Dropping the last nap. I’m in hell.

[Alittlebit9]

DD is 2.10 and we’re in the nap dropping stage. If she naps - even for 10 minutes, bedtime is 8:30pm at the earliest but more like 9. If she doesn’t nap, she’s asleep in her dinner at 5:30 and then up at 5:30.

She usually wakes at 7, goes to the childminder who lets her nap 1-2 because she says she needs it.. I think the CM may need it more..and then bedtime is horrendous. She’s playing silly buggers currently, singing songs, asking for a wee every 10 mins, getting out of bed etc.

On the weekend she doesn’t nap, but we can’t go anywhere in the car or pram after 2pm and regardless she will fall asleep in her dinner/on the sofa at 5:30.

I’m tearing my hair out. We’ve tried letting her have half hour or less and the length of the nap seems to have no effect. Is this just a right of passage? I feel like I’m losing either way.

It’s crappy. Someone wise might come along but I think you just have to ride it out - I think they adjust fairly quickly.

Embrace the 530 bedtimes to recharge you for the awful ones.

I used to take one of mine for a drive around noon to let him have a 10 minute nap at the weekends. It got him through to 6.45pm and didn’t affect him being able to fall asleep. Ask the childminder to let her sleep for 20 minutes max during the week

I would just let her have a long nap at lunchtime. And a later bedtime. They get very overtired which is possibly why a short nap of 45 mins or an hour isn't helping. Mine napped a proper afternoon nap until they were three or four! Bedtime was 8 wake-up was 7.30 am.
You need that break at weekends too. Quiet time after lunch makes the world go round

The key is to get the nap 1.30 to 3.00 so there is the problem of going out at weekend ..don't. go out after the nap, fresh air teatime activities. It's worth it. And then they sleep better at night because not overtired. Your child needs more sleep not less at this age !!!!

What's wrong with a 8.45 pm bedtime in summer? Makes sense.

Up at 7 and naps between 1 and 2 ? So an hour nap during the week seems normal. Could you make bedtime 7:30 ? I actually had bedtime 7pm till 7am but I know it is not easy for working parents . Don't feel bad putting her early and enjoy the grown up time before it changes.

Don’t know what it was with mine but they all dropped naps by 2. But they did then go to bed at 7 and sleep through.
I remember getting older siblings to keep younger ones awake on car journeys!

at this stage mine we gave my DD 15 mins max in the car, no later than 3pm. It definitely will change quickly, it always does, but I would instruct the childminder not to give her that big chunk or at least wake her after 30 mins

For a 2 year old??! I’d go insane if mine didn’t go down until almost 9pm

I'd rather have a 8.30/9pm bedtime than a 5.30am wakeup!

We stopped naps from about 2 and a half for the same problems you’re having. Even a 10 minute nap would destroy bedtime and she’d still be up at 10pm bouncing round the house. I told nursery to stop them altogether and her bedtime routine is so much better for it. We have the occasional blip, but now bedtime is 19.30 and up at 7. It seems to work well for her and so that’s where we’ve settled. It didn’t cause any issues dropping the naps at nursery in the long term. She went up to pre-school and so that helped as the older children had tended to drop naps as well. Initially she did get a bit tired when we first started, but she was going to bed at a much better time and so overall when her bedtime routine was settled she was actually getting better sleeps then when she was having naps and is much better for it now.

If they'd been at childcare all day though you might want to spend the time together.

Ywah it's rough the last nap. This didn't last long with my DS though. Maybe a month of really early bed times.

He's 3 in June. Never naps at home and still doesn't go to bed until 8 earliest...

He occasionally naps at nursery - about half the time. And if he does? Well fuck any evening for me. Evening of running around tiring him out and I end up going up with him!

But I actually don't mind.

It's not helpful but I also say just ride it out...

Fair enough, I’m a SAHM so am definitely done by then!

Mine go to childcare and I’m also losing the plot by 7pm 😂

At that age mine was up at 6.30/7 am then always early lunch and 1.5 hrs nap at 1pm- 2.30 in his cot- was always ready for it. I never let him sleep longer despite MIL saying it was cruel to wake him. He managed to make it through to tea at 5.30 and had just enough energy to eat properly then ready to wind down into bedtime routine- bed at 7 pm and straight to sleep.
He would sleep through but if he missed that nap it was hell ending up with not eating properly and a later bedtime as he would fall asleep at say 4pm despite best attempts to stop it. I wouldn't try and stop the nap yet- I remember worrying on his first day in reception as he wouldn't have his nap but it all worked out.
It's only a short period of her life but it's hard to get through! wait til she's 13 and you are shouting her to get up at lunchtime at the weekend 😁

Yeah I think it's different if they are in nursery or at home.

DS is with me in a Friday and I definitely look at the clock about 7 like... OK are we done now?! Whereas nursery days I can't wait to see him and often want the evening to be longer.

Both are fine to feel

I always say just do what is best for your family and your circumstances with young kids. My sisters 2.5 year old is at nursery just half days 2 days and doesn't go to bed until 10 most nights - sometimes later. But it works for them...

Also feel that some days haha

Also OP if your child is anything like mine then don’t follow the advice of “let them have a long nap after lunch” or “they need more sleep not less”. If I let my now 3 year old sleep for an hour plus at this age she’d still be up at 10pm dicking about.

It is indeed hell and it will pass but in the end my tactic was to get the inevitable nap done as early as possible and cap at half an hour if you have to. For mine it was not about total time slept it was more about wake windows. At 2 she needed to be awake minimum 7 hours before bedtime otherwise she just would. Not. Sleep. So I needed her awake by 12.30 latest. We used to often go out to a morning activity and then I’d give her a big snack around 11.30 and then walk or drive home around 11.45 and she’d nod off. Then home and wake up at 12.15 and I’d often have to wake her; then a bit of tv time to give her a chance to come to and then late lunch at 1-1.30 ish. That would then give us time to play quietly or do something before school pick up for the older one at 3.

I agree 130-3 nap is key for sleep at 7/730

Both my dds continued to nap for 1-2 hours until starting reception and their bedtimes were around 9-9.30pm, which was fine with us. Plenty of time to play and have time together after DH finished work, and have long days out at the weekends. Usually woke up at 7am which worked well for us too.