3.5 year old not sleeping enough

[das5]

Yay for the 11 hr night!  Hope the day goes well...do you think you will do a catnap again?  Ours was pretty good too..he was up at 5 but I walked him back to his room and he went back to sleep until 6:30!!! Latest wake and longest sleep in awhile! 
He is actually just refusing to lay down.  We do our routine which is potty, brush teeth, read 2 books, then bed.  Sometimes he will lay there for a couple minutes and then come out but lately he just wont lay down...immediately gets up and follows me.  I have been just taking him back to bed over and over again!  The other night I moved him to my bed to fall asleep so that his brothers could fall asleep.  Last night I tried that and he still wouldnt lay down.  When my husband got home and he heard him he wanted to see him so I told him he would come in and kiss him goodnight when he was laying quietly ready for sleep.  So he did at that point...then got up again after my husband came in and wanted to go back to his bed.  Put him in his bed and he was asleep within a minute!

[barbaraz78]

How are you doing?
We are little better, with nights around 10.5-11 h both with and without the nap. I think his sleep needs dropped to 11 h per day. What I figured is that he needs 12.3-13 h daytime, and I try now to concentrate on total awake time. so if he has a 1h nap the day should be 13.30-14 h for a decent night. I decides to let him nap (when he's home) if he wakes before 8am, and I adjust nap length so bt can still be 9 with 12.30-13 h of awake time. If he wakes after, i do nnd and still bt at 9 or slightly earlier. I have problems with daycare, because they let him nap there (and will do also next year! ). Could this make sense to you?

[das5]

Yeah that makes sense.  Sounds like a good plan...glad its working for him.   Mine is actually doing about the same.  Seems like he gets a little more total sleep on nnd.  A little over 11 with no nap and a little less with the nap.  Ive been offering a rest time every day after lunch.  I let him watch a movie in my bed and if he falls asleep I wake him after 30-45 minutes.  Bedtime at 6:45 on nnd and 7:30 with the catnap.  Falls asleep immediately on the nnd and it takes just a few minutes if he catnapped.  Waketime has pretty consistently been between 6:15 and 6:30.  He is still a little resistant at times and I think he could still use a little more total sleep but this seems to be working for us right now.  I think its going to be the best we can do until he is completely ready to drop the nap:)
Thanks again for the suggestions!!!  Definitely helped! 

[barbaraz78]

I am glad that you found a good compromise. My ds seems also to need little more, but he doesn't take, no matter what I try... I think 3 is such a big developmental leap that sleep is a challenge, more than at 2... It will pass, I hope...