Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Help with nap dropping please!!

3 replies

Luna20 · 28/07/2024 10:37

My boy has been trying to drop his nap for a while now. He will be 3 in a few months and probably for the last 6 months we have been having sleep issues. He completely refuses to go to bed for a day time nap so we totally stopped that as it just caused a lot of stress. I've tried doing quiet time and chilling on the sofa etc and he's probably dropped off on the sofa 2 or 3 times but fights it most of the time. I can tell he's tired because he's rubbing his eyes, doing all his usual telltale signs, and his behaviour goes to crap. Usually though he will just get up and start playing again after a bit of chill time but then his behaviour for the rest of the afternoon is wild. He's like a completely different child and I don't recognise him. He screams, hits, scratches, bites, throws everything and just generally doesn't listen, won't play either on his own or with me, won't eat etc etc. It's absolute hell and has had me in tears a lot. You'd think the upside to him skipping nap is an earlier night but he actually fights bedtime more when he doesn't nap and ends up getting to sleep later than ever. So I think he's definitely over tired. If I take him out in the car he sleeps and stays asleep once I've turned the engine off and will often sleep for 2 hours still, but it's just unsustainable to be doing this every day! I'm at a complete loss what to do for the best. As well if he does skip a nap he's so over tired we are sometimes ending up with split nights which makes the over tiredness worse and we get stuck in a bit of a cycle. He generally will sleep 9-10 hours at night and then if he has a 2 hour nap in the day he's great, a really happy little boy and doesn't really fight bedtime even if it ends up being later than I'd like. I'm at a complete loss of what to do. Getting him out in the car every lunch time and driving about is getting expensive and my back is killing from sitting there for hours on end. But the alternative is no nap and an extremely bad tempered toddler and a crying mum!! Has anyone been through similar and can give any tips? Thank you x

OP posts:
JumpstartMondays · 28/07/2024 11:35

If he is fighting it and refusing his day nap, let him. Then if he falls asleep on the sofa or in the car or whatever in the day, let him have a very short capped nap, like 45m to start with, then gradually reduce it down from there to 30m, 15m then no nap. Definitely no 2hour nap!

The other option is to delay his day nap and push back his nap, capping it to something like 15min in the mid-afternoon when the crankiness really sets in, just to take the edge off and help him push through to bed time. Keep bedtime consistent.

Mine dropped the last nap just before turning 2, we had crankiness by 4pm then 5pm for about 2 weeks during the adjustment! My youngest is 15m and fights nap too so it feels like they'll be dropping their nap between 18m-2y, too.

Enjoy nap time, I miss it!!!

Superscientist · 28/07/2024 11:56

At first my daughter was ok as long as she didn't miss two day in a row. Then she was ok as long as she had a nap every other day. Then twice a week then once a week. For the last year she has 1-2 naps a month.
On days when she had a nap we went up to bed 15 minutes later and add an extra story or two which meant she went to bed about half an hour later without modify her routine too much.

pambeesleyhalpert · 28/07/2024 16:25

When I had my second child my 1st was fighting her nap but still needed it so I'd just go out in the car and let her have 20/30 mins which tides her over but doesn't affect bedtime

New posts on this thread. Refresh page