moving towards dropping last nap

[brenda2]

dd1 is 2 years 4 mo.  she is a great sleeper and still needs and wants her nap.  she will ask for her nap most days and doesn't fight it, and if left on her own will sleep 2 hours.  BUT if she does nap 2 hours she won't go to bed until very late and fights bedtime.  so  i have started cutting her nap down to between 1 hour 15 min and 1.5 hours.  this is fine but she has a very hard time waking up from it, always insists on cuddling with me on the couch and tries to go back to sleep or if forced to wake up is very cranky.  i like the quiet time on the couch post nap but sometimes this can go on up to an hour that she is insisting on cuddles. once she fully wakes up (10-45 min) she is fine and back to herself for the rest of the day.  anyone have any advice on how to cut the nap back?  i do still want her napping and try to time it so she naps at the same time as my dd2's second nap, which usually does happen.  her nap usually starts between 1:30 and 2:30 pm- 3:30 at the latest.  bedtime is 8 pm, but like i said if she naps too long she can be awake and fighting it until 9 pm which is too late for me! any advice?

[becky1969]

This is a tough stage!  I have a similar problem with my son.  He love love LOVES his nap.  And will nap 2.5-3 hours if we let him.  That pushes bedtime pretty late as well (9 pm usually).  In our family, we prefer the long nap and the late bedtime because I work at home, but only when my son sleeps.  The late bedtime leads to a late wake up, which is nice for me because I get a good 3-4 hours to work in the morning! 

If the late bedtime isn't OK for you, you're probably going to have to keep going as you are: shortening nap and then having cuddles to help her get over her grogginess.  since that's her natural rhythm, you'll probably just have to put up with the groggies -- we have the same response when Owen is woken earlier than 2 hours from a nap.


This is probably  a relatively short lived stage.  She will probably shorten her nap on her own at some point.  Or, she'll adapt to the shorter nap the more often you wake her.


No pretty answer to this dilemma I'm afraid!

[brenda2]

ok thanks
yes, i prefer earlier bedtime as i go to bed pretty early myself (9ish) in order to deal with the baby who is at the moment up all night...another problem...so if i am to get any time to myself i need her in bed by 8 at the latest.  will keep doing as i am then.

[Mimi 2]

One thing I do when ds wakes early from his nap and insist on a cuddle is to have him lie in my bed watching some tv while I do some folding on the bed with him. 

I'm similar to you in that I much prefer the early bedtime to the long nap.  DS doesn't do the later bedtime later wake up.  lol