Does dropping the nap mean better night-time sleep?

[Travellerintime]

Ds is 2. He has always challenged us with his sleep, but we settled into an okay pattern a few months ago where he still woke, but would go back to sleep pretty easily when I went into him and lay next to him.

The last few weeks he's started to wake during the night and NOT go back to sleep - sometimes he's upset; sometimes he's just restless and seems to want attention. I'm wondering if I stopped his daytime nap whether this would make him more exhausted at night and prevent this.

He still has one nap, about 1hr 15 mins around 1230-ish, and he always seem to really need it. But on the other hand his waking up and staying awake for half an hour/hour are driving me crazy. Any advice - please.

Made no odds in my ds's case.

Sorry.

It did in ds's case although I have never linked the two before now.

Ds gave up his lunchtime nap a couple of days after his second birthday, I was having a nightmare getting him to actually go to sleep so I caved in and we dropped it. From the age of 1-2 he was a nightmare sleeper at night, would wake around 8 times. When he turned 2 he started sleeping really well and would only wake once in the night.

Thanks. I guess I can but try - but at the moment, I need his nap so I can recover from the night before.

Anyone else?

personally i think 2 is too young for most children to give up daytime nap. ime they sleep so much better at night if tehy have had a daytime sleep. i think it is just a phase and you should stick with the daytime sleep.

you could limit his sleep, cut it down to just an hour or 45 mins?

ds(23mo) dropped all naps when he was 15mo, much to my exhausted horror!

he did sleep better though. he's been going to bed at 6pm and sleeping until 7/8am for 8 glorious months.

ime it means worse sorry
my children sleep better at night when not so exhausted
the baby who has not napped is more likely to fall flat out asleep but sleep more fitfully

my experience only

Thanks for opinions - obv, with his sleep, I'm clutching at straws, always trying to come up with some reason WHY . He is a lovely chap by day; but has always been a complete nightmare (!) at night.

In my case, no. DS would be a horror late afternoon and would wake early almost still tired. He is now 3 and still has 30 mins every couple of days to keep sleep patterns happy, but I know not all kids are the same. He used to wake when he was just over 1 and spend 2 hrs awake in the night everntually falling back asleep exhausted. I put it down to a developmental spurt as he was having a lot of changes at the time - walking, nursery etc, and I assumed he was overtired with it all going on. Could this be the same for your lo....?

JimJammum, that's an interesting theory. Ds is in the midst of a language explosion - he really seems to be firing on all cylinders at the mo, so maybe its just his brain processing it all. Am thinking therefore we'll just keep the nap for now and hope this phase passes soon...

Sometimes helps with DS (just 2yo), sometimes doesn't. He naps around 3 days a week now, and we don't stop him sleeping, we just avoid situations where he will easily fall asleep (i.e. pushchair, car) after about 1pm where that is possible within our normal 'routine' of groups etc.

He is generally sleeping better these days, but although bedtime is much later when he does nap, night waking doesn't seem to always be related, nor does wakeup time - although it feels like he wakes more often when he does nap I have no idea if I am making that up

For us dropping the nap absolutely improved night time sleep. DD was having a long afternoon nap and I assumed she still needed it. However, at bedtime she was getting difficult to put to bed, crying, making ridiculous demands etc and would wake in the night and come in our room on a regular basis. Since dropping the naps she is an angel at bedtime, goes out like a light and sleeps until about 6.30.

She does not seem too bothered about not having a nap in the afternoon either. She has a bit of quiet time and would probably drop off if I gave her the opportunity but is otherwise fine.

Jumpyjan, did you encourage your dd to drop her nap; or was it something that happened of her own volition?

Chairmum, I wonder if the 3 day a week thing might suit ds..maybe sth to try once I feel less exhausted.

definitely. dd is 2.5 and up until she turned 2 was napping for 1-2 hours in the day and then doing exactly what your ds is doing. After about 1 month of it I thought enough is enough and cut her nap down to 30 mins. She protesed at being woken, but another 30 mins in front of tv coming round helped massively. Almost immediately she stopped waking in the night.

Worth a try if nothing else. Be warned though, changes in sleep are not always instant. Try reducing the nap for a week and see where you are this time next week.

Oh and dd still has 30 mins each day, sometimes more and is the BEST sleeper she has ever been

Very interested in this, my DS is 2 tomorrow () and behaves just as OP's LO and beesonmummyshead. No bother at bed time but rarely sleeps through - wakes several times per night. I had come to conclusion he is "Just Not That Good At Sleeping", I used to rack my brains and get worked up about WHY it happens but have become more accepting of late. It's hard for us, with me working 3 days per week and DH in a demanding teaching job; we're both getting very frayed around the edges.

I'm going to try cutting down his nap a bit.
The other thing is both the childminder and DH and me try and give DS as much fresh air & exercise as humanly possible; this seems to help a bit sometimes. A couple of hours of sea air and he will have a good long stretch of sleep and not wake til the early hours instead of every 2-3hours which is the norm.

My dd 2.11 has dropped her nap about 1.5 months ago and i have not noticed any change in her sleep, still wakes in the night and does not sleep through. Sorry

Bees - thanks for that. I have considered waking ds early from his nap - but have put it off for fear of his grumpiness! However, it's prob worth a go.

And AngeChica - well, at least we're not alone! I totally agree - when ds gets lots of exercise his sleep does seem to improve; it's just a bit difficult sometimes to fit in when weather's rubbish and we also have dd's timetable to consider as well.

Also Angechica, like you, I've come to the startling conclusion that ds 'Just isn't that good at sleeping' - after boring myself and everyone else at trying to analyse it. It is better sometimes just to accept it.