do you wake your toddler from naps?

[clairebear79]

If Alyssa naps for 3hrs she won't be going to bed until 10pm.

LOL this is like O.  I just can't face the thought of absolutely no evening time with DH.  Although I suppose I could manage an 8pm BT.

At 18mo he did Wu 7am nap 1-3/3.30 bt 8 or 8.30. He usd to wake singing in the am! Waking from nap made him super dificult and i likd time with him after work.

I actually quite like the sound of this.  Maybe he would be ok with a regular 10.5hr night, so long as he's getting the sleep in the day

I've had to do early nap today b/c of the early wake & I'm dreading waking him at the 1.5hr mark. 

[j.and.e]

Yes my ds1 was a gd sleeper and wud chat happily in bed even if UT. However i usd to plan evrything around his nap and bt and he had a v consistant routine. Ds2 is all over the place! This wk we have had bt btwn 6 and 8pm, naps are often grabd on the go and there are things going on when he wants to sleep! No wonder he is my 'dificult' sleeper xx

[j.and.e]

think it depends on the child, some do bettr with long nite less nap and some not! U cud always try it and see? Xx

[clairebear79]

Well we have agreed that if this longer time awake to bedtime doesn't work out then I think that's what we'll do.  ANd wait for him to drop his nap naturally.

[cuckoochick]

Claire,

C is up 7am although lately she's been waking at 6:30-7ish
Nap 1-2:30
Bedtime 7:30/7:45
STTN

If she wakes early I bring her nap forward by 15mins or so but C handles long A times really well. Today we were out for the day and so she had a 7hr A time and a 1hr nap in the car from 2-3pm. Will put her to bed at 7:15-7:30 and hope for the best! Pretty sure it'll be nearer to half 7 before she'll sleep though!

[clairebear79]

Thanks for that Nicola, its interesting to see.  We were doing same but he was waking at 6am hence our reason for thinking the 5hr A wasn't long enough & he was UT.  That said, we haven't quite been having STTN, we've been having a crying NW at 10/11pm ish & then sometimes some early morning restlessness.  This is why we've pulled the nap back to 12.30 to give him the extra A time to BT, but TBH I think he needs more in the AM too.  Actually I'm rather lost with it all!  I'm pretty sure he's OT tonight, so tomorrow will probably be a long nap & start all over again.  Bah!

[cuckoochick]

Bless you Claire. He certainly keeps you on your toes, little monkey. Gone are the days of 2 hr naps and 12-13hr naps that we had initially from moving to 1 nap! C has just gone quiet up there!

[j.and.e]

Must admit it was nice when ds1 dropd nap at 2.5! No more naps to plan! xx

[clairebear79]

Must admit it was nice when ds1 dropd nap at 2.5! No more naps to plan! xx

^^ Can't wait for this!^^  I am serious - naps have been the bain of my life for the last 19 months & I can't wait to be free of them.  I don't even care that I won't get any more 'me' time!

[clazzat]

I know that you know your child better than anyone else, but in my house a screaming nw at 10/11 and then a restless early morning and ew would for sure be ot. I'm not sure if you have already tried this, but could you try putting him down earlier for his nap and letting him sleep for 2 hours and then his usual bedtime? It could go horribly wrong (!), but you might find that he is ot and that would help catch him up. 10.5h is a pretty typical ot night as well, btw.

[clairebear79]

10.5h is a pretty typical ot night as well, btw.

I agree on the OT thing today that's for sure.

What's started this horrible ball rolling though, was him having a 2hr nap & then not settling until 8pm and then waking at 6am the next day.  Many times in a row.  And every time we gave the longer nap, this is what we got.  I can certainly try it tomorrow (& TBH would kill to let him sleep what he wants), but if we keep getting 10hr nights then I don't know what else to do.  When we get a spell of short nights like that, he will be clingy & tantruming for most of the day, because his night wasn't long enough.  So it seemed my only option was a shorter nap.  IDK.  I don't want to get too bogged down in my routine here b/c i've got another thread running with that & don't want to confuse things, so this was more canvassing for opinions on cap versus don't cap as I simply feel mean.

[*Kara*]

Hugs Claire -

I was driving myself mad with the nap/night balancing act and then my grandmother gave me some advice - don't wake a sleeping baby   I took her advice and A has shifted herself to a 10-10.5 hr night with a 2.5-3 hr nap... and really, given the age of our LO's, it's not surprising that they need a huge nap to recharge with all they are learning and doing right now...   Would I prefer a 2 hr nap and 11.5 hr night - of course!  But it's not what DD needs right now...

Both Oliver and Alexandra are good independent sleepers - I vote that you let him decide what works for him for a week and see how he does - he might shock you

[aidenmc]

Jumping on to see what you end up doing Claire. We have had a couple of consistent weeks of 10-10.5 hr nights and 2 hr naps - daycare wake him at 2hr at my request but he would go longer. At home from Sat to Mon he only naps 1.5 hrs ( ). Anyway, I find myself wondering if he doesn't just need that extra sleep he tries to get at daycare. I have no idea how to move his wu later (currently 5-5:30 am with a BT of 7-7:30). I also hate the thought of waking a sleeping baby and know it will all get so much easier once the nap is done.

[clairebear79]

I took her advice and A has shifted herself to a 10-10.5 hr night with a 2.5-3 hr nap... and really, given the age of our LO's, it's not surprising that they need a huge nap to recharge with all they are learning and doing right now...   Would I prefer a 2 hr nap and 11.5 hr night - of course!  But it's not what DD needs right now...

Kara is she coping ok with this given her day is longer?  And do you find she is resisting bedtime at all?

[*Kara*]

She is doing fine hun... Zero resistance at BT and minimal at naptime (totally depends on what we did in the morning though)... she settles within 5-10 mins at night... molars are causing trouble with naps as I find she hides the pain from me better during the day than she does at dinner time (maybe just the texture of her dinner food - such as meat - tends to irritate more so she lets me know they hurt and I medicate)  More than once, I haven't given her anything in the day and she has a tough time with her nap... though it's rare really.

FWIW - I had a tough time with her nap yesterday (she did a poo as she was trying to settle and it took her 20 mins to call me) so she didn't go down until 1pm... she ended up OT but did nap fine until I woke her at 3pm to keep BT... she was in bed at 750 and asleep by 8pm... but she woke at 6am today... clearly OT from the shorter nap yesterday and massive A time in the morning... she was asleep at 1215pm today...