when do you cut out napping? 3 yr old

[christine1967]

Our son turned 3 yesterday,  he takes a 1 1/2 -2 hr nap each day and generally sleeps 10 hrs at night,  we are exhausted!  he is up until 10PM each night and sometimes 1030PM,  We tried to cut out the nap and he is unbearable and it takes even longer to get him settled at night,  any suggestions?  do I gradually cut the naps back and try to get him in bed earlier?  He wont go to bed at night unless my husband and I are in our bed with the lights off.  HELP!    thanks,  chris

[beamama]

Hi Chris--this is a common dilemma!
My ds is 3.5 and hasn't really taken a nap regularly since he was almost 3.
We battled it for awhile, then went to quiet time. Now, given the fact that I am pg with #3 and we are living with ILs after moving cross country--it tends to be tv time.  :oops:
We did reach the point where when he did nap, it took so much longer to get him to sleep at night it wasn't worth it. That was the clincher for me. But it sounds like it's the opposite for you.
One thing I did was to make sure he was up by 3:30 in the afternoon and had lots of physical activity to tire him out.
What is his bedtime routine? Maybe that needs some tweaking?
On those nights when he has a hard time settling down, we tell him he has to stay in his room--he can read but he has to stay in bed. That way at least you can get some space. We had to be the enforcers a couple of times but then he got the idea. He doesn't like the door to his room shut so we told him that we would shut the door if he got out of bed again. After doing that  afew times he got the message and stayed in bed.

I know it is so hard when they want to give up the nap--I miss those long nap days!
Hang in there!
Bea