Not ready to drop nap ?

[Mum to cool dude]

DS has always fought naps so we usually drive him around at nap times or else he drops off in his pram 

This Sunday and the Sunday before it was just me and him at home with no car. We had a reasonably uneventful day and he slept later than usual so I did not try to get him to nap too hard. He was asleep by 7.15 pm (instead of 9-9.30 pm) but he woke up an hour later, was very unhappy (I guess he had a headache)and did not settle again until after 10 pm. I feel bad about not having tried harder to get him to nap but you cannot exactly force them to, can you ? I know that what I should have done is wake him up at his usual 7-7.30 am to keep the routine going

I guess that he would like to drop the nap but that his body isn't ready. He usually has a nap at nursery. We're a bit lost about how to play it at the moment. We're currently in the middle of cutting the nap down from 1.5 - 2 hours to about 1 hour in order to bring bedtime forward

[mari]

How old is he and could you post his full schedule please.

[Mum to cool dude]

he's 2.5 YO.

The routine is:

up 7 - 7.30 am
lunch 12
nap 1.30 - 3.30 (under the old routine, now we cut the nap short after 1 h)
7 pm bedtime routine
asleep 9 - 9.30 pm (old routine, can't say we have seen much difference by cutting the nap short)

Thanks, Mari

[mari]

Have you tried an earlier nap? 
My DD is 2.5 and we are going through rough bedtimes.  Regardless of what time, how long the naps are, she will play in her cot until after 8.30pm.
another member, Stacy, has had some success with earlier naps, you could try that, but my DD will not entertain a nap until 12.30pm, sometimes 1.30pm even, so I only let her have an hour on those days.  I never let her sleep past 2.30pm.

[Mum to cool dude]

He will only go for an earlier nap if totally pooped and even at 1.30 pm on a normal day he still has lots of staying power. 

[mari]

What about 1pm?  Do you think, even putting him for the nap, at least he is resting.  Have really long windowns before his nap (try an earlier lunch)
Some days Alex won't nap, but I think that she benefits from the rest, even if not asleep.

What time is he actually in his cot and left to sleep at bedtime?

[*Natasha*]

He may be overtired by 1.30pm and the reason he is hard to get down for the nap. What happens if you put him in his cot for nap does he cry/scream?

[Layla]

I agree with Mari and Natasha in that 1.30pm might be too late for him. Do a longer windown before nap and bedtime & put him at 12.30pm. You don't want him falling asleep when he is totally pooped... thats more like falling sleep out of exhaustion.

Also I would say cutting the nap to 1hr is contributing to the sleep troubles. You really want him taking a 1.5hr so thats its restorative enough. If he takes an earlier nap from 12.30-2pm, he shoudl be able to still fall asleep at a reasonable bedtime hour (7.30/8pm)

Layla

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

I would also go with the earlier bedtime. I found around 2yrs my daughter took longer to fall sleep and at about 2.5yrs the nap had to be brought forward to 12.30. If it was later she would sleep less and then be grumpy and then not sleep so well at night.

I do remember also her and her little friends all extending there sleep in the day for a bit around this stage to 2hours+. No idea why but all of a sudden the naps got longer for a while.

Good luck

J