When did your lo give up the last nap?

[newmom7]

My ds just turned 3, and while he won't nap most days (fights it terribly, won't lay down/sit still/stay in bed-its awful so lots of times I just give up) when he does nap sometimes he gets up lots during the night or very early. At night we have even had to sit with him to get him back to sleep. Just wondering if this might be b/c he is getting too much daytime sleep on the days he naps? Hard to believe though b/c he only sleeps 9 hours at night on average and if he naps, usually an extra 1-2 hours. When he doesn't nap we still get 9, maybe 10 hours at night. Either way we have lots of NW's lately. In all fairness there is alot going on (new preschool 2x week, recent illnesses) but it has been more than 4 weeks like this so I am starting to doubt those changes are still the reasons. Any input would be great, I am at a loss here! He was an ok sleeper for awhile but its all fell apart!

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Enfys is 29 months and stopped napping about a month ago.  She's young for it though.  She was taking forever to fall asleep at night, EWing and then wouldn't nap at nursery or MILs, who have her through the week, so we just stopped trying.  Do you put him to bed earlier if he doesn't nap?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Masyn was around 2.5 when we finally gave it up for good, we had worked our way down to a 15 min power nap and even that was keeping her up at bedtime. But, she has always had a 12 hour night, and you say his is only getting 9. Could he be going through a growth spurt or a developmental leap? Masyn usually has NW when that happens.

Heidi

[KellyC]

I can't remember with DS1 but he was probably around 2.5 and DS2 is refusing his naps most days now at 28 months.  I do still put him down after lunch (he's still in a cot, I wouldn't be able to do this if he was in a bed as he wouldn't stay!) and he has 1-2 hours of quiet time, which we all still need!  I know I found with DS1 that his nap needs changed alot in that year between the ages of 2 and 3 - sometimes we had to restrict it to 45 minutes, sometimes none at all, sometimes 2 hours ...  When he started consistently messing around and going to bed at 9pm or later every night we stopped putting him down at all. 

I do agree that your LO is likely to need more than 9 hours at night with no nap though (both mine get 11-12 hours now) do you put him to bed early without a nap?  We struggle to get to 6.30/6.45 on no nap days with DS2 but a bath at around 6 is usually enough of a change of scene to see us through to an early and happy bedtime!  It's easier to add sleep onto the start of a night rather than to get a lie in the next day!!

Kelly x

[newmom7]

Thanks for all your replies!  Yes, on the days he doesn't nap I do put him down early...usually by 7 or 7:30 p.m. depending on his wake up time. On those days like today when he gets up early (he got up at 4:45 a.m. after falling asleep at 9 p.m. the night before, although no NW's and that was after a 1 hour nap yesterday after alot of fight to get it) I really fought for his nap but it didn't work. I admit I gave up, put him in the car and drove around til he fell asleep around 1:30 p.m. (he only sleeps in the car when he is that tired). When we got home he stayed asleep for 2 hours and didn't get up until 3:45 p.m. so I put him to bed at normal time (8p.m.). It took him until 9p.m. tonight to fall asleep though. What a mess. He is going through some developmental stuff...getting more language. I should probably also mention that he has been through some evals lately on the advice of my pediatrician. A developmental specialist thinks he needs some speech therapy (expressive delay) and has some anxiety issues. The OT we just saw says he has sensory integration dysfunction (or sensory processing disorder, same thing). That probably is another reason why he has trouble getting to sleep at times...too overstimulated to settle.