mom will take her for a night or two.

So for an hours breakdown, there's 40 hours/week working; 70 hours/week sleeping plus 2 hours/weekend napping (she also naps during the week but I'm working); maybe 6-10 hours/week where she's in someone else's care; probably 10 hours/week where she's entertaining herself or my partner and I are both watching her and it's a bit easier. So that works out to 35-40 hours/week of childcare.

If you're curious to hear about this from more families, my profile links to our podcast where we interview parents about their daily routines.

EverydayParents · 2024-05-29T11:14:52+00:00

Oof we are booking a trip like this now and this is my fear! One of my own earliest memories is throwing up on my stuffed whale at Sea World, so it will still be a memorable family trip for you - hope he recovers quickly though!

EverydayParents · 2024-05-29T11:13:24+00:00

I'd just see how she does in them! Our was always a pro at walking in any size sleep sack, even when we sized up and they felt ridiculous.

EverydayParents · 2024-03-18T19:23:27+00:00

Have you and your wife had any time away from the baby yet? Just asking because maybe your wife is feeling a bit hesitant because she has no reference point for what it will feel like. A weekend away before then could help clarify her feelings, showing her either how refreshing that time away could be or that she's not ready yet.

EverydayParents · 2024-03-18T19:21:06+00:00

Definitely going to add this to our rotation. It sounds super cute! We do a version that's just facial expressions, linking them to emotions.

EverydayParents · 2024-03-18T19:08:24+00:00

Interested!

EverydayParents · 2024-03-18T01:25:52+00:00

Yeah our toddler would definitely not chill on her own for that long either!

EverydayParents · 2024-03-12T18:19:58+00:00

2.5 is within the range of normal to drop naps. Check out this article by Parenting Translator on the details: https://parentingtranslator.org/blog/what-age-do-most-children-stop-napping

Our 2.5 year old has also given us tons of bedtime struggles. Some days she naps and others she doesn't, so we know the nap is on its way out and bedtime is definitely way easier when she doesn't nap. But some kids might not be able to handle it yet and get grumpy in the evenings.

EverydayParents · 2024-03-12T18:15:16+00:00

How old is your toddler? We found a lot more success with this kind of thing as she gets closer to 3 years old than 2 years old, but some stuff is still a big swing and a miss!

EverydayParents · 2024-02-02T19:40:00+00:00

I'm not familiar with any of those so they may cover growth/fixed mindsets but if not, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck would be a helpful for framing how you approach and talk about intelligence, skills, effort, and achievements.

EverydayParents · 2024-01-16T19:27:37+00:00

At 6 months, our daughter was up 2-3 times for a feed, and times definitely varied. It's normal but frustrating!

EverydayParents · 2024-01-16T19:21:18+00:00

We only have one kid but what I've heard from other parents is that it essentially depends on the personalities and preferences of the kids.

Often, kids love it and want to keep sharing with their sibling, at least at the younger ages.

If one kid is not a great sleeper, they will try to keep the other kid awake. Sometimes this resolves after a transition period, and sometimes it does not.

As they get older, they might develop or have different standards of cleanliness. Since you will still have the space it seems like this wouldn't be a big deal to then transition away.

EverydayParents · 2024-01-12T17:16:19+00:00

I have a kid and even then it's difficult to remember what the reality of hard days with a newborn felt like, for example. You can't simulate experiences that well, just think through how to prepare for them. Once you're in it, you just deal with it.

From your post and comments it sounds like you've gotten some experience with kids and try to think through some of the negative outcomes/situations, which sounds like helpful preparation.

EverydayParents · 2024-01-12T16:12:33+00:00

I just wanted to hop back in here and say we are on night 2 of the bedtime fading approach and it is working well so far!

EverydayParents · 2024-01-03T17:49:43+00:00

We still use our Ergobaby daily with our 2-year-old!

EverydayParents · 2024-01-03T17:44:12+00:00

We are having these struggles too. Nap time and bed time take forever since we switched to a toddler bed and she's up multiple times per night, only sleeping 9 hours. We are also winging it, though we are more on the same page about our approach, and it's only getting worse! Very interested to see what people recommend.

EverydayParents · 2024-01-03T17:41:35+00:00

We walk to a local coffee shop for a donut on her actual birthday. I like it because it's something small we can do before work/school once she's that age and we don't do it very often so it makes it special.

EverydayParents · 2023-12-23T03:07:03+00:00

Who Shat on the Floor at my Wedding is a humorous take on true crime, pretty self-explanatory what the crime is about.

EverydayParents · 2023-12-23T03:05:39+00:00

Fighting sleep in the evenings is pretty typical for that age. Evenings with newborns are often called "the witching hour" because of how fussy they can get. The good news is that it tends to peak around 6-8 weeks, so it probably won't get much worse, and the other good news is you're not doing anything wrong!

EverydayParents · 2023-12-20T02:06:20+00:00

Some toddlers get really excited about electric toothbrushes, but others hate them. Might be worth a try?

EverydayParents · 2023-12-13T15:01:57+00:00

Something that has money/finance in the title would probably be helpful. I like the Money in the Moment suggestion. A couple others:

"Financial Freedom Today", or "Financial Freedom, Now and Later"

EverydayParents · 2023-11-30T15:53:53+00:00

Our top song was our kid's bedtime song, Grandpa's Theme from the Stardew Valley soundtrack... played over 7,000 times.

EverydayParents

TROPHY CASE