A toddler and his naps..

[bunny85]

I'm in need of advice as this is my first and having read many books/googling I'm still unsure what to do.

My son is 25 months. He's always napped in the afternoon for 1-3 hours, then slept 10-11 hours at night (always been a rubbish sleeper touch, wakes up often etc). Now, a week or so ago I stopped breastfeeding him. We night weaned long ago so he wasn't having it at night, only just once a day to go down for nap. Now that it stopped (for various reasons I couldn't carry on breastfeeding any longer) he just simply cannot fall asleep. I tried everything, I lay down with him but he just plays/jumps on the bed, gets off and runs around etc. He would then go to bed really early in the evening (around 7-8 which is early for him) and sleep through for 12 hours (or maybe wake up once) which is of course great but.... almost everyone I have spoken to says their kids still nap and some of them are 3-4 year old! I know all children are different but what worries me is it looks like he really still needs to nap. Another option is to drive him around which I do but then he falls asleep at 3.30 or so and then if I wake him at say 4.30 bedtime becomes late again. So one day he goes to bed at 7 and another at 10 depending whether he had his late nap or not. What would be the right thing to do from his health (not my convenience) point of view?

I'm sorry it's so long and I hope it makes sense. Thank you in advance!

If you really can’t get him to nap then I don’t think you have a choice!

25 months is early to drop a nap, but I don’t know it’s that early - for example my nursery doesn’t really have facilities for pre-schoolers to nap because ‘none of them are napping once they get to 3’!! (Slightly disagreeable mum of a napping 3.5 year old here!).

If you can’t get him to nap then he’s forced the issue in my mind and just go with it! Get him to bed early and enjoy your evenings back. You might find that after a trip out etc he might regulate himself by having a catnap in the car anyway.

Thanks for your reply. I think I phrased my question wrongly. I suppose what I was trying to ask is whether it's better to let him go without a nap or to let him have his nap anytime between 3.00-4.30pm and then having to face late bedtime. That having said though, today I let him sleep from 3.15 to 4 (I woke him up) and he's just fallen asleep at 8.45 which isn't too bad at all. So maybe the way forward is to let him nap later in the afternoon but cut it short?

My son has always struggled with naps. Rarely had a cot nap. He's 2yrs 4 months and has the haday proper naps for months. He will occasionally (once a week max) fall asleep in the car. But he goes to bed at 7.30 and gets up around 7. This morning it was 8!

He was a bad sleeper as a baby but has slept through pretty well since around 15 months (although got up stupidly early) and I think this is down to not having the amount or length of naps other kids do. He's always gone to bed on time though even if he has an hours nap in the car at 5 pm!

I'd do whatever works for you. Personally I'd prefer him in bed earlier.

DD1 dropped her nap at 2.5, and DD2 who’s just turned 2 is already starting to refuse naps some days. I don’t think it’s that unusual, I’ve got friends whose kids stopped napping at 18 months!

I won’t lie, with DD1 it was quite tough for a while as she was initially shattered by 5pm, but you’ll get through it. (This is when TV really becomes your friend... )

Why can you not take him for a drive after lunch so his nap falls at a decent time that doesn't interrupt his night sleep? I would never let mine nap past 2pm from around that age as they'd never fall asleep at a decent time at night otherwise. Lunch at 11:30ish, then drive from 12 noon. That's what I had to do with both of mine when they got to cot nap refusing age. Definitely don't drop his nap yet - he's too young.

Thank you everyone. Lots of very good advices some of which have already been implemented.

Elphaba, tried driving around at 1-2pm before and he was having none of it. Today fell asleep in the car at 3.45 finally and woke up at 4.30. Then was asleep by 9pm tonight which isn't too bad. I also have this gut feeling he's too young to drop his nap, so I'm probably going to stick to driving him round and then just cutting the nap short. Seems like a good compromise!

My eldest stopped napping around 16 months, unless we went out in the car. She would have quiet time with me for an hour or so in the middle of the day for a few months but refuse to sleep. In the end I just gave up trying and all was fine.

What about if he has milk from a beaker? My son still has that right before his nap and he's 3.3