I realize that many 3 year olds do not nap but here is the problem: if DS1 tries to go without it for more than a few days, he starts having meltdowns by 4pm, cannot eat dinner due to fatigue and starts getting more night arousals and night terrors as a result of being overtired. On these days I will put him to bed by about 7:15pm and he will sleep until 6:00 or so. If I insist on a nap, he will not fall asleep until 2:30 or 3pm and I will typically wake him by 4pm. These days he will go to bed at 8:30pm and still be up at the usual 6:00-6:30am and is naturally very tired the next day. Basically, I seem to be damned if I do and damned if I don't and I would like to know what others in this situation are doing. I will add that if my darling sleep resister happens to be in a moving car at noon or 1pm, he will take a well-timed snooze and still go to bed by 7:30pm - which results in the most sleep. Problem is - there is NO way he would sleep at this time if left to himself in his bed (I've tried many times only to find him wide awake at 2:30 and then yawning and rubbing his eyes at 3:00 and finally melting down by 4pm). AAHHHHH!!!! Please, tell me how to get through this. (P.S. He is a complete tyrant when he is tired and it is insufferable -- mainly because of how aggressive he becomes towards his younger brother)
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