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Original poster

Toddlers ??? When to cut out nap totally????

15 replies

PEONY1318 · 30/11/2007 16:17

Hi.

My LO will be coming up 2.5 in Dec and lately he has been waking up each night screaming for me... coupled with that he has been sleeping later and later, he used to be in bed and asleep by about 7.30 - 8.00 pm now we're lucky if he's down at 9! I m beginning to wonder whether he needs his one nap now which he takes between 12-1pm for a maximum time of between 30 mins to 1 hour.. I m just wondering how do I go about cutting out this nap, so that hopefully he'll tire out earlier in the evening .. do I go cold turkey or just let him nap for 15 mins and gradually decrease... it seems that even after 30 mins of napping he's still not tired out by 8 pm. Any tips as seriously need to get this sorted out before no. 2 arrives in 3 weeks time!!!!!!

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Original poster

PEONY1318 · 30/11/2007 16:18

Oops forgot to mention that he has been a super sleeper from about 3-4 months and cannot understand why he is now so bad at this stage!??? He has been particularly clingy to me lately??? Does he sense there will be change soon??? Anybody out there with wisdom that they can pass on???

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Mercy · 30/11/2007 16:24

I would cut it out completely and see what happens tbh.

As for the waking and shouting, and being clingy it's almost certainly because he's aware something is going on (ie, new baby is coming).

Is he having nightmares? Or just calling out for you?

SpeckledHen · 30/11/2007 16:26

Hi. Ihave 2 little girls - one is nearly 5 and one is 2.5. We have just dropped pm nap for 2.5 girl as we were finding she could not sleep at night if she had had a nap. Not sure if our lives are like yours but we used to find she fell asleep whenever we went out in car. Of alte she had stopped doing this. We also told nursery to stop encouraging her to selepp. We did the same thing with our first dd at about the same ae and it worked. Good luck!

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TrinityRhino · 30/11/2007 16:26

I thought that dd who coming up for 2 and a half would sleep better if I cut out her nap but now she sleeps 2 hours in the day almost every day and sleeps BETTER at night since I've encouraged her to have this long nap

obviously each child is different but just telling you my story

hope you find a solution good luck

bubblagirl · 30/11/2007 16:31

my ds is 2.6 and he hasn't napped for about a yr but had sleep therapist as wouldnt sleep in own bed after nightmares

shouldnt nap after lunch and set a routine that is consistant(which you probably do anyway)

he in summer goes to bed at 7.30 but since gets darker goes to bed alot earlier by his choice

7 pm quiet time take to room and read story then settle to bed my ds often falls asleep during story we also have no active play from 6.30 so he can unwind ready for story time

bubblagirl · 30/11/2007 16:32

if does need nap after lunch no more than an hour

Elfsmummy · 30/11/2007 16:40

You could try decreasing gradually (although my DD is really grumpy if she is woken at certain points in her sleep cycle (it has to be a multiple of 45 minutes!!))

Or you could try replacing the nap with quiet time? Maybe a DVD or a walk in the buggy? (that's what i did when my DD dropped her morning nap whilst she adjusted.)

Pheebe · 30/11/2007 21:33

Hi peony
our ds has just turned 3 and we've just dropped his afternoon nap. TBH he's been saying for about 6 months that he doesn't need it but we decided he needed some quiet time in his room even if he didn't sleep. 4 days out of 5 he would sleep and on those days he wasn't ready to go to sleep at night til about 9pm. We still stuck to his 7pm bedtime though and put a light in his room and some books and toys and said that he could play quietly on his own until he's ready to sleep. This has worked brilliantly for us as we don't feel we have to force him to go to sleep and he doesn't feel pressured into it at all. Its always been my feeling that you can't force children to sleep if they aren't ready but at the same time its not acceptable for them to stay up and be hairing round the house til all hours because thats more fun that settling down at bedtime.
Personally I wouldn't mess about trying to cut down on the length of time he naps. maybe try the quiet playtime, start with 20 mins and work up. That way you'll still get a break during the day for a quick coffee and hopefully he'll be tired at bedtime

good luck and all the best for your new lo. our ds2 is 3 weeks now and its brilliant

amytheearwaxbanisher · 30/11/2007 21:50

my ds 2.3 doesnt nap anymore he just stopped by himself i had no say i think they stop themselves when they dont need to anymore

farfaraway · 30/11/2007 23:09

Like TrinityRhino I find DD2 (2.7)sleeps better at night if she still has an afternoon nap. If she doesn't sleep she is a little grump (not ideal every day) all afternoon and asleep for the night by 6:30 but very restless during the night and wakes early.
But if she does sleep (today for three hours) then she goes to bed at 8 or 8:30 but sleeps better and we have a more cheerful afternoon/evening and she will get to see her papa too.
I would decrease the nap time. Go in and raise shutter, open curtains a little and move around the room to stir him decreasing the time gradually. I think at this age they could probably still do with an afternoon nap (or at least some of it) but it is more our routines of early bedtime which dictate when they stop the day sleep.
Agree with pheebee re quiet time. If DD2 doesn't sleep she still stays in her cot either looking at books or singing to herself and invariably she will fall asleep as well.
Good luck. Stoppping the nap is a life changing decision - now you can leave the house in an afternoon!

LyraSilvertongue · 30/11/2007 23:30

imo if they still sleep in the day then they still need their nap. With both of my DSs I let them carry on having a nap till they no longer needed it, ie I put them to bed after lunch and they wouldn't sleep so I knew the time was right to drop it. DS1 was 3.5 and DS1 was 3.
If you cut their naps too early you may find that they're so tired by 5pm that they fall asleep over dinner and are really grumpy in the evening.

Wheelybug · 30/11/2007 23:34

DD stopped having one when she wouldn't go to sleep at night - sadly for me this was at 20 months but she then wouldn't go to sleep until 10pm.

Wheelybug · 30/11/2007 23:34

DD stopped having one when she wouldn't go to sleep at night - sadly for me this was at 20 months but she then wouldn't go to sleep until 10pm.

paulaplumpbottom · 30/11/2007 23:34

I think whnever you start having trouble putting them down at night, its time to stop the nap

Original poster

PEONY1318 · 10/12/2007 16:47

Thanks everybody for the input! Well we cut out his nap completely on the first day we tried ... and it worked a charm, he was in bed by 7.50 and asleep and slept through till the morning at 7.30am! (Although he nearly fell asleep at 4pm) I must admit he still falls asleep in the car and we usually let him sleep for about 20 mins... and then get him up and he seems fine and now is fast asleep well before 8.15pm at night which is better than before which was 9.30pm before he fell asleep!

As for the clinginess he is still like that and Im sure it's more to do with this baby coming along in two weeks time!

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