00;00;00;00 – 00;00;20;14

Dr. Mona

Sitting still. You know, this is part of this high energy kid. You have this kid who just jumps around like the moment their eyes open. They’re just like a mile a minute. Whether it’s talking at three or going from activity to activity, this is more educational for anyone listening who has a child who’s younger, a one year old to two year old, I’m going to say right now, you have to have the expectation that they are not going to sit still.

 

00;00;20;19 – 00;00;40;26

Dr. Mona

1 to 2 is a very big time of they are exploring their world and they’re going to jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. They’ll say with one activity, play with another. And so many times parents will get very frustrated or stressed because they feel like their toddler, 1 or 2 year old, should be able to follow an activity for a long time.

 

00;00;40;29 – 00;01;03;15

Dr. Mona

Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. I am Doctor Mona and thank you for joining me each and every week for all of your reviews and ratings. This is how the podcast continues to grow, to be one of the top 50 parenting podcasts in the United States. On this episode, I chat with a mother in the stock talk community about the high energy level of her toddler.

 

00;01;03;15 – 00;01;24;06

Dr. Mona

Is this typical? Is this something that’s a concern? Remember that if you are a parent to an infant or have a toddler, I am launching toddler workshops the first week of May 2023. So if you’re listening to this before then make sure you get on our email list via the link in bio to find out all about these amazing courses coming your way.

 

00;01;24;07 – 00;01;46;08

Dr. Mona

And if you’re listening to this after me first, make sure you grab these courses. Today I have three toddler courses and an e-book, one on picky eating, food refusal and feeding toddlers, one on potty training, one on toddler behavior and tantrums, and an e-book on toddler development and the conversation I have at Chanel is just a little sample of what’s in that e-book.

 

00;01;46;08 – 00;02;05;13

Dr. Mona

Like I said, we’re talking all about high energy toddlers. What is typical. And on this episode we are talking about impulse control and attention span of toddlers under for what to expect questions a clinician would ask in evaluating a hyperactive toddler, and what not to do between 1 and 2 years of age. When your child lacks any impulse control.

 

00;02;05;16 – 00;02;14;22

Dr. Mona

Let’s get to the conversation mode. Hey Janelle, welcome to the show. So tell me what is on your mind today as a mom?

 

00;02;14;29 – 00;02;34;29

Janelle

Yeah. Thanks, Doctor Mona for having me on today. So I just basically I’m just kind of wondering, I have an almost three year old and what is normal as far as energy level, like, is it normal for her to have this much energy? And at what point do you kind of think like maybe do we assess this further.

 

00;02;35;01 – 00;03;00;26

Dr. Mona

Very good question. And one that I think I’ve asked my husband a lot of the times too. This is a topic that I think many parents can relate to because so much of development is quote unquote typical. Some of it can be atypical where we’re like, okay, this is normal for a three year old to be acting like this or two year old, but when does it become an issue or a concern that needs further evaluation, which is what it sounds like you want to know more of?

 

00;03;00;29 – 00;03;01;27

Janelle

Yes, exactly.

 

00;03;02;02 – 00;03;19;02

Dr. Mona

So this is right in that time frame where I get a lot of these questions and concerns. You know, the under three, three and a half crowd where parents are like, whoa. And, you know, we’re talking about high energy. Do you also feel like with that high energy she’s not able to sit still? I do feel like she goes quickly from activity to activity.

 

00;03;19;02 – 00;03;23;27

Dr. Mona

Or do you feel like there is some degree or maybe some improvement in attention span also?

 

00;03;24;03 – 00;03;41;27

Janelle

Yeah. So it kind of depends on what she’s doing. She absolutely love doing puzzles. So sometimes you’ll sit for like 15 20 minutes at a time doing a puzzle. But then like once you’re done with the puzzles, maybe she’ll go and she’ll play in her little kitchen. And then, like, before long, from the kitchen, she goes to, you know, another activity.

 

00;03;41;27 – 00;03;58;13

Janelle

So there’s definitely jumping around, but it kind of depends on, you know, what it is. And she loves reading books. So like at nighttime she’ll set really nicely. Okay. Before bed when we read a couple books. So she definitely seems like she has the ability to do it. But I guess is this just age, you know? Related.

 

00;03;58;17 – 00;04;17;08

Dr. Mona

I love that you’re already talking about things that I like to ask questions about, which is the ability to sit still and focus on activity. And we have to respect the fact that I do not expect a toddler at this age to sit through every activity. But there are exceptions. She does, like you said, puzzles a book. This is really great information to hear.

 

00;04;17;11 – 00;04;35;14

Dr. Mona

So since we’re talking about this, I figured it’s a useful time to talk about what’s typical and atypical for ages, right? We’re obviously talking about a three year old, but I think, you know, talking about this high energy concept, I want to talk about normalcy and what we should expect of a child, how long they should sit still, because that’s part of this.

 

00;04;35;18 – 00;04;53;22

Dr. Mona

And also impulse control. So sitting still, you know, this is part of this high energy kid. You have this kid who just jumps around like the moment their eyes open. They’re just like a mile a minute. Whether it’s talking at three or going from activity to activity, this is more educational for anyone listening who has a child, his younger, a one year old to two year old.

 

00;04;53;22 – 00;05;16;04

Dr. Mona

I’m going to say right now you have to have the expectation that they are not going to sit still. 1 to 2 is a very big time. They are exploring their world and they’re going to jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. They’ll say with one activity you play with another. And so many times parents will get very frustrated or stressed because they feel like their toddler, 1 to 2 year old, should be able to follow an activity for a long time.

 

00;05;16;04 – 00;05;31;00

Dr. Mona

But as we know, if we’ve been there and I’m sure you had the same experience, they are going to go and jump from activity to activity very fast, so that is really normal between 1 and 2. Did you notice that with your daughter between 1 and 2, that her attention span was very short?

 

00;05;31;02 – 00;05;44;22

Janelle

Oh for sure. I remember recently I was looking back through some pictures and I was just like, wow, she was so busy. Like, I remember just being exhausted at the end of every day. It was like, I just feel like I was constantly chasing after her.

 

00;05;44;25 – 00;06;04;25

Dr. Mona

Yes. And this can be really hard. You know, one thing I always say to my families between this age is we also want to be careful at this age because they are so busy. Sometimes parents will lean a little bit too heavily on screen time between 1 and 2, because they’ll tell me, well, doctor, the only time they listen or pay attention is if I put a screen in front of them.

 

00;06;04;25 – 00;06;26;27

Dr. Mona

And we know from a developmental standpoint that I don’t mind coaching at this age, if you’re coaching and pointing out language or things together, but the goal is not for them to sit still in a screen like, that’s not what I want them to do. That’s actually not beneficial to them if you’re watching TV with them. So just a little thing for anyone listening who may be in that 1 to 2 year time frame and you’re like, well, oh my gosh, like the screen is a savior.

 

00;06;27;03 – 00;06;48;29

Dr. Mona

It’s okay to use it if you need it for like little things here and there, maybe at a restaurant or maybe you need it for, you know, exceptions. And it’s not the rule, but be careful that you’re not utilizing it too much between this age to help them focus or sit still, because that’s not what we want. We expect a 1 to 2 year old to be a busy body like that is very normal and then two year old.

 

00;06;48;29 – 00;07;06;26

Dr. Mona

So now we’re dealing with like a 2 to 3 year old. You may start to see one to maybe four minutes of sitting still. And I put that as a big range because it is a big range. 1 to 4 minutes is a big range that a child is sitting for. One minute is just as typical as a child who’s sitting for four minutes.

 

00;07;06;26 – 00;07;23;00

Dr. Mona

And I’m talking about activities that interest them. Like just so your daughter loves puzzles. That too. She may be focused on that, but then after maybe two minutes, she’s like, I’m going to move to something else. And I love what you said, that now that she’s three, you said that she did a puzzle for 15 minutes.

 

00;07;23;02 – 00;07;29;06

Janelle

Yeah, she has a set that has, like multiple puzzles in one box and in one sitting. She can do at least 3 or 4 of them. So. Yeah.

 

00;07;29;07 – 00;07;29;26

Dr. Mona

Beautiful.

 

00;07;30;03 – 00;07;42;02

Janelle

It’s amazing. Yeah. And when I look back at pictures, I’m like, there have been improvement, but still like, you know. Yeah. At what point do you continue to, you know for more or like longer attention span. Yeah. Yeah.

 

00;07;42;02 – 00;08;01;05

Dr. Mona

And so I do believe that the pivotal time is three years old. So between 3 and 4 is when I see this start to usually improve. And when I say improve, I’m not saying that they’re going to listen to everything be this perfect little sitting angel. That’s not the expectation. But you’re going to see improvement from that obviously one year old.

 

00;08;01;05 – 00;08;19;02

Dr. Mona

And it sounds like we’re seeing that. And your daughter, her ability to focus on puzzles for 15 minutes is actually on the higher range of focus, which is awesome. A three year old, I’d expect anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of sitting still. Right? Meaning maybe focusing on an activity. So you’re right in that range and in a good way.

 

00;08;19;07 – 00;08;23;14

Dr. Mona

And do you feel like maybe things have changed as she approached three?

 

00;08;23;16 – 00;08;34;21

Janelle

Yeah, I do feel like even especially within just the last couple of weeks, I’m like, okay, that there’s, a positive change. So that’s why I kept thinking, like, hoping maybe maybe it’s just the age.

 

00;08;34;21 – 00;08;51;21

Dr. Mona

Yes. Yeah. Well, I love this because like you said, a year ago or maybe six months ago, you were like, well, is this normal? And maybe now you’re feeling a little bit like, okay, I see this is very typical. Things are improving in terms of is sitting still and we’ll talk about impulse control in just a second. But this is a very common question.

 

00;08;51;21 – 00;09;11;28

Dr. Mona

And I say this because me even understanding child development, when I had my own child and saw it happen in front of me, I also questioned the normalcy of it. I’m like, okay, I know that a 14 month old tense is still, but come on, like, this is like a lot. And I see and that’s why I really want to normalize that because this is a very common concern.

 

00;09;11;28 – 00;09;32;04

Dr. Mona

So I’m happy that you feel like things are improving. But it’s really important because maybe someone listening to this is like, you know what, I have a three and a half year old and he or she is not sitting and I’m not able to get them to focus on anything that interests them. Right? Then there should be a conversation with the clinician on further evaluation.

 

00;09;32;06 – 00;09;53;14

Dr. Mona

And then I’m also going to talk about impulse control. Obviously, when we talk about impulse control, this is like being able to be patient or let’s talk about like turn taking or them understanding that they’re not supposed to do something and like not jumping off the side of a couch. Right. We have to understand that it kind of goes hand in hand with sitting still that a one year old, you just cannot expect them to understand what’s forbidden.

 

00;09;53;14 – 00;10;12;27

Dr. Mona

And also this impulsive behavior, a two year old kind of along the lines of now they’re sitting still a little bit more. We can’t expect them to consistently understand, but maybe there is some ability to manage behaviors and teach, right, like teach them more in that 2 to 3 year range of you say that, you know, we can’t do that, but we can do this.

 

00;10;12;27 – 00;10;17;21

Dr. Mona

And it’s clicking a little bit more than it did at one. And I’m sure you saw that as well.

 

00;10;17;24 – 00;10;18;24

Janelle

Yes. Yeah.

 

00;10;18;26 – 00;10;43;07

Dr. Mona

And then three like, I mean I’m telling you I love three year olds because it’s like something happens in that brain at three years old. And a lot of it is the cognitive development, right? Their cognitive development is really skyrocketing between the ages of 1 to 4. But at three there’s a lot of understanding of their autonomy. There’s a lot of cognitive understanding that they actually can understand why a little bit more.

 

00;10;43;07 – 00;11;00;23

Dr. Mona

Right. We can’t expect them to understand when a certain behavior is not allowed. And they also have better impulse control than that two year old. Yes. They may not be able to always take their turn or share. That’s not an expectation at this age. But I’m talking like you see a bunch of preschoolers, like a bunch of three year olds.

 

00;11;00;26 – 00;11;20;28

Dr. Mona

You should be able to sit in a circle at three and listen to a teacher tell something like a story with a group of kids. If you’re listening to this in, your three year old is just not able to sit and listen to a teacher, or maybe some other caregiver read a story. I’m talking like the five minutes that we mentioned for the sitting still.

 

00;11;21;00 – 00;11;41;28

Dr. Mona

Then we need to dig a little further of, okay, is this something that needs an evaluation and the evaluation that me and Janelle are talking about is more so. Does there need to be an evaluation for Add, ADHD. So hyperactivity inattentiveness something that is a reality. You know, a lot of people do have neurodiversity. And that means, you know, ADHD.

 

00;11;42;01 – 00;11;46;00

Dr. Mona

And so that’s kind of I think what your understanding and question was about. Right?

 

00;11;46;03 – 00;12;05;26

Janelle

My husband was on medication. I mean, I would have been like in the mid 80s. So, you know, was it more prescribed then? I don’t know, he doesn’t remember that he was actually ever diagnosed with ADHD or ADHD, but he remembers taking medication for a few years while he was at school. So yeah, I guess we don’t have a lot of history from his mother who passed away.

 

00;12;05;26 – 00;12;12;27

Janelle

But anyway, so with that kind of in mind, is there something to kind of watch for, I guess?

 

00;12;12;29 – 00;12;33;18

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I think this is such a great conversation because absolutely, there is a genetic familial history link between ADHD and obviously offspring and siblings. Like there’s a lot of data. Obviously there’s a bunch of research out there, but between twins, like if your daughter had a twin, there is a 70 to 80% chance that if one twin has it, the other twin is probably going to have it too.

 

00;12;33;18 – 00;12;51;11

Dr. Mona

Obviously, the diagnosis usually will happen at the same time or maybe a little later. So that’s really strong, right? 70 to 80% with parent it to a child. The data is kind of all over the place, but it’s a range of 50 to 70%. So that’s actually pretty high right. So if an adult has it then the child tends to have it.

 

00;12;51;18 – 00;13;25;07

Dr. Mona

And interestingly similar to autism right. Autism is also a neurodiverse condition. Interestingly women with ADHD are less likely to be diagnosed because somehow, either from parenting or other societal things, they don’t have as much of the obvious symptoms. So it’s a very interesting concept. We don’t understand why it happens so much, but it is a reality that yes, if a family member has it, especially a we’re talking like a mom or dad or, you know, genetic mom or dad, that yes, this child could also have a 50% chance that they’ll have it as well.

 

00;13;25;07 – 00;13;47;07

Dr. Mona

So like, I have a husband who does, from my perception have ADHD. He also feels the same. He’s never been on medication for it, but he has chosen a career E.R. physician that has been able to foster his ADHD brain. Right? He’s able to go to one thing and then the other, and then the other. And, you know, lacks impulse control for being a 30 whatever year old.

 

00;13;47;07 – 00;14;12;27

Dr. Mona

So I do see it in my husband. He also agrees he never got an official diagnosis. It sounds like your husband that is kind of unsure about the diagnosis, the medication. But when my son was younger, I had the same thing as you in that I knew my husband was this way and I, you know, we’d see our son doing all this hyperactive sort of inability to sit still, high energy, and I would observe and not get worried because I’m like, look, if he has it, he has it.

 

00;14;12;27 – 00;14;31;05

Dr. Mona

It’s not like I can stop this right now. But that’s what we’re talking about here, right? There’s nothing we can do or diagnose under the age of four. So if you’re listening to this and you’re like, oh my gosh, my three year old is like off the wall, I want you to talk to your clinician only because I want them to ask about sleep.

 

00;14;31;06 – 00;14;54;15

Dr. Mona

And we’ll get into that. Other developmental milestones. How are they eating? Because all of those things can also have an impact on hyperactivity as well and high energy. But if they’re otherwise, you know, sleeping well, eating a balanced variety of food, developing beautifully in terms of motor skills, cognitive and language, there really is nothing that can be diagnosed or evaluated under the age of four.

 

00;14;54;15 – 00;15;23;26

Dr. Mona

The child has to be at least 4 to 5 years old. For us to even make a diagnosis of ADHD. That doesn’t mean that a three year old whose parents are like at their wit’s end of hyperactivity and concern, a lack of impulse control, has no support. That’s why I want the conversations to be happening so that a parent feels supported and that if they’re feeling overwhelmed that something’s up, they can at least maybe get some therapy like a psychologist or an evaluation of their development, you know, just to make sure all is good.

 

00;15;23;28 – 00;15;39;27

Dr. Mona

But this is important conversations because I was there too, and that I knew that there was a family history. I’m observing. I’m not going like, oh my gosh, she has it. He has it. But me and my husband would talk about it, right? Like my husband say, wow, he’s really high energy. And I say, you know, you were the same way.

 

00;15;39;27 – 00;16;10;24

Dr. Mona

Sounds like it’s almost like your husband. Yes, you’re the same way. And we’re just going to watch. We can’t do anything. We’re just going to foster his development and monitor. And I was waiting for that three and a half closer to four. And you know, in our experience, I did see that sort of improvement in the sitting still improvement in the impulse control, which is what we would expect as that child approaches four years old, as their cognitive development obviously is still developing, but their brain really is developing a lot in impulse control and sitting still by the age of four.

 

00;16;10;24 – 00;16;33;03

Dr. Mona

And if we’re not seeing that child who’s still like only able to sit two minutes, or a four year old who literally cannot understand turn taking at all or, you know, forbidden behaviors, then we definitely want to evaluate further. And it’s a big picture evaluation to talk about. Like I said, how is that everything going, the family unit, the feeding, the sleep development and all of that.

 

00;16;33;05 – 00;16;48;01

Janelle

Sure. Yeah. And I am exactly how you feel, you know, like that. It’s not that it makes me, like, scared if she would have something, but it’s just more like being aware of what you know, have your husband or your partner, whatever and what their history could be.

 

00;16;48;04 – 00;17;09;04

Dr. Mona

And also, yeah, it’s not even being afraid. It’s more just being aware and being able to advocate if you need to. Because I love this conversation, Janelle, because it’s like one of these situations that absolutely we can say things are normal and likely it is. And absolutely it could be typical that a child would do this. But as parents, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to say to ourselves, is this typical behavior of a child’s development?

 

00;17;09;04 – 00;17;27;06

Dr. Mona

And that’s how we’re chatting, or is this something that I need to intervene on? Yeah, because that’s our role as parents. I love this. I think it’s so great. And yeah, so we talked about the family history, which I think is an important concept. And for your daughter, what I’m happy to hear is that we are able to sit still and then I already alluded to it.

 

00;17;27;06 – 00;17;47;13

Dr. Mona

If someone’s listening and goes to their pediatrician or clinician about high activity levels, they should be asking you about feeding, like I mentioned. And what I mean by feeding is let’s use your daughter as an example. Does she sit to eat meals? Is she eating diverse foods like is she very selective or is she somewhat having a diversity in her palate?

 

00;17;47;15 – 00;18;03;22

Janelle

Yeah, no. She’s overall been a really good eater. I mean, probably like maybe eight months ago. I mean, she just been in a booster, like I pulled up to the table, but I took that booster office and she just sitting on a big chair. So she definitely had more freedom now. So she’ll sit there for a while and then she’ll jump away and then she’ll come back.

 

00;18;03;22 – 00;18;12;02

Janelle

And I’m trying to like, be more consistent about, well, if you get up, like, yeah, you need to stay at the table and eat. But she does eat a very well-balanced diet. I feel like.

 

00;18;12;08 – 00;18;26;05

Dr. Mona

Well, I love hearing that because, you know, if I’m concerned about high activity level, high energy level. So I’m going to be asking about that. So that’s wonderful to hear. The other thing is about sleep. So do you feel like she sleeps at least 10 to 12 hours at night?

 

00;18;26;08 – 00;18;31;00

Janelle

Yeah I usually am between 1030 and 8. And then she sleeps till seven, 730 in the morning. So.

 

00;18;31;00 – 00;18;33;28

Dr. Mona

Okay, any naps at this age or it’s hit or miss?

 

00;18;34;01 – 00;18;42;19

Janelle

She does for the most part. She still naps hour and a half to two hours sometimes. Sometimes she doesn’t. But for the most part, she’s still a pretty good napper. Yeah.

 

00;18;42;21 – 00;18;59;16

Dr. Mona

Oh, this is like Ryan in a girl form, because the same situation, like, sleeps at night the moment his eyes open, it’s like I call Ryan my hype guy. Like he wakes up in, like, the fire of a thousand suns. Like he’s just, like, ready to start his day. But then he sleeps, which is a really protective and good thing.

 

00;18;59;16 – 00;19;16;20

Dr. Mona

So even when me and my husband would talk about hyperactivity or, you know, is this typical, I would always say, you know, this is actually really good that he does sleep now. Every child has different sleep needs, like I say, the range of 10 to 12 hours because yes, at three years old, I’d expect let’s use even 9 to 12 hours at night.

 

00;19;16;20 – 00;19;36;12

Dr. Mona

If they’re very tired, they could sleep 13 hours. It’s fine. But if we’re dealing with a child who is high energy, like the parents reporting and there’s not good sleep, I’m talking like eight hours broken, 10 to 12 hours. Meaning they wake up and they’re up for an hour, and then they can’t go back to sleep. There is a concern there that we have to evaluate a chicken or the egg situation.

 

00;19;36;15 – 00;20;02;03

Dr. Mona

Is it that they’re not sleeping because they’re hyperactive, or are they hyperactive because they’re not sleeping? And this is what I’m talking about, that these conversations are really important if a child is not sleeping, because is it a medical thing, like is there something like snoring and sleep apnea? Like, are they snoring a lot? Is it that we’re not creating and teaching the child boundaries with sleep, or are they really just unable to fall asleep?

 

00;20;02;03 – 00;20;22;23

Dr. Mona

And so, you know, we definitely like to know these things. And so for anyone listening who feels like, wow, like I have a kid who’s super higher active and they’re just not sleeping at all. Like, you just feel like they’re just not getting good sleep. Sleep is disconnected. There’s no naps, there’s no structure. It is a good conversation to chat with a clinician or even like a sleep consultant to talk about the sleep.

 

00;20;22;23 – 00;20;39;17

Dr. Mona

You know, sleep is a foundation for me. It’s very important. Yeah. I’m not asking every family to sleep, train or whatever it is. It gets your kid to sleep. It’s so important to me because it also is a health marker for me. Like I said, it can tell us a lot about a child if they’re not sleeping in their three year old or four year old.

 

00;20;39;23 – 00;21;03;02

Dr. Mona

Well, what’s going on? And as we know in pediatrics, like if a child of the age of 4 or 5 and above, like school aged kids, if they’re not sleeping well, it can make hyperactivity symptoms worse. So many times we diagnose hyperactivity as ADHD, when in reality we realize after digging that the child is going to bed at midnight and it hasn’t been hyperactivity all along.

 

00;21;03;02 – 00;21;19;27

Dr. Mona

Or maybe it’s a portion of it, but it was actually the the lack of sleeping. And so sleeping is an important concept. It sounds like your daughter has that, but I wanted to mention that to the listeners because that combined with the meals. Right. Like, again, diversity of meals, I understand a three year old is going to want to get up sometimes.

 

00;21;19;27 – 00;21;34;25

Dr. Mona

It’s very normal for them to do that. You’re being very consistent with your boundary of, okay, if you get up, that means your meal is done, are you done? And very consistent with that. And their intake can fluctuate. We know that after the age of one. Yeah. Your daughter could be eating like a whole pizza. And then the next day is like, I don’t want pizza.

 

00;21;35;01 – 00;21;36;10

Janelle

So it’s all.

 

00;21;36;17 – 00;21;53;25

Dr. Mona

Very normal for their intake to fluctuate. But I’m hearing a lot of good things, like I said, sleep and feeding. And then it sounds like developmentally you feel like she’s meeting language milestones, motor milestones and other like as she’s doing puzzles, which is great at three, but other cognitive milestones?

 

00;21;53;27 – 00;22;10;03

Janelle

Yeah, I would say for sure. Yeah. She talks all day from morning to night. Beautiful. Okay. And I also relating back to that sleep, I do notice, you know, once in a while if she skips a nap, it’s like at night she’s so hyperactive. And I think is it because they’re kind of like she trying to keep herself awake?

 

00;22;10;03 – 00;22;15;21

Janelle

Almost like, yeah, it is a huge like I could definitely see how that could be misdiagnosed.

 

00;22;15;24 – 00;22;35;21

Dr. Mona

Oh, absolutely. Another side note is I do feel like a lot of parents think that they drop the nap too early, like a lot of families, when the toddler starts having a nap strike around 18 months, I’ll actually say closer to two years. Between 18 months to two and a half, toddlers can have nap strikes, where all of a sudden they were taking their one nap and they stop wanting to do it.

 

00;22;35;27 – 00;22;50;12

Dr. Mona

But my advice for everyone listening is please remember that that is actually really young for a lot of toddlers to be dropping naps, I want you to still offer it. It doesn’t mean that they’re going to take it every day, but we need to at least offer it. And if not, then it’s going to be some quiet time.

 

00;22;50;12 – 00;23;12;10

Dr. Mona

They’re going to, you know, maybe on their own they can sing to themselves. You don’t have to force them down to sleep, but we need to at least offer it, because you’re right. If a child doesn’t nap and they really, actually probably needed that nap and weren’t offered it the evenings can have that witching hour, right? That dysregulation, that sort of like I’m tired and overstimulated and it all goes back to sleep needs, right?

 

00;23;12;10 – 00;23;30;08

Dr. Mona

Every child is different. So someone listening could say, I swear I dropped a nap at two and a half. They didn’t need it. They’re completely fine in the afternoon. But your kid sounds like a lot of kids that I see in that. Yes, if they don’t get it, then they can have a little more hyperactivity dysregulation in the afternoon, which is completely within normal limits of what I expect.

 

00;23;30;10 – 00;23;32;02

Janelle

Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

 

00;23;32;04 – 00;23;53;25

Dr. Mona

Well, I love talking to you about this. I hope this was helpful. I know obviously this conversation was more educational, if anything. But I love chatting about this. I think it’s such an important aspect of child development and it’s my passion. So I hope that you feel a little more reassured because it sounds like in this situation, it’s something that you can continue to monitor, and a thing that I feel is outwardly a concern right now.

 

00;23;53;25 – 00;24;03;06

Dr. Mona

And like we said, you’re going to continue to watch everything should improve in terms of impulse control, sitting still as the months and years go by. And I think you’re going to see that.

 

00;24;03;08 – 00;24;17;20

Janelle

Yeah, I definitely, even like I mentioned earlier, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen positive signs. So that was really, you know, made me happy and glad to see. So we’ll just hope that, as you continue to get older, that yeah, it will continue to improve.

 

00;24;17;23 – 00;24;44;11

Dr. Mona

So thank you for joining me for this episode. As always, make sure you leave a review or rating if you found it helpful. Share it on social media. Tag me because that is how this podcast continues to grow. And if you are a toddler parent, don’t forget to grab my amazing toddler! Resources. Available May 1st, 2023. That includes three toddler courses and an e-book, which encompasses so much in those toddler years between 1 and 4 years of ages.

 

00;24;44;16 – 00;24;57;18

Dr. Mona

And if you have a baby, don’t forget the New Mom’s Survival Guide, which goes over everything you need to know for that first year of life. Thank you for joining me, and I cannot wait to have more conversations about child health, development and parenting on this show. The PedsDocTalk podcast.