help me settle a 'discussion' with DH... how many 3 y/o boys still have a daily sleep?

[hairymcleary]

I think My DS (3) is begining to drop his sleep. He'll sleep for 2 hrs-ish every two to three days. On the days he doesn't sleep, he will spend an hour or so in his bedroom either reading books in bed or playing quietly.
I'm quite happy with the quiet time on the days he doesn't sleep, but DH thinks we should be trying to get him to sleep every day, by taking the books away and going in to lie him down every time he gets out of bed. This generally results in some crying and most times, DS won't sleep anyway.
DH thinks that three year olds still need a sleep every day, but I think we're quite lucky to have one that will sleep every few days and even luckier to have one that will play/ read quietly in his room on the other days.
So, to settle the 'discussion' between me and DH, please let me know how many of you have three year olds that sleep every day.

My DS stopped naps at 4.5y, but we had gradually made them shorter until it was just a power nap of 30 mins to get him through the afternoon. He would drop off though in about 20 minutes - so knew he still needed one, and would only take 20 mins to go to sleep at night.

Once we dropped the nap - he needed (and still does) to go to bed about 45 minutes earlier as he was so tired, and would be asleep within about 5 minutes.

Think quiet time is a good alternative to a nap though.

I would say that if your lo gets through the afternoon ok, doesn't wake at night as a result of being overtired (they were our issues) then a nap isn't required!

My DS is 3.3 - he hasn't slept in the day for a very long time - well over a year. It is crazy to try and make your DS sleep when he is trying to drop the nap (the way a lot of kids drop the nap is to stop doing it every day and do it less frequently). He's dropping it because he doesn't need it anymore. If you make him sleep in the day when he doesn't need it, you could make sleep problems at night.

My DS1 still has an afternoon nap of 1 1/2 - 2hrs in the week after being at playschool in the am, it really tires him out. But at the weekend he just has quiet time or sometimes about 30-45mins. If he likes quiet time, don't put him off - none of DS1's friends will even consider it! Having said that, how is he if he doesn't have the sleep? DS is horrendous by 5pm if he doesn't nap when he needs one, and if there's lots of stimulation (eg today, playschool this am then toddler group in the afternoon, with only 1hr nap) he can get overtired even with a sleep!

He was 3 at beginning of this month, btw.

hahahaha my dd (yes i know she's not a boy) dropped her nap at 18 months.

My four year old still has a daily sleep and has just gone to bed now.

my ds has a pattern similar to yours, OP. He turned 3 three weeks ago. If he goes longer than 3 days without a nap he gets really grumpy but still only sleeps on the days he chooses! Or occasionally falls asleep in his tea at nursery .

I have found there's no point insisting on a sleep if he's just not interested, and just have quiet time with him instead.

ine gave up at 2.4 when he was waking us up at 4.30/5am every day.

he turns 3 next month. At nursery, a few have a sleep but not every day. Most of my friends kids of the same age might sleep occasionally but certainly not every day.

My DH was disappointed when DS no longer slept as he wanted that time to do stuff at the weekends but if you've got one that will do quiet things alone then yes,you're lucky. My Ds will have an hour or so of cbeebies at lunchtime to tide us over that time when I need to do stuff and DD (5 months) also needs a nap.

ds stopped sleeping at 2.3 years (the week his little sister discovered her long daytime sleep