33 month old and early wakings!!!

[J & J's Mum]

Hi,

Here I am again!!

DS is now 33 months.  We've been through a stage over Christmas where most days he didn't want a nap in the afternoon, so we to bed at 7pm and woke up at 8.15-8.30am!!  This was great for us!!!  Now, some days he wants a nap, so I don't let him sleep past 1 hour, but he's waking at 6am!!  He goes to bed at 7.30pm.  If he does nap in the afternoon, I make sure he is up for 2pm at the latest, so sometimes he may only have 30 mins or 45 mins nap.

Should I change anything?

Please help!

Thanks
Rachel

[Katet]

If my 31month old & 4yo brother are anything to go by they reach a point where if they nap they either take forever to fall asleep or they wake early. My eldest is a high sleep need child, so only gave up his nap in the last few months, but my youngest is the opposite & giving it up now & even if he only sleeps an hour his total sleep for 24hours is about 11.5hours, but if he doesn't nap he sleeps 13 hours. So my thought is unless you think the waking is due to overtiredness (an option, although less so with a 7.30pm bedtime after a nap) I'd say that is about where his sleep needs are, so you will probably get longer with no nap or less with a nap.

[Layla]

My dd has not napped for more than a month now (also 33mo) & she will do a solid 12hrs at night. Last weekend she fell asleep in the car while my dh took her out to inlaws (1hr car trip with no Jasmine to keep her awake, lol so totally unavoidable). She only slept 20mins (she woke on her own as they got home) & her night was only 9.5hrs long. So I think we have clearly reached a stage where any length of nap will result in a shorter than av night... & I prefer 12hrs to 10hrs in total (with a nap).

I don't think there is much you can change though to get a longer night out of him (unless of course you drop the nap altogether)

hth
Layla

[J & J's Mum]

Thanks for your replies.

It does seem that when he naps for 1 hour, he wakes earlier.  I'll try and go with no nap and see if he sleeps in a little longer (fingers crossed!)    The only problem is, he asks to go to bed sometimes in the afternoon.  I think it's just
habit though!!

I've been spoilt with the late wake ups I think!!!

Thanks
Rachel