Kukushka
wotfan
Ok I will get this started myself, my 2 year old does not sleep through the night yet.......any advice?
You really should have taken care of this problem much earlier. Preferably in the first couple months of your child's life. Not having good sleep training as an infant can cause some lovely problems (like I have) for the rest of his/her life.
Anyways, the first thing to try is creating a "night time" and a "day time" enviroment. Make sure that your child gets a lot of excercise and mental stimulus during the day. Play with him. Have music on. Go out for walks. Make it very high energy.
At night, you want to make everything extremely boring. There should be very little stimulus around your child. Get rid of anything your child might play with during the night (except, of course, his/her security object).
Also, as hard as it might be, you do not want to come to him/her when he/she cries. (ok, I think from the other thread that your kid is a son, so I will just be saying "he" from now on. Apologies if I am wrong).
So basically, if he is calling for attention, bottle, drink of water, whatever else during the night, you MUST NOT GO TO HIM. Unless there is something serious (like he has a condition that requires him to get a glass of water in the middle of the night, for example). No matter how much he cries. Once you make the commitment, you must not go to him. If you give in, all he will learn is that you will give in if he cries long enough.
It's really tough, I know, but you've got to do it if you want him to learn to sleep through the night.
There's a few other things you can try in combination. For example, one couple I used to babysit for had the practice of giving their children back rubs right before tucking them in. It not only provided some good physical bonding time, but it also helped to relax their children and make them fall asleep easier.
Another couple I babysat for would give their kids warm vanilla soya milk. It works just like milk, except that milk can sometimes make kids feel a little...queezy. Soya milk settles in stomachs a bit easier.
It's important for 2-year-olds to have a nap during the day. But it should only be one and only for about two hours or so. More than that may be contributing to his problem with sleeping overnight.
I think it's important to mention that I don't have any children of my own. I am, however, extremely interested in development and learning in infants. So yes, I understand perfectly if you don't want to take the advice from someone who hasn't had first hand full time experience (babysitting is not full time).
My son was in the hospital for 4 and a half months after he was born with a birth defect, and after that I had to wake him for meds every night and feeding until he was 1.5. I do think you have alot to learn about babies though that whole training him in the first couple months comment, most infants wake 2 or 3 times a night for feedings until they are six months old. I somehow doubt that my son will end up with insomnia because he is a stubborn 3 year old who rebels against bedtime. As for giving in to him when he cries I do so because he suffers from night terrors because of his stay in the hospital. everyone will be happy to know he sleeps through the night most of the time and he is off the bottle.