BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Sleeping For Toddlers => Topic started by: Megan on December 30, 2005, 20:10:52 pm
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My son who has always been an awesome sleeper is now going in for his nap arund 1:00 and somedays plays for 3 hours and never sleeps. This has been off and on for at least 2 months. He does not complain or anything. i am not sure what to do, it seems to be happening more frequently. Then somedays he will fall asleep right away or play and then sleep. He is all over the place. Bedtime is around 8 . wake up in the am is between 7 and 8. Now potty training is an issue he is doing really well on the potty. now at naps he calls me to tell me he has to go on the potty , but for two days he has not fallen asleep at nap time.. What to do Does he need to give up naps at only 2.5??? I am not ready for him to give up naps.
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From my experience it's a transition time, naps here have come and gone and then come back again. My ds first tried giving them up at 22mths, but after 2wks of an overtired boy (it was hard to enforce quiet time and also my dd was just a newborn), I really worked to get the naps going again (sometimes, I needed to lie down with him, others just an extra long snuggle/calm down, others I just put him in bed as usual). I would continue to just get by as you are but try and keep the routine as normal as possible - once my ds got in his head that I was going to let him out of the room for quiet play he expected it every day (quiet play in his room didn't really happen here since he has no toys in there and his room is too close to my dd's). If he handles the day fine without a nap though I guess you could drop it, a lot of kids do seem to and do ok without. I just noticed that my ds got more and more tired as the days went on so he did need it. At 31mths he's just come out of a no-napping phase and is back having them again.
If you're finding bedtime and nights are the same with or without the nap I'd just continue to put him in his room and encourage quiet time and if he naps he does and if not no worries.
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Katelyn goes through phases like that, but usually after a couple days or even a couple weeks she is napping again. I still put her in her room each day at naptime, if she is quietly playing in her room (she only has books and a couple stuffed animals) I just let her be and get her at the end of "naptime" no matter what. Even if she just finally fell asleep 15 min before :roll: , if I don't she will not go to sleep at bedtime!
You will be the best judge to decide if he is ready to give up naps. Kate can skip a few here and there without too much consequence. and sometimes, like during the holidays, we don't even try for one. But too many times and she just gets way overtired/stimulated and melts down very easily.
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Alex is a month and a half younger than Katelyn and we are in the same boat as Wendy - we offer nap every day and she only skips it occassionally - says she does not want it quite often but this is where mommy knows better. i figure even if she plays for an hour or so she eventually gets the nap in and then at least is rested enough for the afternoon and dinner.
but with the holidays here and daddy at home we have had 2 days in a row where we did not even offer her a nap - 1 afternoon at a pool and yesterday at the beach. even on the way home in the car she was trying to prove she did not need sleep :roll: We could see her head drooping off to the side and i told Dh 'alex will be asleep in a second" and she heard and said "i sitting up now" :shock: and stayed awake until bedtime.
deinitely a LONG period of transition between 2-3 years old i think.