Catch up for OT 2.5 year old?

[JennVanessa1083]

I’m back 😪

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!!!!

[Haribo2012]

Hi do you think maybe the nap needs to go as it’s robbing from night sleep?

As I’ve mentioned before if it’s its around his birthday the developmental shenanigans could be causing some disturbances x

[JennVanessa1083]

It’s hard to say bc then some days he sleeps great with a nap and on no nap days he wakes up a lot from overtiredness.

I’m experimenting with one hour now. If I do one hour, when would be a good bedtime to shoot for?

WU 7:30
S 2-3 pm
BT ?

[Haribo2012]

I’d say 8.15/8.30 

[JennVanessa1083]

I’ll try this for a week. His birthday is Saturday so I’m hoping this sleep craziness wears off.

If not then I guess I will have to cut it down further.

It’s 9 pm and he’s still up 😟

Easy:
WU 7:10 am
Nap 1:35-2:40ish


Put him down at 8:05. Argh was it too late?

[Haribo2012]

Prob too early if he’s still messing about after nearly hour nap 

[JennVanessa1083]

😣 if that’s the case that means I’ll have to shave off more time.

My nanny said he napped from 1:40-250 but then he refused to get up and slept 10 more minutes. He was in a bad mood when he finally got up at 3 pm

He woke up at 7:30 and it is now 10 pm and he’s been up since we put him down at 9. I didn’t put him down earlier bc of the early and longer nap. Should this happen again, what do people usually do for bedtime?

This is just plain crazy!

[Haribo2012]

This sounds just like my DS1 and I basically had to get rid of nap....went to 20 mins max then no nap and 12 hour day.
Otherwise you keep the nap and accept late BT for a while.

It might all calm down after birthday shenanigans etc x

[JennVanessa1083]

I’m hoping for that....

I wouldn’t mind moving toward a nap cut but I don’t know how to move in that direction without being late on an appropriate bedtime. Earliest I get home from work is 7. My husband is 6 pm but always seems to have a hard time getting everything ready for a 7:30/8 pm. I feel like we are stuck.

[Haribo2012]

It is hard I just make sure kids evening meal is ready to just reheat then eat ours later if need be. Quick bath cuddles milk and stories, but I’m back at 5.15.
If you get a 7.30 WU then 7.30 BT is reasonable on say 20 min CN, you may only need to bring BT 15 mins earlier on no nap day.

It doesn’t last forever and they do get used to no nap x

[JennVanessa1083]

Ok! I can give it a whirl. This weekend was his birthday weekend today being the actuall day. His sleep is sooo horrible which is partly due to too much sugar and I guess the usual sleep issues

[Haribo2012]

Happy birthday little man hope he has a nice day x

[JennVanessa1083]

Thank you!!

I have a question as I’m moving towards eliminating the nap. If he naps (accidentally) around 45/50 minutes after an 8 hour A time (birthday party of a playmate) is it reasonable to put him down at the same bedtime to keep him at 13 hour day? He’s very crazily tossing and turning in his bed and it’s way past a 14 hour day. He’s overtired I guess.

A more general question. At 3 years old if he naps 45-1 hour at around 6.5/6.75A then when is a good time to aim for him to be asleep?

So for example:

WU 7:30
Nap 2-2:45/3 pm
BT ?

Would at his age, I aim for a 13 hour day?

[Haribo2012]

Hi, at this age A time i never went by A time so not sure.

As a comparison my DS2 is 29 months and is 95% no nap if he does nap we allow 20 min max and it doesn’t affect BT....he sleeps pretty much 7pm to 645/7.15am.
For us at that age with DS1 if he’d had an hour nap then his day always got 14 hours long sometimes longer.

They’re all different but at some point nap is more of a hinderance.

He’s probably over stimulated too..lots of exciting fun to process.

I think you may end up with longer day than 13 hours on a 45 min nap....just a case of experimenting with nap length and BT.x