Is it time to drop afternoon nap?

[Lizbiz89]

My dd is 3.5 and loves her afternoon nap. When my 15 month old ds goes up she asks if she can go up as well. The only issue is now she is taking ages to go to sleep at night. She'll still be shouting and talking until 9.30pm. She's also waking early and seems generally tired and irritable in the mornings. Would you take this as a sign? Also can you let me know what you do to replace the nap time? I'd ideally still like to put in some quiet time for my own sanity as my dd is very full on most of the day.

Yes I would

I loved my DS having an afternoon nap but it made the evenings so long

We stopped the nap at 3yo and he’s a lot happier for it as his sleep patterns are better

If she has her own room, encourage her to spend some quiet time by herself and do a timed check. Pop your head into the room, acknowledge what a great job she is doing of playing quietly, and if you feel it is called for, suggest alternative items that she could play with.
You can continue to check in at regular intervals, gradually moving your position from going into her room, to just popping your head around the corner, to peeking in from the landing.
If she’s struggling to stay engaged for more than a few minutes without your help, you might need to help by practicing the activities that you have available for quiet time. Build a bridge with blocks or put on a puppet show, then slowly bow out of the activity.
It might be worth having abox that contains activities that are only accessible during this special afternoon time. Be sure that you explain that it’s quiet time, and you have a super-special box of activities just for this time. You could also give her a small but special snack.
I used a kitchen timer to cut back on questions about when she can go outside, or finger paint, or come downstairs.

You could try shortening her nap first and see if that helps?

Yes I think so. 3.5 is quite a long time to still have a nap so you've had a good run!

I'd drop it. Also, this is the last thing you want to hear, but I'd try to start the period with at least 15 mins of one on one time - especially as your youngest grows up and gets more and more demanding, this is really valuable and the attention often makes the older ones happier to self-entertain a bit later on.

With my 4 I do something like:
11.45ish lunch
12.15ish take toddler up for a nap - older ones can read a book or listen to audiobook
12.30ish back down, give older ones each 15 mins or so of special time
Then they can watch a TV show or something for 30 mins while I do some jobs / work / take a breath and mess around on my phone 😊

www.ahaparenting.com/blog/How_To_Special_Time

Thank you for the replies. We dropped the nap yesterday and touchwood it's been a revelation. No bad behaviour. In bed and asleep at 7.30. Wish we'd done it sooner! Fingers crossed it continues.

That’s exactly what we found too

Wish we’d done it sooner

He sleeps better and is happier when he wakes up the next day and we have our adult evenings back too