Cutting out 2 year olds naps?

[georgie262]

As the title suggests I've cut out my toddlers daytime naps (she was 2 in may).
The reason for this was that my ordinarily easy baby suddenly wouldn't go down at bedtime. Even if she has a quick ten minutes in the pram in the school run she's a nightmare to get to sleep at bedtime. However, keeping my her up all day is also 'testing' 5:30-7pm she is overtired and emotional. Crying frequently and again , hard work - what would you do?

My daughter is older than yours, but we have recently dropped her nap. She needs a 6pm bedtime or she is a nightmare. I think you need to put your child to bed before the point she is exhausted and emotional.

My DS went through a stage of not going down at night. Some research told me about sleep regression in toddlers.

He got over it after a while and was as good as gold again. He's now just 3 and still naps during the day. It's very rare that he doesn't.

If only! I don't get back in from work till 5:30 by the time we've fed the children and got them ready for bed it's 6:45 at which point I put her straight down (for example she's asleep in bed now but yesterday when I got home later she wasn't asleep til 7:20pm! 😫

I'd keep the nap, push bedtime back half hour and persevere with bedtime routine. That or try an every other day nap.

It has to be a mix of your and her needs at that stage, the nap doesn't work for you, bedtime at 6.45pm doesn't work for her. If you feel you need to drop the nap, then do, but can you ask whoever looks after her to give her tea or pack a big snack for her to eat at 4.30-5? Then you could put her straight to bed as soon as you get home.

I'd keep nap and do slightly later bed time

PS mine was 2 in July and we are keeping the nap for now as it means I can get work done in the day. Does make bedtime super late but means I or her dad can spend time with her when we get home from work. A rule of thumb is that she is ready to go to sleep 6 hours after she wakes from nap. So waking at 2pm means a sleeptime of 8pm-8.20pm without fail.

We had a few false alarms with dropping the nap around that time too. Bedtime became tricky and we tried to drop it. Didn't work so we went back to it. It was just a phase and he still naps now at just turned 3. He only has 30/40 minutes and is tolerable in the evenings and asleep by 7:30 most of the time. If he doesn't nap he needs to be in bed by 6:30 at the very latest and we find that too tricky.

Mine DD was 2 in April and we dropped the nap around June time. The witching hour between 5.30-7 is horrible, but she isn't willing to sleep in the day and does go to bed happily at 7 so I struggle through the tantrums and tears. If she goes to bed earlier she's up at the crack of dawn, if she has a nap she refuses bed until 9pm at the earliest.

I have had the same issue with my dd who was also 2 in May.

She was always a dream at going to bed 6:45pm with no issues until a few months ago. Suddenly it became a constant battle, taking up to an hour of fighting sleep and constantly calling me back to her room over and over.

I have started putting her to bed 7:30-7:45pm and it has made a big difference. She has the occasional moment where she may call me up a few times but it has improved dramatically. Try to keep the naps but push bedtime back slightly and see if this helps.