When to cut out lunch time nap

[emoo777]

Dd is just over 3 years and for the last week her behaviour around bedtime has been becoming increasingly disruptive. She says she is not tired and will try anytHing to spin things out ie I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, want another kiss goodnight, kiss refusal, asking lots of questions. If we take a tough stance sometimes she will lie in bed howling (but then smiles in victory if we go in!). She is sometimes still up at 845, although her bed time is 730.

Her nap has gradually been cut back to 1 hour but I think if I wake her up after less time she will be very grumpy. I am wondering whether to cut her nap out entirely. Is this wise or should I adopt an occasional nap kind of approach? Am concerned as she is always fast asleep when I get her up from her nap and so not sure how well she will cope without one. Advice please!
Xx

ds gave up his nap by age 2! Could you have some quiet time rather than a nap?

My DD is 3.3 and needs a nap of 45 mins to an hour at lunchtime otherwise she tries to fall asleep in her dinner .

I make a point of getting her to have a wee and a sip of water just before getting into bed, then lots of cuddles. Fingers crossed for you to have a better bedtime tomorrow!

Watching with interest as my 20mo is a nightmare to get down at night (he's still awake now) if he naps at lunchtime....yet at lunchtime there is no keeping him awake.

The once or twice we managed to keep him awake, he went down really well at bedtime, and slept well too.

My DC1 dropped her nap quite early, but I forget how old she was.

Cut it now and bring bedtime forward an hour to cover the extra tiredness.

Then, over time, push bedtime back to where it was.

Is she at nursery yet? That will exhaust her, and she may need a power nap after nursery mornings, but many kids g to afternoon sessions so just arent able.to take a nap.

Why not take a tough line every time? So don't engage. If she needs a wee, let her do it but don't react. She does it for attention!

What Mortified said.

My DD is 3 and I'm taking the occasional nap approach! She would nap every day but seems to find it harder to get to sleep at night. She doesn't play up but if I go and check on her she is sometimes still awake after 20 mins whereas with no nap she's flat out after her story! She has just started nursery 2 days a week and on these days doesn't nap, she's very tired come bed time! When she does nap I try to keep it early ish and wake her if she's still asleep at 3. Try a nap every other day perhaps 1-2 and see how that goes?

Thought I would try to skip it today and see what happened. We went shopping and she was fast asleep in the car by the end of the 10 minute journey home! Will try another day. Does make me wonder if she needs the sleep after all though!
Thanks for all the advice. I think we will try the cutting out nap and bringing forward bed time approach, with the occasional nap when necessary. She goes to nursery Monday and Wednesday but still does her nap there at the moment.

My DD phased out her nap between roughly 2.3 and 2.9 months; it was a pretty gradual thing started with missing the occasional day (it's definitely easier if you can avoid having them out in the buggy/car late afternoon when they have a tendency to drop off)

For quite a while we had a pattern where on the days we were at home after lunch she would go to bed and have a nap, but on the days where we were out and about all day she went without. So napping maybe 3 times a week.

Towards the end, it was definitely having an impact on bedtimes as she could still be awake and chattering at 8.30 after a nap, but if she'd not napped she went out like a light at 7pm.

I would try to cut it out every other day and she how she goes. I found it helped to do an early dinner and bath on non-nap days; reduced the likelihood of overtired meltdowns.