Over-tired??

[wifey6]

Hi everyone...
My DS is 17 months old & has dropped the occasional nap now & again but it is becoming more frequent. I am finding though that instead of him being exhausted at bedtime...he is very unsettled & wakes more than if he had a daytime nap.
Could he be over-tired?

Yes!

I always found with DS1 that if he was really tired for some reason (no nap, late bedtime or whatever) he would be more likely to be disturbed in the night and would nearly always wake up really early in the morning - getting into a cycle of getting more and more tired that it was really difficult to get out of. It's annoying cos you think 'oh well, he didn't have a nap but at least he'll sleep well tonight' but it's not true at all.

The solution is to try not to get into the situation in the first place. Persevere with trying to make him have a nap every day even if he doesn't seem to want one - 17m is early to drop it. Be consistent with his bedtime.

Not all babies are like this. DD and DS2 are much better at taking sleep when they need it, eg a morning lie-in or longer nap than usual when they are tired.