Sort of c/m related but a question about my own toddler too.

[Anon8319]

My toddler is nearly 18 months old. She was breastfed til she was nearly 17 months old when she started refusing (and still is), but despite that she's always slept well (b/f babies tend to need more frequent feeds as breastmilk is more easily digested by them, so doesn't fill them for as long). She would sleep from 730 til 1 then on til 4/5 and then on til about 8 (often co-sleeping). Then at 7 months or so, she started sleeping all the way through from 730 til 5 and it slowly spread out til about 7 (although she woke earlier over summer!). She now sleeps 7-6/7 every night.

She was never great at napping - I used to carry her in a wrap and she'd sleep on me during the day as I took 13 months' mat leave, so it was a luxury I could give her. And why not!? When she started nursery, they slowly got her into sleeping in the cot during the day, and she will now easily sleep for 1.5-2 hours at nursery (she still goes 1 day a week) and then still fall asleep during tea time at 4pm!!

What I have found now I am working from home and so around her more than I was in the last 5 months when I was going out to work, is that she can't seem to last longer than 2.5-3 hours without needing a sleep. Today for eg, she was up at about 645 (but awake a bit earlier than that) to welcome children here at 7. We did the schoolrun and by the time we got back at 915, she was nearly asleep, rubbing her eyes, doing all her tired signs. She will nap til about midday and then have lunch; we will be going to the library and then to feed the ducks, this afternoon, and then if the mindee was being collected at 330, we'd come back and she'd want another sleep. As it stands, today I will be doing a schoolrun and I think she will struggle to get through til bedtime at 7!

SO, I have worked with children for a long time, but I've rarely come across a toddler who needs to nap every 2-3 hours and then sleeps 12 hours overnight as well! She is a very very very active and busy girl, never sits still, never ever been given the opportunity to watch tv and wouldn't sit and watch tbh, climbs on everything, been walking for about 7 months, dances to even the slightest hint of music, loves bouncing and jumping. In contrast, my mindee is a couple of months older and she sits a lot and is reasonably quiet. And doesn't even nap for the 2 hours during the day, and definitely doesn't need regular naps.

So my question - do we think this is linked to how active she is? She has a very healthy diet; she eats very balanced and healthy meals. She is under a paediatrician at the moment due to some 'seizures' she's been having, and will be having an MRI and EEG soon, but I have not mentioned this to the Dr and I don't think it is particularly linked.

[RainbowMum]

I have known a few toddlers who sleep like this - I am always very jeealous as I was not blessed with good sleepers lol! I would however mention it to the Dr, even though its not likely to be linked its best they have a full picture x

[Nature'sKids!]

I agree wi rainbow mum.

It does seem odd. I would still have her iron levels etc checked too as I know a good friend of mine with a very healthy diet still had low iron levels.
Sometimes eating lots of foods with antioxidants can have a negative effect on iron levels too (iron being an oxidant)

Hope all is well but better to be safe than sorry isn't it

[Blaze]

I would mention it to the Dr - it may be linked - but he does need all the info.

She might just be a LO who needs more sleep...
It may be that she is growing - mine slept much more in the months they were growing, or it could be as mentioned that she is low on iron - so worth a trip to the Dr's just in case.


HTH

[The Juggler]

def. get it checked out hon if you are worried but if her iron levels were low its unlikely she'd be such an energetic, lively toddler.

From reading here on the forum there are children out there who are similar and needed lots of sleeps.

[AgentTink]

My little one was exactly the same. She is 26 months old now and at her 2 year check up with hv I mentioned that she slept 8pm til 9am. And then 11 for 1 hour. And at 2 she would sleep again for 2 hours. As she is full of beans and excelling on her milestones I was told not to worry some kids need more sleep. 4 months on she has naturally dropped the 11am sleep, but sometimes does 3 hours in the afternoon

[Narnia34]

The paediatrician needs to know about this, as it may have a bearing on the seizures she is having. It also might be completely unrelated, but they need the whole picture.

[mandy moo]

My little one was exactly the same. She is 26 months old now and at her 2 year check up with hv I mentioned that she slept 8pm til 9am. And then 11 for 1 hour. And at 2 she would sleep again for 2 hours. As she is full of beans and excelling on her milestones I was told not to worry some kids need more sleep. 4 months on she has naturally dropped the 11am sleep, but sometimes does 3 hours in the afternoon

Mine are now 13 and 10..lol
But, yep they both needed to sleep every 3 hours or so, gradualy dropping them to just 1 after lunch, and that would be a couple of hours and still go to bed and sleep at 7pm,
This lasted until they started reception class at 5!

[ChocolateChip]

Not wanting to jump the gun or scaremonger but my friends dd was diagnosed with epilepsy last year, apart from the seizures she was also very tired and sleepy. It could just be normal for your little one but I would tell the doc as sometimes it's little things that help them to piece it all together.

[lolli_pop243]

My son didn't need a lot of sleep as a toddler, but his sister could and can still sleep for the UK-and she is 6!!!

Definitely mention it to the Dr, and also, as an aside, check the ingredients of any drinks and treats you may be giving her. Please look for Aspartame and Phenylalanine as these are sweeteners with side effects. My really good friend's daughter had seizures for ages, until her mom read up about these sweeteners. When she cut them out of her daughter's diet, the seizures reduced in frequency and intensity.

[Anon8319]

Hi all,

Thanks for the messages.

I will mention to the dr of course - next time we see her - but my daughter is having an MRI and EEG in about a month's time so we will find out exactly what is wrong then. The paediatric consultant has diagnosed absence seizures, but needs the tests to confirm, and they are fairly common in children and they outgrow them if that is what she has. She isn't allowed to go to her waterbabies lessons at the moment.

I will of course also check the ingredients of what she eats, but I used babyled weaning with her, so she's never really had anything pre-packaged and now will eat freshly prepared healthy meals. She does have diluted apple juice and the occasional baby cereal bar or ginger biscuit, but on the whole she tends to eat the raw products; an example day for her would be:

Breakfast:
Cereal - either weetabix or porridge oats with whole milk; 1-2 full pieces of fruit; sometimes some granary toast (we don't eat white and wouldn't buy separate for her) with something like butter or honey or peanut butter (the organic Whole Earth chunky stuff) or marmite. Occasionally instead of cereal etc, she will have a breakfast muffin or toast and scrambled eggs (from our chickens).

Snacks tend to be fruits, raisins, raw veg like carrots, cucumber etc, crackers/wheat crackers etc spread with houmous or guacamole. She does sometimes have the cereal bars so I will check those for sweeteners.

Lunches are all homemade and completely from scratch - fish pie (salmon and cod) with plenty of veg, or cottage pie, or just fish and veg. Normal meals but always plain and as natural as possible.

Supper is usually something a bit lighter than lunch - pasta, veg and pesto or soup with a roll.

We have yeo valley yoghurts so I will check the ingredients in those.

She's never had candy or chocolate, has a tiny bit of cake on her or our birthdays, but apart from that a treat to her is a nice big juicy "banananana" (lol).

Today I took her to the beach - about half hour away. She'd been awake since 6ish and fell asleep at about 910, on the way. She had 50 minutes' sleep. Then she slept for 2 hours this afternoon (about 1230-230). She has gone to her granny's now but will be tired by 530!!