Sleep Advice for Chatty 2.5 Year Old :)

He is just getting chatty. Changing cognitively.

So if you know that, then start the bedtime routine, EARLIER... so that... he has 'time' to chat... and then gets to bed/falls asleep, on time.

My kids have had spurts of that too. They like to chat before bed. SO THEN... I start the bed routine earlier... and then that way, we can chat and they still fall asleep/get to bed, ON TIME.
And I would TELL them... lets get ready for bed already, earlier, so we can chat... and not have to rush and Mommy gets irked... and you can still go to bed, as usual, at the same time. They understood that reasoning.

My son, was still napping at that age too... sometimes even twice a day. For 2 hours each.
He still went to bed fine at night, by 8:00pm.
And yes, if he did not nap... then he WAS a cantankerous fussy ol' boy... by 5:00pm.
Hence, I never took away naps and let him nap, as usual, everyday.
He needed it.
He would even tell me, he wants to nap.
He knows, himself.

Oh, boy I was looking for a post similar to this!

My son is SO CHATTY as he winds down for bedtime. I think this is normal for the age. He typically talks for 1/2 hour and is asleep by 8:30. The stories he tells himself and his stuffed animals are hilarious!

When is your napptime is it early? Or is he napping between 1 and 3? I thought that was the typical nap slot for toddlers. I am just wondering because I am surprised that he starts to get cranky as early as 5pm. Could he be hungry and need an earlier dinner?

Do you think he is still adjusting to daylight savings?

Could he be overtired and needing a slightly earlier bedtime?

I have found that an earlier wake up for my son was due to his being too hot, although the same could be said for being too cool. Also,I have found that my son will rise an hour early if there is a disturbance in his last hour of sleep. (noise from neighbor, hot room, stuffy nose, whatever).

Has he gotten his molars yet? Cutting those is tough on sleep.

My kids were getting ready to give up naps around that age. I had my 2.5 year old going to bed at 9 with a nap. When we stopped the nap at 3 and a few months bedtime moved to 7:30 or 8. What about limiting the nap to 1 hour? My 5 year old still like to talk a bit at bedtime so plan in the extra time in the bedtime routine if you can.

Based on when he wakes up, try to have him take his nap at 12:00.
If he were in daycare, they have lunch at about 11:30 and start getting ready for nap with the goal that the children wil be asleep by 12:30..

Then at night see if he can be in bed at about 7:15. If you give him his bath at night, use it as a time for him to become calm and relaxed, no wild loud playing in the tub.. Instead a little darker and quiet with nice warm rubs as you wash him.

Then make sure his bedroom light is not real bright and not alot of horseplay again.. When you read him a story read it quietly and as you get towards the end speak slower and slower.

All of this will help him relax.

My son did that. He seemed perfectly happy, just carried on long conversations with his stuffed animals before finally falling asleep. We did not change anything and at some point he just started falling asleep faster. We put him to bed at the same time you did. He absolutely needed his naps and in fact napped until we took them away (for kindergarten) at age 5-1/2. Usually if he woke in the middle of the night it was something simple like he was cold (hmm, replace blanket) or had a nightmare (give hug and tuck back in).