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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Daytime naps - can my 22 mo really be trying to drop them?

12 replies

Liska · 29/01/2009 15:23

DD won't be 2 till April, and seems to be trying to drop her daytime nap already. She has always been a bad sleeper - didn't go through the night till 9 months, and would only nap on me or in the moving pram when she was tiny. Eventually managed to get her having one nap after lunch - her peers were having 2 short ones, but she went for a late 2 hour mega nap. Now she just doesn't seem to want to sleep. I put her in her cot, and she will sometimes play and sing for half an hour (or more) then drop off. But sometimes she doesn't fall asleep at all (and sometimes she gets bored and yells and screams to get out). She is at the CM 2 days a week, and doing the same there. I'm not ready to not have my naptime break! Any thoughts?

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cyanarasamba · 29/01/2009 15:30

It's possible she is slowly dropping her nap. DS is 23 months and sometimes will have 2 hours, sometimes nothing at all (and he's a great nightime sleeper).

Not sure what time she has her nap, but have you tried making it slightly later? I used to put DS down as early as 12, but now I know not to try before 1pm which seems to help.

Original poster

Liska · 29/01/2009 15:35

She already goes down really late - its usually close to 2 pm. Funny though - she also seems to do 2 hours or nothing at all. She's been waking at night sometimes as well lately, but I think that's more to do with shifting molars. I suppose I'll just have to brace myself for nap free days soon, then..

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WowOoo · 29/01/2009 15:38

Mine stopped at around this time. He jsut would not sleep anymore. Has occasional nap now. Very annoying as I loved that peaceful time!

PinkTulips · 29/01/2009 15:40

dd was 18 months (and we struggled to get her to keep it up that long)

ds has been gradually dropping his from about the same age but was still having 2/3 a week til last month, he's 2.5 now.

both of them were awful night sleepers until over a year but can happily sleep 12/14 hours a night now though so i'm happy to forsake the daytime peace for a full night of calm

PinkTulips · 29/01/2009 15:42

should have said, ds was the same in terms of dropping of late afternoon when he did go down and staying asleep for 2hours+ when he did.

one extreme or the other lol!

Original poster

Liska · 29/01/2009 15:46

ooh - 12-14 hour nights sounds great. It's interesting that he would nap some days. I think I'll keep putting her down at the usual time, but just not count on it... She seems so little to be staying up every day, even if she told me the other day that she is not a baby or a toddler but a 'lady'. sigh...

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PinkTulips · 29/01/2009 16:02

i didn't bother trying to get him down after about the age of 2... i just let him doze off on the couch if he was tired later on, much less stress all round if i left it up to him.

at 'lady'

Original poster

Liska · 29/01/2009 16:21

If its left up to her, she never ever sleeps - even when she is absolutely shattered, she fights it.

It probably serves me right for marrying someone who, like me, will stay up all night chatting/partying given half a chance- must be genetic. (Although since she came along, I have to be in bed by 10.30!)

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PinkTulips · 29/01/2009 16:29

eeek, she sounds like dd unfortuantely.

when ds was born when she was 18 months i was no longer able to force her into sleeping as i had ds to care for as well. it used to take an hour of vigourous cuddling on the couch to get her down and then you were stuck there with her til she woke as she couldn't be moved without waking up, she would not go down in her cot ever.

she occasionally slept in the car and on a few occasions dozed off on the couch but she's pretty much never napped since.

she's started to grow out of the hysterical overtired thing now since she's been about 3.5 but even up til then if we kept her up more than about 1/2 hour after her usual bedtime she was uncontrollable, and if she got up too early in the morning she was hysterical by dinner time.

she's still a bit difficult when she's tired but it's managable now.

Annya · 29/01/2009 16:34

How long's it been going on for? We had a frightening week with 22-month-old DS earlier this month when we thought he was going to drop his nap! Happily after about 5/6 days it just went back to normal. No real idea why.

Original poster

Liska · 29/01/2009 16:58

It's been going on for about 6 weeks, I think... She will go down in her cot, but we have to have 2 or 3 books first, and then she quite often has a book in her cot. I also have to tell her that I and the rest of the world are all going to have a nap now too...

Thing is, while she is happy to 'potter' in her cot, she sometimes gets the sheet off the mattress, and last week she moved the mattress and got her leg so thoroughly stuck through the cot base that we had to dismantle the cot around her, and then saw through one of the slats to get her out. She's never going to be boring, I'll give her that.

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Seeline · 29/01/2009 17:01

Both mine refused afternoon sleeps as soon as they got to 18 mths - in fact ds had been fighting them for a while prior to that. It had no impact on teh amount of sleep they had at night. DS continued with waking at about 5.30 ready for the day, DD continued with her full 12-13 hours a night. They're all different!

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