Support for dropping the last nap age 2-3 yrs

[Clarepie]

Hi,
 Think I need a bit of advice,with regards to my 2 1/2 yr old Lily,who I think is getting ever closer to dropping the nap.At the moment I'm tweaking her schedule a little here and there,depending on when she wakes in the morning.She had been up until about a week or so ago,been sleeping through till 6:45am,nap at 12:45 until 2pm,bed at 7pm.Over the past week though,she has been waking early,just past 6am,and not going to sleep till 1pm,sometimes later.I have done WI/WO with her on a couple of occassions when she woke early in the morning,and as a rule she sometimes goes back to sleep.But she is resisting going back to sleep more and more now,so i'm coming to the conclusion that she doesn't need to sleep any longer,she's had her 11 hrs at night,and her 1hr or so nap,so isn't tired enough to sleep in any longer.Should I continue to keep her nap at 1hr,or cut it down again to say 3/4 hr,so she may sleep in a bit longer in the mornings.She always goes straight to sleep when she goes to bed at 7pm,so no worries there,but this morning,she woke shouting for me which she never does,then just chattered away till 6:45am when I got her up.She's gone down for her nap at 12:45,without a fuss,and off to sleep,so obviously tired.She is always bright eyed and bushy tailed when I get her up after an hour,she's usually more grumpy,if she's had longer.Anyway,what I'm trying to ask is how long do 2 1/2 yr olds need sleep wise per day,and keep her nap at 1 hr,and accept that she's going to wake early in the morning,or cut the nap back,and see if this helps her to lay in longer in the morning.

Thanks for any advice

Clare

[JulieNG]

Hi all,
My DD will be 3 on April 5 and hasn't napped in almost 6 weeks. I'm wondering if you do have someone that still naps...what time do you put them down? I'm still trying each day for quiet time in her crib, but it's getting harder and harder. I know my DD is still tired b/c she falls asleep in the car and is worn out by 5pm. Does anyone think it's worth it to keep trying for a nap? I've been doing some day on the couch with a movie, but she is still worn out by 5. Bedtime is 7 and it's become a battle each night. That was never her personality before! Went to bed with a smile! I've tried for 6:30 bedtime and it's not working.

[NiknLily]

Clairepie - have you tried pushing her day up by 30mins, so move nap up to 1/1.15, let her do her hour then move bedtime up by the same.  My Lily did the same at a similar age and by streching morning A time she napped better, skipped less naps as she was falling straight to sleep instead of talking and playing past her sleep window and the later bedtime helped her mornings shift back to 7am.

Julie - Lily will be 3yrs old april 24, so not much in it.  She is currently dropping her nap, but we still get at least 1 nap a week, sometimes more.  I was putting her down at 1pm for her nap but lately I've had more success putting her down at 12.30, she wakes in am between 7 & 7.30, then I only let her sleep for 45mins or no later than 2pm.  Bedtime no later than 8pm.  At 3 they only need 12hrs sleep total but when Lily doesn't nap she will do almost 13hr nights.  If she has a nap of 45mins then she will only do a 11hr night.  I use a kidsleep clock with Lily which has a sleeping bunny light and an awake bunny light.  I use it for mornings and naps, so if she doesn't sleep she knows to stay in her room until bunny is awake.

[rinajack]

Hi all

I have an 18mo who is dropping his nap.  Night sleep seems to be better without the nap (he sttn last night for the first time in well over a year) but boy oh boy are the days long.  My DD dropped her nap about 4-5 weeks ago, so I have a less than 3 yr old and an 18mo awake all day long. 

[NiknLily]

ha ha, glad you've popped over here too Rina, we could use someone whose gone through it and come out the other side already 

[rinajack]

LOL.  Don't go thinking I am experienced in these things, Zara started wanting to drop naps at 18mo, that whole transition took us nearly 18months.  Seems to me to be harder with the 2nd.  Zara napped on again for weeks at a time, then off for a bit, then on etc.  Until eventually could cope quite ok with the day, and it worked fairly easily.

Hugh so far:

Day 1 no nap, ok, tired naturally but ok.  Slept 12 hr night, with 1 night feed. Asleep for 6:30pm.
Day 2, fell asleep in my arms at 2:30ish, had about a 40 min nap.  Asleep for 7:30pm, slept through, had an 11 hr night.
Day 3, no nap, very tired in the afternoon (but not tantrums, just tired but happy).  In bed asleep 6:20pm, 1 night feed, 11.25 hr night.

Which means up early today, which will mean nap today I think - but I also suspect that he will go mental at me if I take him to nap, and that he may just have to crash in my arms again....but that assumes I can get him still at any point in the day.

Will be interesting to see what happens today, it could mean the start of an every other day nap pattern.

Unfortunately his early start today meant one for DD also, and she has only been doing about 10.5 at night, I really think she could have used an 11.5-12 hr night ggrrr.

[rinajack]

He did have a nap that day, for about 1.5 hrs, he fell asleep at the table when we were having lunch LOL.

The next day, he was furious when we offered him a nap, he was soooo angry.  Then at about 2:30pm, he fell asleep in DH's arms - he came whining and letting us know he was tired, but again went off when we took him to his bed.

A little lost about where to go - he can't drop the nap all the time, but I think we may be stuck with letting him fall asleep when he is so shattered he can't go on any longer.
Any ideas, thoughts?

[NiknLily]

sorry honey, I havent a clue.  I know something though, I do wish Lily would just drop but she absolutely wont, she just fights it and fights it, then ends up having a loooooonnnnggg crying session before finally sparking out.

I take it theres no way he will do 'rest time' in his room every day? I guess it doesn't help having a big sister who doesn't nap now, if its ok for her, and all that.

[rinajack]

He is screaming as soon as he realised we are going to try to take him into his room.  He has also decided in the last week that he has SEVERE SA from his daddy. 

He is napping today, fell asleep in my arms at just before 12am - but he got up this morning really early, about 5:30.  For that I am blaming DH, who decided we should now sleep with the windows open instead of the AC on - and the birds were soooooo loud.

DH thinks I should follow his lead - just wait til he comes to me tired and wanting to be held, at which point if I watch a little tv with him in my arms, he will fall asleep. I think I will go with this idea, I much prefer it to the screaming idea.

[NiknLily]

I think thats probably your best bet really.  Its a whole different ball game if you've just got 1 to deal with, a screaming fit over napping in their room you have the time to deal with it, even if it takes the whole nap duration, but I'd guess with having 2, you just don't get the chance to be so strict on things.  Maybe given some time you can get him just laying with his head on your lap, then on his own on the sofa.  Which actually would be cool to have a LO who just sleeps when they really need to.  I was one of those kids apparently, dad said I would be playing on the floor happily then it would be head down, bum up and I'd be fast asleep.  One time he said they found me asleep standing up at the sofa with my head resting on it!

[rinajack]

Haha, that is pretty funny.  I vaguely recall at this age I had to let go with Zara also (had just brought Hugh home and he had silent reflux so cried constantly).  She will now fall asleep watchign tv if she is tired. And will ask to go to bed at night if she is tired.

So yesterday he came to me tired at about 11:45 or so, was asleep at about 12, slept about 50 mins, then in bed asleep by 7pm.  Not too bad actually.

DH isn't home today, and hugh got up at 5:30 (same as yesterday), so I am guessing (hoping) it will be similar to yesterday.

[Hester]

Hi there can I pitch in? Ian has decided he will skip naps, no matter what his mom thinks  . But he's up early in the morning, 4pm - 7pm are an absolute hell with lots of screaming and he wakes up several times in the night... so I'm thinking OT.
He's had no nap for the past two days. Shall I move bedtime forward? Would that take care of some of the NW? Maybe he won't be so exhausted then.

This was our day yesterday
7.15 up
12.30 down for nap, tried till 2 pm, nothing worked, so we went to the store and library instead.
Tantrums between 4 and 6.30
bedtime by 6.45 asleep 6.50  the only good thing about this
10 pm awake off and on till 12.30 am
2 am awake
5 am awake

Today:
7 am up for the day
nap 1 pm, tried till 2 pm (he keeps coming out, so I walk him back)
4 - 7 DISASTER time
7 pm bed 7.05 asleep
9 pm awake till 9.45 pm
asleep atm....

If I DO get him to take a nap he naps 1.5 hours on average but then bedtime is at least 9 pm if not later. He won't go...

His quote of the day??? "I can't sleep anywhere" (meanwhile throwing his hands in the air in exasperation  )

Any ideas??? Or am I just stuck in this 1-0 nap monster?

[rinajack]

Will he nap if you lay with him? Have you tried saying "you do NOT have to nap, but you DO have to stay in your room/on your bed blah blah blah - that worked with Zara for a little while, because if she stayed there long enough, she just dropped off .  Would he fall asleep in front of TV (if you sit with him maybe?) - that one works for us sometimes with Hugh, and used to work reliably with Zara - all it took for mine to fall asleep was finding a way to keep them still....although this is less successful with Hugh than it was with zara - he is harder to keep still, but doesn't need the nap as much as Zara did.

What about a stolen catnap - for example, right now, if I do manage to get Hugh to nap (he is 18mo) - it is for about 30 mins, at about 2pm - just enough to help him through dinner etc. And he usually starts this in my arms in front of tv.


Since I last posted, Hugh has had 2 days of short naps (about 30-40 mins) and followed them by sleeping through the night.  Then yesterday he didn't nap, in bed asleep by 6:30pm, BF at 4:15, then slept til 7:15am. 

No nap today, we were out all afternoon at a Birthday and a BBQ dinner, in bed asleep by around 8:30/8:45pm.  That was a HUGE day for him, he was clearly very tired by the end of it, but no tantrums or meltdowns.  Despite his age, he is really quite amazing!

[Hester]

Yes I tried all of that, exept sitting in front of the tv. The tv usually just gets him more energetic. I have "planet earth" though, that one is pretty relaxing. I'll try that. Thanks.
I wish I could do the catnap, Ian just doesn't seem to give in to tiredness. When he almost falls asleep he's usually like: "Oh shoot, I'm falling asleep, let's move around"

[rinajack]

yep mine both do that too. At the age you are dealing with, Zara was only sleeping an average of about 9-9.5 hrs at night - have you tried shortening the night in order to keep the nap?