Support for dropping the nap age 2-3 part 2..

[Tweakster]

Second day in a row.  Me no like it.  He's been in there 37 mins talking about cars and saying 'no daddy, no mommy, no daddy' over and over again, banging the mattress or something else equally loud.  I can't do another nap transition now, not for months as you say it takes, things were just getting liveable with wakings past 6 a.m. on a regular basis.  EEEEK!!!!

[mmom]

These boys are so frustrating.

Mine is currently tearing is room apart for "quiet time."

[sianie]

I'm so over this transition....

M didn't nap yesterday so we did early BT last night (down & asleep v. quickly by 7pm).....I *think* she woke around 6.30am but not sure, seemed & looked really tired when she woke (dark circles round eyes & grumpy mood!), we had an Easter Egg hunt at friends this AM & she got really tired charging around like a loon looking for eggs, so she napped for around an hour today but it's just gone 9pm here & she's still awake (despite DH having to go in & tell her it's BT etc)

So I'm at the conclusion that I am going to have to just bite the bullet & do a few no-nap days, I can't see any other way around it?

Ironically, DS has just transitioned to 1 nap over the last couple of weeks & for the 1st time in like forever I've had a little bit of break with both of them napping at the same time.....so what do you think just swallow the pill &go for no naps with early BT?!?

[KathrynK]

I think go for it. Sorry 
It is a pain, Sophie dropped her nap just before Alex went to 1 nap so I never got that me time either!

He is doing really well. We are adopting a strategy of no naps, unless he is clearly dropping, in which case he can go down for 30-40 mins. Nursery are doing this too, they know him so well they can tell if he needs a sleep but then they will wake him too, it's really helpful!
On Thursday he was fine until about 3pm, then he started to lose it with everything, so I dragged him away from his Lego kicking and screaming, took him to his room and laid him on my lap in the chair. 60 seconds, he was asleep on me, I kid you not. Bless.

I was dreading this transition, but actually it's liberating not having to break the day to come home for naps any more!

[mmom]

Sian - I hear about about the break. That is why M still has to go in his room.  There were a couple of days early in the week where it was raining, we didn't leave the house, and by 3 his behavior was so bad and my patience was gone.  So I decided he still goes in his room for 1 hour every day while his brother is sleeping.

Kathryn - Your LO seems very flexible. That is great.  My stubborn guys needs those days and still won't sleep.

We are at an all time low.  M woke at 10 last night.  We think he had a bad dream.  Well, he wouldn't let DH leave, so DH laid on the floor in his room.  1.5 hours later he thought it was play time and was still up.  I went up there and got him to stay in his bed.  But he was still awake for almost 3 hours.   Of course we have a busy day today and I doubt I will be able to get him to bed early.

[sianie]

Well today will be a definite no nap day (she only did 10hrs last night) so will do early BT & keep everything crossed! I do think I need to do a few no nap days to see how she handles it.

What time do you ladies do BT on no nap days?

Kara, sorry for the rough night! Hope today's a bit better!

[babybarr]

We do 6.15pm - 6.30pm bed on no nap days but do expect to be up around 6am.  FWIW Sian I agree with Kathryn, I think you need to do the no nap days and see.  I also like not being so tied to nap times!

Kara - has he got all his teeth? 

[Tweakster]

Third day.  Kept saying 'tired, bed' at 10 am - got him to 12:30 where he spent nearly an hour ing around. 1 hr nap. 

[Tweakster]

Day four.  No nap at all today.  Stood at his crib crying today.  He's now officially OT.  Does this mean that our day is going to go backwards again or are they meant to tack when they drop this nap?  He's not tacking enough to compensate.  How early should bed be on a no nap day?  He refused to go to bed until 8 last night on a 1 hr nap and 5.5 A time.  Do I forget about A time for now?

[mmom]

Laura, I would think he has all of his teeth.  It is rolling on 3.  I know I was waiting on one of the final molars.  But I think it is through.  He is just so frustrating. 

Wendy, I wish I could help.  we just try and stick to an early bt if there is no nap.  If he only slept 1 hour, we still went for the usual bedtime.

[sianie]

{{Hugs}} Wendy! It's so frustrating!!

Yes, ideally they should start to tack on to night sleep when they drop the nap & we do generally find this with M (although she's older than Finn), e.g. she had been doing 10hrs or less at night when she napped (1hr nap) & she's now not had a nap for the last 2 days & she's been doing around 11.5hrs (with a 7pm BT).

[sianie]

How's everyone doing?

We're on day 4 of M not napping.....it's going ok, although she does get very tired by late afternoon, which I expected. Between 4pm-BT she's not in the best of moods! I think now that even if she wanted to I would find it pretty hard to get her down for a nap, she tells me at lunchtime 'Mummy, me not sleep today...I'm a big girl!', lol!!

For those of you whose LO's are no longer napping, how many hours are they doing at night? Did their nights get longer when they dropped the nap?

[Tweakster]

On the back of our no nap day we got a 12 hr night (had to wake him).  Due to daycare yesterday and the cumulative tiredness of a no nap day, he did go down fine and they woke him at 1 hr 15ish - he woke fine.  However, he did not want to go to bed at 8 and then when he did, he took nearly 30 mins to go off.  And then only a 10 hr night.

This game is no fun.  I guess we'll see how OT he gets from short nights and whethe he will nap on the weekend...

I'm praying this is just a blip and we're not entering the transition but nap refusal from a kid who napped beautifully for a year tells me we are - I've yet to see his nap refusals not turn into a transition of some kind ie 3-2 and then 2-1

Sian Finn says 'bye bye bed, no like it bed' lol. Guess this is them reinforcing their independence!

Also curious about the final drop and whether nights stayed elongated or did LO just settle into a shorter but consistent day/night?

[~*Nicole*~]

Hi ladies....just trying to get back into the swing of things over here. We've added the newest addition to the family and we're trying to get settled in. DD has not napped on many of the hectic days. We're plodding along and she is doing alright. A bit tantrumy by day's end but she does alright.

Hope all is well with you ladies.

[sianie]

Wendy, did Finn go through his other nap transitions early? It could well be the start of him dropping (sorry!) but from my experience of what we've been through, this is a really long transition so it could still be a while before he totally drops it.

Hey Nicole.....hope you are doing ok & DS is settling in well!  Glad that Ava is doing ok!