Support for dropping the nap part 12

[jessmum46]

Do you have a set bedtime?  There looks to be a lot of variation and I wonder if that's making things trickier for you?  We do 7pm BT with nap, 6.30pm without, regardless of WU time.  Even when we were down to 20 min catnaps with DD we just stuck to that and it helped her regulate - if she was tired, she'd eventually sleep in and catch up and took the guessing out.  So if it were me I'd go for 'normal' bedtime whatever that is and then from now try sticking within a 30 min window x

[ginger428]

Thanks, Katherine! The BT's I listed were when eyes closed. Put down is 8pm with nap, 7pm with no nap. So some days he'd be in bed at 8, but up until 9 or later. :/. I'll try 8 and 7:30, respectively and see if he'll regulate. Can't wait for the naps to be gone tbh. Harder in some ways but it's been quite a journey.

[ginger428]

Nnd yesterday and bed at 7:30. Fell asleep at 7:45 but woke at 5:45. He's been yawning and cranky all morning. We've been pushing no nap but he won't consistently extend his nights.
He won't last until 7:30 without a nap. What would you do?

[jessmum46]

Take him out in car/stroller and give him a 20 min catnap mid-afternoon x

[cath~]

on a NND (if you don't/can't get a CN like Katherine suggested), I'd be inclined to try for a earlier BT.  The EWs may be because he's OT.  I'd aim for a 12hr day abosolute maximum for now, possibly even less (11hr30), so I'd be putting him down around 11hr45 after WU (or earlier) to give him a few mins to nod off. 

It can be easier to get them to extend their nights at the beginning of the night (with EBT), rather than at the end of the night, while you are dropping the nap.  Once it's dropped consistently, then it can be easier to work on gradually pushing BT and WU later.

[ginger428]

Catherine, I wondered about that... shifting his routine an hour earlier.  Just not sure what's best at this point... adjusting as we go or setting times.  I've tried 12 hr days with no nap but because he sleeps only 10-11 hrs at night, his day shifts earlier and earlier.  So he lasts 2 days before he has to nap. He turns 3 in April and I was hoping he could handle the no naps better by now.

[jessmum46]

A lot of LOs I think start to tack on a bit more once the nap is dropped so we can hope!

[ginger428]

I'm hoping every day! Haha.. Has Ben dropped his yet???

[mmoats12]

DS is almost 3. Has been a great sleeper since the beginning but the last 6 weeks has been a nightmare. I think we are in the no nap transition, and I'm not sure the best thing to do? If he naps, bedtime is super late (8:30-9:00pm) but he goes to bed easily and sleeps through till 7am. If he doesn't nap, bedtime is early (6:30ish) but is awful, and he wakes in the night and can't get back to sleep for 2 or 3 hours. I think this is because when he doesn't nap he is overtired? But recently some people have suggested that he needs several days in a row with no nap so his body can get used to just sleeping at night? Any advice/experience with this would be greatly appreciated! Last night we were awake from 12-3am!

[creations]

Hi there.
I think this support thread has been a bit quiet recently so it might be worth your while to get more focused support on the toddler sleep board.  Do feel welcome to start your own thread.

I would agree with what you've said about needing to do several (many) days in a row to adjust to no nap.  it is not a quick process for many LOs.  When mine dropped to no naps it took several weeks (or more) before his night sleep lengthened out properly so he was getting gradually more and more tired as time went on, eventually though his night lengthened. I think it was about 10.5/11hrs when he first dropped his nap and then extended to 12 solid hrs when he had properly settled into it.

Depending how long the nap is you might find it easier to to offer a little CN every day for a while rather than drop the nap totally if it's giving rough nights.  Some people cap the nap shorter and shorter until it's say 10 mins.  Maybe try that?

[Clare Austin]

My LO is 2.5 years old. We sleep trained from the beginning using a consistent wind down routine, and she's always been a great sleeper. But within the last month BT has been a struggle. She has been very resistant to BT (she has a 7:30 BT), and even when the wind down routine goes smoothly, she'll stay in her bed for up to an hour playing, before finally settling down and falling asleep. Last week we tried giving her more play time at home after daycare, in order to give her a longer transition from school day to home and to elongate the awake hours. The jury is still out as to whether this is actually working. It does seem to make her less resistant at BT, but we're not seeing a big difference in the amount of time she spends playing in her bed. Our big concern is that last week she also started resisting naps, which has continued into this week. Is it too early to drop the nap?

[creations]

It's not too early to drop the nap. Quite a common age really, some keep it for much longer but it varies a great deal.
Mine showed resistance at 25 months and by 31 months the nap was gone.
Depending how long the nap is you might try putting her down a bit later, maybe 15 min later which might help avoid the resistance, but ending at the same time, so reducing the nap by 15 min.  You could keep BT the same time because there's a chance with a shorter nap she will be less resistant at BT.
If the night becomes too short or there is still resistance to either nap or night you may need to reduce the nap further, or drop it completely. Usually with the nap reduced BT comes a bit earlier (or easier in your case) and when the nap is dropped you may need to bring BT much earlier to avoid some OT and offer a longer night.
hth

[JennVanessa1083]

Hi! Is this thread alive?

Having a hard time with my now very overtired 3 year old (turning 3 this week). We were in the process of cutting down his nap to an hour and 15 consistently early this week. The problem is we didn’t know when to put him down fast enough since we both work (I work PT).  On days I have off it’s much easier.  It feels like he was always too wired for bed despite yawning during our bedtime routine. No matter the length of nap (even 30 minutes) he fights hard with bedtime, and still gets 9 hours of sleep. This has been happening for a little over a week. What should I do to catch him up?

My ideal EASY would be:
WU 7:30 am
S 1:45-3 pm
S 8:30 pm (asleep by)

Today he woke up at 6:45 after only 9 hours of sleep and a 45 minutes nap yesterday. I know he is overtired because his mood has been really short-fused and challenging.

SOS!!!!

[creations]

It's possible this isn't linked to the nap drop but his developmental phase of turning 3.  I always experienced the birthday and half birthday sleep disturbance with my DS.  Nights would be short, fussy and BT, seeming tired from less sleep but not sleeping well enough to get over the tiredness.
Or possibly he's ready to just drop the nap all together so that his nights can lengthen?

[JennVanessa1083]

How long did this last?

It’s currently 9:15 and he’s still up!

He woke up at 7:10; took a nap from 1:35-2:40ish and put down a little past 8pm

Could I have done things differently?