Support for dropping the last nap age 2-3 yrs

[OliverRowland]

OK, so 1 hr had been working for us.  But now he is taking longer to fall asleep at night again.  I think we are heading to 45min next.  what is after that?  do i go even less than 45min or is that when i have to think about no naps?

[pazzy]

hi every one , not been on for quite a time so im back again.
my lo is 2 years and has slept at naptime and bedtime no problem for quite a long time .
for the past 2 weeks she has been on and off with naps and not falling asleep at bedtimes til late.
at nap times ive noticed she kicks her legs on cot side and talks to her teddy and calls me . sometimes she has no nap other times like today she fell asleep 3 til 4 pm. bed time she is kicking cotside and restless, in the past ive tries medcine in case its teeth.
routine
8am up breakfast washed abnd dressed
play time
12 lunch time and drink
1..00 -1.30 pm naptime for 2 hours
3.30 get up
5.00 dinner , play then bath drink and in bed at 8pm
when she misses a nap in bed early 6.55 and she falls asleep but wakes early in AM. HOPE U CAN HELP

[NiknLily]

Hi OliverRowland
Yes you can go shorter than 45mins when/if needed.  It all depends on what time bedtime you are happy to go with and if he will keep actually going to sleep at a naptime that allows for a suitable bedtime.  Lily got so that she wouldn't take any length nap, after going to 45min nap, that was early enough to prevent a 9.30pm bedtime, or at least finally going to sleep at 9.30pm.  So I decided to stick with an earlier nap time and allow her max 30mins if she did fall asleep, which wasn't often at this point.  If she wasn't asleep by 1.15pm then I wasn't going to let her, to preserve a 8pm bedtime max!  Shes been totally nap free for a couple of months almost and its not so bad, can take some getting used to not having that break in middle of day, but its nice to be able to utilise the whole day and no longer be tied to nap times at home.

[OliverRowland]

Thank u Niknlily, it's a tough transition.  I think harder than any other nap dropping!  We had a couple of no nap days last week only because they were travel days (on planes all day) and by 5pm he was a mess.  But that is a poor reference to see how he would do.  Now that we are back home he has been sick.  Yesterday he had a 90 min nap to try and recover cause he just looked like he needed the rest.  other than this he has been doing a 45 min nap and falling asleep easily at bedtime.  BUT we have had some 5:30-6am wake ups!  Can i assume that is a good sign that we need to shorten nap again?

[NiknLily]

Thats where I can't really say for sure, its down to the LO.  If Lily wakes early then its a sure sign she is OT.  I mainly shortened naps because it was pushing bedtime too late.  If his total sleep is too long in 24hrs with a 45min nap resulting in short nights then yes, shorten nap, if his total sleep is around 12hrs then I'd say its a touch of OT randomly showing its face.

[pazzy]

hi there  my lo   seems to be taking longer to go to sleep on a night and at naps.
she gets up at 8am naps at 1-1.30 for 2 hours or used to. on a night we put her to bed about 8 and recently last 2 weeks she has shouted dad mam , kicked the cotside banging,  as time went she gets quieter she is usually asleep at 10.00.
today she got up at 3.15 pm from having a 2  hour nap and went to bed at 9.00 pm no problems. we are moving house soon so had a lot of things to. doesnt usually go to bed at 9.00.
wonder if anyone has any ideas , think she is teething as well . thanks for any replies

[deckchariot]

hi pazzy - it looks like she's getting a lot more sleep than the "average" 2 yo.  At 2, sleep needs drop to 1.5 during the day and 11 - 11.5 overnight, so I'd both cut her nap and extend her bedtime.  I'd do it gradually - just cut 15 min off the nap and move bedtime 15 min later and see if that helps, if not, cut some more off the nap and/or extend bedtime out.  Give any change several days to take affect and see if you see any improvements.

hth
michelle

[pazzy]

well here i am again, with the warm weather my lo is taking longer to get to sleep . i tried taking 15 mins off nap amd going later to bed by 15 mins that did not work .she calls out at nap time and bedtime and doesnt go to sleep till 9.30. today she got up at 7.30 and went for nap at 1.20 she called dad a few times and then went to sleep. woke upat 3.10 pm and then went to bed at 8.30 but still called and bangd cotside with legs  till 9.15pm . think i need to cut her nap down a bit more. her nana had her today and she fell asleep as well thats why lo was still in bed at 3.10pm .
one afternoon she refused nap totally . got up at 8.30 refused nap totally and we put her to bed at 7.15 pm she went to sleep straight away and woke in the morning at 7.30am.
if she refuses nap what time should put her to bed.

[deckchariot]

I would definitely cut that nap a bit more then - it sounds like it's still too much sleep.  If she refuses the nap altogether, you could put her to bed may 30-45 min earlier than usual (see how she's doing).  I never put dd down much earlier than that, because it just leads to an earlier wake up.  Hang in there!

[chemgirl1681]

Pazzy, my older boy has a schedule almost exactly the same as yours, the only difference is that mine gets up at 6:30am instead of 8.
I'm going to try more activity in the morning to tire him out before his nap before I start waking him up as he generally turns into a monster when I do that.
I'll let you know how it goes.

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

It looks like Enfys really is on her way to dropping her nap.  She's napped twice in the past week.  If she has a nap, she's awake till well after 8, waking at 6-6.30, and the days she hasn't napped, she's in bed by 7 and waking again at 6-6.30. 
DH has decided in his own mind that she doesn't need to nap.  Great because she is with him three days a week

[deckchariot]

oh Sarah....we all had a feeling Madame would drop it early...but this is sooooooooooooo early.  On the nap days - how long does she nap?  have you tried just doing a 45 min nap?

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

She naps an hour and a half.  I always wake her.   If she's going to nap that day (and she almost always naps for me) she goes down easy, within 10 minutes.  I'm a little reluctant to wake her much sooner; for ages she was miss grumpy boots after I woke her up and just now she's okay with it.  It's nursery, MIL, and DH who fail to get her to nap and I know it's because she knows they just get her up if she doesn't go straight to sleep.  The nursery teacher has told me they go in and stroke her cheek if she won't sleep so obviously she won't sleep then.  I have asked them not to, but because they all nap together, they do.  The other thing is she does seem to cope without a nap.  For the most part.  She just gets very silly and hyper.  The odd time she is upset but most often she's running around screaming and laughing.  Which is OT, I know, but it's happy OT. 
Doesn't matter at the mo as I think she's got chickenpox so maybe we won't have to deal with this for a while.

[deckchariot]

{{{{{hugs}}}} Sarah - love the cooperation you get from nursery and ILs   At least she's a happy OT

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Yes at least she's a happy OT!  No nap today.  DH thought 12 noon was nap time. Um, not for a very long time.