no more naps?

[AAsa]

I guess I am not the only one who had this problem.

My son is 2 years 3 months and lately he refuses to nap until 3 oclock in the afternoon. Before he would go down at 1 o' clock which I found was very reasonable.

Now he won't wake up until about 4 o' clock when I shake him to life - otherwise he would continue for half an hour more. So our evenings tend to get very, very late. he goes to bed now at 9.30 - which is about the same time I could to sleep....

If I could manage to keep him awake some hours more - he could go to bed early instead! but it is just not possible....

[babydurrant]

My son gave up his day time nap around 23mths, and goes down well at 7-8pm every night without a problem, in fact he asks to go to bed................but the problem is STAYING ASLEEP - he wakes 2-3 times every night and its driving me dotty...we have a 3mth old now who is trying very hard to sleep well, but he gets woken by the older one now, so between them we just jump in and out of bed all night, its a joke...

[E.R.N]

Hi Asa!
Completely understand!
Ours would want to conk out at 4ish.
So.. I took to really trying to keep him occupied.. swim would usually get him on another burst of energy rather than falling asleep. About 1-2pm I made sure we had a quiet time, whether that be reading books or just chilling out together on the sofa and listening to calming music for 30-40 mins. Or rather than putting him down for a nap in bed, I would go for a long stroll early afternoon and he would nap in his chair. I avoided going out for walks and cab rides around 4ish because it was guarenteed to send him asleep and this put his bedtime to around 9ish rather than 7.30pm. Fantastic if we planned an evening out, but not so if we wanted him asleep earlier!
However saying this there were times when he would still flake out come 4pm, so it was no more than 30 mins!!
Initially it is a complete pain because some days ours needed a nap and other days he was fine, but since about 2 and a half he settled down into going from 7.30-7.30. Best of luck!

[starbuckozzie]

Mine is 2 years and 4 months and in the last week has completely stopped his afternoon nap. The week before he was having 3 hours every afternoon.

We decided not to fight it (although we do still ask him if he wants a nap) and he's now going to bed at 6:30pm and sleeping nearly 13 hours. Before that he wasn't going to sleep until 9pm. He's still getting the same amount of sleep every day, it's just that the pattern has shifted. It's nice to have the evenings to ourselves but there is a downside - Daddy sees less of him during the week and we can't really go out to dinner any more.

Think of it as a chance to have extended lunches without having to rush home for nap time! I agree with having quiet time after lunch - we lie in bed together and watch Play School or read stories and then we both get up refreshed enough to make it through the rest of the day.

[This message has been edited by starbuckozzie (edited 04-02-2006).]

[AAsa]

well...
thanks for replies. This is how the situation gone so far.

-  On Sunday, I was sick and my husband had to work. So we had a deadly boring day at home, of course he did not nap even if I was desperate for some rest. After dinner he was so tired/naughy/upset/hyper that I had to walk around with him like he was a baby. At eight o'clock he was still not sleeping, twisting and turning in bed - trying all kinds of stuff - he refused to sleep. I gave up and my husband tried to settle him. Half an hour later, after he's been crying after me, he fell asleep exhausted. A bit after 8.30.

Monday, been to doctor in the morning and my son fells asleep on the sofa 10.30 and sleeps to 12. In the evening he goes to bed without trouble and is asleep 9.00 as ususal.

Today - no nap. Tried a calm hour, me resting a bit on the bed, he playing with his car around the bed.  He behaved nicely, ate his dinner, went to the sofa and was asleep within seconds - 5.50.... I put him in his own  bed now  and hopefully he sleeps now until early morning!!

I am curious how this will work out...