Did your gifted child need less sleep when they were 2?

[jenbrdsly]

I wish I knew how to make a poll! So please forgive me for being lame but--- Did your gifted child or teen need a normal amount of sleep when they were 1, 2, or 3 years old? (i.e. did they take naps like their peers and go to sleep at a normal time?)

[JenneinCA]

Less sleep. Way less sleep. Even now.

 

They took naps like their peers, but the naps were shorter and they went to bed later and got up like their peers.

 

Example: At one and two years old, Dd13 would get up at 7:00 am, take a nap from 1 to 3, and be up until 10:00. The boys were much the same. Any effort on my part to have them in bed earlier would make them get up earlier and I was not interested in dealing with children at 5:00 am to get them to bed at 8:00 pm. It was not worth it to me.

[MamaT]

My PG son needed lots and lots of sleep when he was young. When he was five or so, he would go to sleep about 3:00 on Friday afternoon and sleep until Saturday morning. By the end of the week, he was just worn out. As an adult, he still seems to require more sleep than most people.

[TranquilMind]

I wish I knew how to make a poll! So please forgive me for being lame but--- Did your gifted child or teen need a normal amount of sleep when they were 1, 2, or 3 years old? (i.e. did they take naps like their peers and go to sleep at a normal time?)

Slept like a rock.

[FairProspects]

Nope, mine slept more than average. He napped until he was well past 6 and would still sleep 9-10 hours at night.

[slackermom]

DD7 has always slept much less than a typical child of her age. She did not sleep 4 hours straight until she was more than a year old, and averaged about 9 total hours of sleep until the age of 3 or 4. She gave up naps by the age of 2. At age 7, she gets maybe 7 hours of sleep at night, on a good night, and is in constant motion during the day, as always....

[mumto2]

I got one of each type. Dd13 can easily function well on less than 7 hours of sleep. Was on 1 nap a day at about 6 months. By 18 months she was on our schedule. We would beg her to sleep so we could! Ds 12 needs 12 hours minimum and still naps in the car! He would take 3 naps a day when he was 3! Ds always feels like he is missing things and trys to stay up and spends the next day nodding off. There really isn't a great compromise. Dd reads in her room so he can sleep frequently, but we do not expect her to.

[nmoira]

Stopped napping at almost exactly 24 months, but overall about the same amount of sleep.

[Dmmetler]

Stopped napping by anout age 2(although she still has a quite time each day at age 7) and generally doesn't go to bed any earlier than her peers.

[quark]

He refused to sleep longer than 8-9 hours a day as a baby and toddler but was also cranky as a result of less sleep and various other sensitivities. Stopped napping at 3yo. Now loves to sleep if he doesn't have to wake up early.

[Wheres Toto]

We only suspect my son is gifted but he always slept a lot less than is considered typical for his age. He stopped napping by 18 months old and only slept a total of 8 to 10 hours in a 24 hour period from infancy. We used to ask his pediatrician about it since it seemed so abnormal. They said he was happy, growing well, etc. so he just was a kid who didn't need a lot of sleep. The sleep guidelines are for the "average" kid so you have some that sleep a lot more and some that sleep a lot less.

[Donna]

My boys slept a lot when they were young. They were very active physically. They napped until they were 6 and 4yo.

 

My dd always needed so little sleep. She exhausted me because I need my full 8 hours. When she was 18 months old, I kept her from napping so she'd go to bed by 10pm. If she got so much as a 3 minute nap during a car ride, she'd be up singing in her bed until 11-12pm. She always woke with the sun. She still needs less sleep. She goes to bed late regularly but still gets up by 7am. She has been known to stay up at music sessions until 2-3am at fiddle camp and still get up happily for her 9am class.

[2smartones]

Ds 1 slept WAY less than other kids. Ds 2 slept a little less than other kids. My brother and I (both PG) get more sleep than most ... when we're able to, that is! :lol:

[regentrude]

No. They both went to bed very early and were up at the crack of dawn and DD did not sleep through until she was 2.5 years old - but in terms of hours, they both slept quite a bit.

[Runningmom80]

None of my children seem to need much sleep. :banghead::banghead:

[3Blessings]

Ds who is 2e has never needed a lot of sleep. He stopped taking 2 naps before he was 1yo!! But, to put this in perspective, he never seemed to need more sleep; he wasn't fussy when he had less sleep, etc. I will be honest, however, and tell you that Dh and I always attributed his need for less sleep on his ADHD (of course, before the diagnosis the dr. always said that some kids just don't need that much sleep).

 

OTOH, gifted dd6 needs a lot of sleep and always has! She will tell me, "I want to go to sleep now." She napped until this year (she will be 7 in 2 weeks). She would still nap now if I made her lay down for any length of time.

 

FWIW, my kids are busy. We live in a tropical climate and they are outside nearly every day biking, playing, swimming, etc. That might explain the tiredness of my dd6 . . . but I tend to doubt it.

 

HTH a little bit. I think that kids sometimes go through times of growth and they need more sleep. Other times, however, they don't need so much. It is hard when you, the parent, still need some time of rest!

[psychmom]

Both of my kids gave up naps by 2 1/2 or 3. They go to bed at a reasonable hour (8 to 9) but are up fairly early (6 to 7).

 

What is remarkable about my dd7's sleep is that she rarely napped in the car (or plane), even if it was late at night--and still doesn't. We flew to Australia when she was 2 1/2, and on the return trip we were delayed. Out of 30 hours of travel, she slept 3! And yet she recovered much faster than we did...:tongue_smilie:

[Acorn]

Sleep? I don't remember what that is. My oldest only took 45 min. naps his first year. I had friends that had babies sleeping 2 - 3 hours. They could clean their house; I was lucky to take a shower. By the time he was 20 months, there were no more naps. He would fall asleep at 7 pm and sleep to 7 am. Over the next few years, wake up time became earlier and bedtime became later. After lights out, he is constantly talking and thinking and wondering about things.

[Embassy]

Yes, less sleep. Naps ended early.

[Dinsfamily]

Mine needed a lot of sleep and still do. They are VERY active during the day, though.

[TippyCanoe]

.

[LittleIzumi]

One slept like a ROCK. 12-14 hours at night, 3 hour naps. However, her ADHD became more pronounced as she aged, and now she stays up for HOURS after bedtime every night. She sleeps in a little longer than her sister, but still gets much, much less sleep.

 

The other daughter had horrible sleep issues when she was little. She also gave up naps around 18 months (not like she took "normal" naps anyway). Now, however, she can go to sleep quickly. She often wakes up once in the night still, but sleeps a normal amount.

 

The baby stays up late and wakes up a LOT but naps well.

[EKS]

My younger son, who is not 2E like his brother, but HG, always needed less sleep than average. And he still does.

 

(The older one, who is also HG but has multiple LDs and processing issues, actually took 4 hour naps until he was four years old! It was truly amazing, but it saved my sanity, since one of his issues was to be constantly getting into things and running away from me.)

[azucena]

Younger ds is gifted. We asked him when he was little why he didn't sleep that much. He calmly explained, "I sleep fast."

[ebunny]

DD sleeps much less than average, and always has, unless she's going through a growth spurt. Usually 8 hrs a night She stopped napping at 2.

[Tanikit]

My elder DD has always slept less than normal children - she was in a nursery school at age 2 and the teachers could not get her to sleep despite the fact that everyone under the age of 5 slept - they tried and then left her to play with the 5 year olds instead during nap time. She went a good while sleeping only a half hour a day as an 8 month old until I was nearly mad with exhaustion and she was still waking 6 times a night as an 18 month old. My younger DD does sleep a little more, though at 14 months she is on one short nap a day already so I suspect she will drop her nap time early like my eldest did. The sad thing for me is that my eldest needs to go to bed earlier (19:30) and wake up very early (at 18 months old she'd be ready for the day at 04:30am) whereas the baby goes to bed much later (around 21:00) but will sleep a bit later (til about 07:00am though with multiple night wakings) so I am suffering a bit.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Tanikit

[MinivanMom]

I have two that are highly gifted. One never slept. I was the most exhausted new mom ever. She was sensitive to everything and is still pretty high-strung. She gave up naps early and still doesn't need a lot of sleep.

 

The other has slept like a rock since the day he was born. He was the most easy-going baby/toddler. The only time he was ever cranky or difficult was if something interrupted his naps. There have been times I've worried there was something wrong with him, but he just needs his sleep.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin slept really well - slept through the night from 4 weeks old, fully breast fed. Hobbes slept badly at night until about age two, then slept well thereafter.

 

Laura

[nitascool]

At 6 weeks my oldest no longer napped. He went to sleep at 11:00pm and was up between 5:00 and 5:30am each morning. He continued this schedule until he was 10 1/2. At age 2 he slept no more the 6 hours in a 24 hour period. Now at almost 12 he sleeps around 8 to 9 hours while his peers are sleeping closer to 11 hours.

 

My other three children slept closer to 8 hours as an infants. At age 2 they slept closer to 9 hours.

 

My dd is the only one who ever took a 1/2 to 1 hour nap with me once in a while at age 2.

[boscopup]

All 3 of mine have taken long naps and slept a long time at night. Bedtime is 7 pm here!

Edited April 19, 2012 by boscopup
Corrected spelling... swype errors :P

[jenbrdsly]

Man! I still wish I was clever enough to set up a poll. If I wasn't so tired I'd go through and count out the responses by hand. :)

Roughly, it does seem like a lot (but not all) of gifted children need less sleep. My son (who is identified), stopped taking naps at 18 months. He also use to wake up a 5 AM each morning. My DD2 (not identified of course!) doesn't take naps either, unless she falls asleep in the car. But she has been staying up until 10 and sleeping in until 7. If I try to adjust her bedtime, then she wakes up at 6 and is just a PILL.

[JeanM]

Neither of my dc slept for very long when they were young. It's a bit of a blur for me since I was sleep deprived at the time. :glare:

 

At some point that switched though, and my dc now sleep longer than many of their peers. My 10 year old really needs 10 hours of sleep, otherwise he gets very cranky. My 13 year old doesn't sleep quite as much, but he also really needs his sleep.

[Iucounu]

Both of my kids sleep less than normal, although they are such bears in the morning that I suspect what's going on is a combination of being a night owl by nature (or even a sundowner), not wanting to stop whatever they're doing at a normal bedtime, and needing to get up in the morning. They both sleep later on the weekends than on weekdays, though still I would say they tend to get up after sleeping for 8-9 hours max, so a little on the low side.

 

As an extreme example, DS6 stayed up until 3 a.m. working on a project this past Sunday, then got up before 8 a.m. to go to school-- but he was tired after school and had to take a nap. Last night DS6 and DS2 stayed up until past midnight, but got up before 8 a.m. today. That's more normal for them.

[Greenmama2]

Much less sleep. Napped once a week or less at her second birthday.

[boscopup]

Man! I still wish I was clever enough to set up a poll.

 

 

When you make a new thread, scroll to the bottom (before you post it), and check the box saying you want to make a poll. You list the number of options there. Then submit, and as it posts the thread, it will give you the options for the poll to fill out. You submit those, and you have a poll!

 

:)

[Terrilth]

LESS! Way, way, way less. Both girls, but especially my youngest.

 

<sigh> I don't even like remembering it. :tongue_smilie:

[jenbrdsly]

When you make a new thread, scroll to the bottom (before you post it), and check the box saying you want to make a poll. You list the number of options there. Then submit, and as it posts the thread, it will give you the options for the poll to fill out. You submit those, and you have a poll!

 

:)

 

Thank you!

[Mommy_of_4]

DS has never liked sleep. He dropped his first nap at 6 wks and his second at 6 months. He has slept from 7pm to 6:30ish every night since 6 months.

[catz]

In a word, yes. Both of them.

[rachsr]

I am not sure yet if my kids are gifted but both of them seemed to need a little less sleep than what was prescribed. Both quit napping by 2 and if they napped they couldnt fall asleep before 11 PM. My older one would stay up really late if we let him and get up around 8. He is 9 now and finally seems to sleep around 8 hours. He is a night owl tho - he would prefer to sleep late and wake up late. My younger one who is almost 6 is following normal patterns since he was 4 - Falls asleep at around 9:30 and is up at 7:00.

[amsunshine]

I wish I knew how to make a poll! So please forgive me for being lame but--- Did your gifted child or teen need a normal amount of sleep when they were 1, 2, or 3 years old? (i.e. did they take naps like their peers and go to sleep at a normal time?)

 

Both my dds have tested as gifted. However, their sleep needs have always been very different. My elder dd has never needed a lot of sleep and gave up naps early. My younger dd has always needed lots of sleep, and still sometimes needs a nap occasionally even now!

[ElizaG]

All of us here, adults included, are in the "more sleep" camp. My children started sleeping through the night very early on, and keep taking long naps until around age four. It makes for a quiet and relaxed atmosphere in the afternoon, but does put a limit on how many outings we can do.

 

Interestingly, my mother tells me that I gave up napping at 18 months, but was often very cranky by supper time. I wonder if it's something different about our household routines. Or just that we're interpreting signals differently.

 

(My motto with little ones has always been, "if they're driving you nuts for no apparent reason, put them to bed." :tongue_smilie: It seems to work for us.)

[lauracolumbus]

Hmm...I've always assumed gifted kids slept a lot less than others. When I was in a complete sleep deprived state, I read every sleep book out there. One doc (I forget which one) said that pediatricians often told parents that kids who slept very little were often quite brighter than those who didn't. He continued that this was not true, but it was a bit of consolation for the parents.

 

But I always wondered if it were true. Based on the responses here, it appears that gifted kids are on both sides of the spectrum. Hmmm. Now I'm jealous again of all of you who had kids who slept.

 

Between my oldest and youngest I didn't sleep through the night for 8 years. And forget about naps.

 

Laura

[nmoira]

Hmm...I've always assumed gifted kids slept a lot less than others. When I was in a complete sleep deprived state, I read every sleep book out there. One doc (I forget which one) said that pediatricians often told parents that kids who slept very little were often quite brighter than those who didn't. He continued that this was not true, but it was a bit of consolation for the parents.

 

I'd read something similar in Dr. Sears, and was for awhile convinced that my eldest, who slept upwards of 22 hours a day for the first few weeks, must be terribly slow or something. With DD the Younger, I accepted this for the little gift it was; it certainly made the transition period with her elder sister easy peasy.

[acurtis75]

Dd is resistant to sleep but also generally obedient so from about 3 on dutifully goes to bed when told but has been known to stay awake for hours talking to herself, singing, making up stories in her head, etc. The first time she asked to read a little never bed she was just barely 4 I think. I said okay assuming she woud read for a few minutes and fall asleep. I went upstairs to go to bed three hours later around midnight and she was still sitting on her bed happily reading to herself. We had to institute a time limit after that. She has quiet time in the afternoon but rarely falls asleep. Fortunately when she finally drifts off she is a very hard sleeper. It's like waking the dead to get her up! We started getting her up a bit earlier this year when she turned 7 but if I let her she would probably sleep until at least 10 daily.

 

I think she has trouble shutting her brain off to go to sleep but by the time she does she is exhausted.

[Guest cynthiacronrath]

My pg sons did not nap much at all after age 1.

 

Now, at 11 and 14, they really need rest at night.

 

Between 6 and 10, had a hard time sleeping or falling asleep. Couldn't get their "brains to shut off." Now, we run the ceiling fans..seems to help a bit.

[jenbrdsly]

Dd is resistant to sleep but also generally obedient so from about 3 on dutifully goes to bed when told but has been known to stay awake for hours talking to herself, singing, making up stories in her head, etc. The first time she asked to read a little never bed she was just barely 4 I think. I said okay assuming she woud read for a few minutes and fall asleep. I went upstairs to go to bed three hours later around midnight and she was still sitting on her bed happily reading to herself. We had to institute a time limit after that. She has quiet time in the afternoon but rarely falls asleep. Fortunately when she finally drifts off she is a very hard sleeper. It's like waking the dead to get her up! We started getting her up a bit earlier this year when she turned 7 but if I let her she would probably sleep until at least 10 daily.

 

I think she has trouble shutting her brain off to go to sleep but by the time she does she is exhausted.

 

 

I think I remember reading something in SENG that said kids who have a hard time turning their imaginations off at night and falling asleep often scored high in the imaginative/creative area of Dabrowski's theory of OE.

Thank you everyone who has responded! I may be lying next to my two year old until 10pm each night, but at least I feel like I am in good company. :tongue_smilie: