Support for Dropping That Last Nap, Thread #2

[Peek-a-boo]

If it's not broke, I wouldn't mess with it, kwim?  If you shorten his nap you might get a later wake up, or you might have the same wake up and OT toddler. 

[rachelrachel17]

hi, wow there is a lot in this thread!

im at a stage where were only getting 10hours night sleep now 8-6 where a month ago it was 11 hrs and 10minths ago 12hrs and he is still having a 1hour nap, ive limited this since he was about 18months. this week he had the odd 30min nap as it was in the car and he was woken but no change to wake up time, it does v ary every now and then a bit later thou.

im wondering are we ready to start getting rid of the nap? the earlier wakings started when ds2 woke him a few days and now im not sure if its habbit or just his time?

im really confused and dont no where to start!

[TDR'smom]

I might be joining you all here....hopefully not....

Up until this week, I could get 8pm-7AM along with a good 2 hour nap (sometimes longer) from Tyler.  Past 2 days he has really been fighting his nap.  I am dreading him dropping his last nap, because I would easily take less night time sleep for the nap.....

[Mom to M&M]

Judy - could it be a phase with Tyler since the new baby is about to come? I've often heard of toddlers whose sleep goes totally haywire right before (and of course after) a new baby brother/sister. Of course he could also just be ready to drop his nap. 13 hours total night sleep is a lot at his age - he might just need less. What if you wake him at 6:30 and try for a nap at 12:30/1? And then limit his nap to 1.5 hours? Maybe you can get 1.5 nap and 10.5-11 at night?

We're in a similar boat here. Many of you know that DD used to be SUCH a great napper. But for a number of months now she's been in the process of dropping her nap. Well in the past week she's only had two "proper" naps, both of which I had to limit to 1 hour to get a decent night of sleep. Otherwise she totally fights naps or takes a short car one if we are driving at a good time for that. It's not fun because she's getting really overtired, will only go to bed so early and we have a really busy/active summer with her in camp two mornings a week and we belong to a beach club so are there a lot too. Ugh.

[TDR'smom]

Karen,

You are probably right about Tyler's sleep getting messed up with the new baby coming. 

13 hours total night sleep is a lot at his age -

  I know that is a lot...but I LOVE IT.  Selfish...selfish...I know.

I've never liked waking him up from naps or night time sleep...only because it took sooooo long to get him to this point and it went so well...for so long.  But I know that everything changes and their needs change.  Boy, I wish I could get 13 hours of sleep a day.  HA HA.

I totally can relate to us wanting them to sleep properly with all the fun summer stuff going on etc.  We normally head to the pool after his nap, but today I will dread going since it will be prime meltdown time without a nap!

Will keep you all posted.....Thanks for listening!

[Mom to M&M]

I totally understand Judy. I woke DD up at 7:20 today for camp. She is still in her crib not napping now and I'm getting her up at 3 I guess. Wanted to meet a friend at the park but the park is a nightmare when she hasn't napped. Might try to go anyway though. Can shoot for 7:30 bedtime but DD usually fights it until closer to 8. And we're going to the beach/pool tomorrow!

[OliverRowland]

Thanks all for your advice

[aisling]

So we are getting there.... Nello just had his first 3 days in a row of no naps. Not too, too bad. He is consistently doing 11 hours at night.  If he does less I offer a nap.  On Sunday he slept 12 hours at night and woke at 9am, I was in total shock. I get him into bed really punctual though and he always falls asleep fast.

Waiting for the OT melt down to occur any day now......How's everyone else?

A x

[debo620]

well we have actually had our first few no nap days in the last 2 weeks. night sleep was fine those nights 11.5-12hrs, but he was very grumpy thee day afterwards-so weve never had 2 days in a row of no nap.

yesterday I gave him a 1.25hr nap --big mistake as he fell asleep singing at his door at 9pm..I had to sneak in and put him to bed .

most of you will laugh--but now I dont much care about Noahs sleep, too worried about Cohen's.

[marensmama]

Hi Deb! *waving*  I'm not laughing, I'm just happy you're not stressing about the nap any more! 

We're having very little naps here, she might fall asleep if we're in the car in the afternoon and she still naps at daycare once a week , so I count us as pretty much through the transition.

[brightside]

Hi! Have posted this on the main board to but then thought that you guys might be able to help me.

DS is 2y 9m and until just recently was going to bed quite nicely at about 8pm. We had a bit of trouble with late nights a while back so we cut the nap a bit to an hour and always waking at 1.30 latest. Bedtime was much better. We are now having battles again and he's not going to sleep until nearer 9pm and then waking about about 7-7.30am. The most he gets at nap time now is about an hour and I'm wondering whether to cut it to 40 mins or cut it completely. He's usually tired around 12.30pm so not sure how he'd cope with no nap atall but then he's also really tired when i wake him at 1.30 and can take him a while to come round.

It wouldn't be so bad if he just sang/chatted himself to sleep if he wasn't tired at bedtime but he yells and cries for us until he's shattered and then falls asleep.

Routine at the moment is;
wake 7.15ish
nap 12.30/45-1.30
stories at 8.15
bed at 8.30
asleep at about 9 after lots of yelling and WI/WO

I could just put him to bed a bit later but I feel that 9pm is getting a bit too late and means he isn't getting enough sleep at night because we have to wake him up sometimes (if not already awake) to go to work. TIA     

[Mom to M&M]

Cath - if it were me, I'd aim for a 40-45 minute nap and bedtime (in bed, lights out) by 8pm. If that doesnt' work after two weeks cut back to 30 minutes?

[aisling]

Cath we were sort of there and then it was getting harder for him to get to sleep for nap earlier enough to wake by 1:30.  Also, the fooling around at bedtime, not that bad really but not at all like him got on my nerves so I decided to just go for it and chop it pretty much. 

So we are at the tail end of the transition it seems.  Like marensmama, we catch a snooze where we can if needed.

I just used either indicator as a factor in deciding on nap days. If he slept less than 11 hours or woke before 7:30 I had him nap.  This went on for a week and now he seems to have settled on this:

7:30-7:45 bed asleep by 7:45-8:00.  Wake at 7:30ish. So he is sleeping more at night now.

We let him nap as late and as long as he likes if we are gong to be going out to parties etc...This weekend we had 2 parties Sat and Sun.  So his bed was at 9-9:30pm both nights.

All in all it is not too bad now.  It is good we are so busy in the day and I let him swim right up to lunch time and then chill out from 1-2 and then let him in the pool again right away or play, takes his mind off and the edge.

I let him chill out again at 4:00 and he eats at 5pm and then has dinner which is his snack with us at 6:30ish.


A x

[brightside]

Thanks for the advice. We have decided to go with a 40 min nap max and up at 1.15pm, whichever comes first. He went to bed without any trouble at 8pm last night.  Fingers crossed it continues. We are going on holiday in a weeks time so likely he'll get messed up there anyway. Might experiment with no nap if we're out and about.

[rachelrachel17]

HELP

i have cut out my sons nap now for the last 7days, he has had the odd 5min snooze in those days. he was being pure hell at bedtime takings 3hours plus to go to bed and wi/wo did not work for us, this lasted a month so i decided to try him without a nap and miaculously he went straight to sleep no fuss. he now sleeps 8-730 we were only getting 10hrs night and 1hour day sleep before the trubble.

now my problem is his behaviour has become horrendous the last few days, he was always pushing things but this is just horrid. my question is will this settle down when he gets used to no naps or have i done it all to quick and too soon for him???