3 y/o nap or lackthereof :)

[erinandjonathan]

my son turned 3 this past May and has been gradually moving up the time he will fall asleep at a nap.  At this point he won't fall asleep until around 3 or 3:30 and sleeps 1 hour or more; but then he won't go to sleep until 9:45 or 10pm.  I've been just not making him take a nap or go to his room  and putting him to bed at 7pm.  He will only sleep until 6:15 or so in the AM.  We've tried later bedtimes with no naps but he is so tired at 6:30or 7pm that if we go later he is overwired and fussy. 

Has anyone else dealt with their 3 y/o dropping/delaying naps and how did you handle it.  he seems to me crankier during the day if he doesn't nap but also is cranky and hard to wake if he takes a nap.  This seems like a rough transition time.  Any advice

thank you
Erin

[Matthew's Mommy]

What I did was turn Matthew's nap time into a "quiet time".  Around 3 years old, I experienced the same thing.. some days he would nap.. but most days he wouldn't.  The quiet time was an hour in length, just him in his room looking at books. If he didn't fall asleep, then I would get him up.  Then I would move his bedtime back a wee bit 6:30 ish (he was in bed by 7:00) and I would let him sleep in if he was still sleeping at 7 am.

He dropped the afternoon nap within a month.... unfortunately.. :roll: