Toddler nap

[outnumberedtiredmum]

My 2 year old still naps for up to 2 hours a day, he falls asleep most days as soon as I put him down for a nap and is always awake by 2pm, some days (but rarely) he would rather play than nap so goes without a nap.

The days he goes without a nap he doesn't seem tired and goes to bed beautifully falling asleep straight away at 6pm

The days with a nap he is up til half 8 in and out of bed playing, climbing, jumping, being generally hyperactive and keeping his siblings awake

I think he obviously still needs the nap as he falls asleep straight away with it, I tried cutting it out and he'd wake loads in the night and for hours, I tried cutting it down and he would be very grouchy for the whole afternoon and wake in the night..

Has anyone had experience of this?

Following as I'm also going through this with my Twins.

I think this is totally normal........just his way of transitioning away from his nap....

I'd give him an hour and put up with a grumpy pm but that's just a personal choice

What time does he sleep until in the morning if he goes to bed at 6pm? X

@coffeeneeded eeek!!! How old are your twins? My friend stopped putting her twins up for a nap at 18 months and they never had any night waking episodes as a result, one of them just took herself for naps and still does at 4.5 years old, so simple hey! Everyone says well don't put him up for a nap, he'll sleep if he needs it, not true!! He just powered through and kept going, I only realised he needed it due to the hours of night waking!

@userbored it's quite rare he goes without a nap but yesterday he did and slept til 7am, fab, other times he's fallen asleep at 6 then woken at midnight crying on and off for 3 hours, another time he fell asleep at 6 then was up at 5 and very grouchy for the whole day! I can't win!

Cut his nap to an hour and try a 7pm bedtime?

@userbored oh and if he has an hour he's still up til half 8 messing around annoyingly!

Can you bring the nap earlier? 11-1 rather than 12-2?

@SharkSave yes we do this when my other son isn't at preschool, so today he had 11-1 but was still up til half 8, the other day he had 10-11:45 and was still up til half 8 😱

😄 cross posted!

Let him nap, and let him stay up til 8:30? I'd do whatever protects night time sleep for you. Ie put up with early evening messing as long as you get a decent night.

@TooMinty yes I think you're right unfortunately.. it's a pain though as we have to keep going in there, he shares with his 4 year old brother, so we have to make sure he is in bed otherwise he can get quite dangerous (climbed on the window sill the other day!) so that hour and a half can be quite stressful!

My twins are 2.2. I live for the lunchtime nap so I'm loathed to cutting it.... their bedtime is getting later- but that's partly due to their discovery of in the night Garden- and they sleep until 0630 ish, sometimes later.

At the moment, even though I leave the nursery at half7 ish they chatter and play for ages. They were still awake at 9pm last night! But because they have each other they don't cry out so much.

Swings and roundabouts.

I might cut the nap down to an hour though as my first trial....

@coffeeneeded that's good that you can leave at half 7, are they still in cots? My son started climbing out of his cot at 18 months so he's been in a bed since then. Do they cause trouble or just chat and play? When he was in a room by himself he just used to chat away and I didn't mind so much but now him and his brother cause havoc it's a different story!

@coffeeneeded let me know how cutting the nap down goes, I'm scared to try it again but will have to at some point!

👍🏻 they are still in cots- they haven't quite mastered climbing in and out and I'm not encouraging them. 😂 they do sometimes cause havoc which is v annoying but sometimes they have the most amusing conversations.

I don't think I'll cut the nap until they are routinely pissing about at night- at the moment there seems to be no sequence that I can spot. 🤦🏼‍♀️

I feel your pain, my 3 year old tried to climb out a window on holiday last year (luckily a ground floor one). We let the older one fall asleep in our bed and moved him into the shared room after the smaller pest fell asleep.

@coffeeneeded excellent!!! Enjoy that nap and just let them chat to each other 😊 my eldest never climbed out either so pretty gutted this one did 😝

@TooMinty Arghhhhh!!!!!! Windows terrify me. Just found the 2 year old standing on a stool at the bathroom window 😫 we were putting the boys to bed separately but when youngest hasn't had a nap they go to bed together fine and I think it helps youngest knowing his brother is there so he's not missing out 🤔 I think I just have to ride it out as frustrating as it is!

I honestly don't know what I'll do without those two hours!!!!
I have a family friend who continued to insist on a nap well into the kids teenage years! I may just do that!

Good luck and for you!

Have you tried just 20 mins? It's a power nap before they fall into a deep sleep. Did this with mine otherwise he'd struggle to get to sleep at night.

The boys in our family have napped until school age. Bliss😊
DD gave up naps at 2 but her 13months older brother napped till he was 4.

My 3 yo dd also still naps during the day, and then goes to bed at 8.30pm everynight