Waaaah think DS 19 months is ready to stop napping

[narmada]

Has this happened to anyone else when their DC were still so young?

Ds is 19 months and super-active. He is apparently tired for a nap around 1 pm, I have no problem getting him to sleep, and joy of joys he has just in the last few weeks learned to sleep for longer than 45 minutes at a shot. I have been loving the hour and a half naps while his elder sis is at preschool :)

However.... he has suddenly become impossible to get to sleep in the evenings. He is worse when he's had, say, a 2 hour lunchtime nap. Today he had 1 h 30 minutes (woke up around 2.30 pm) and has only just gone to sleep about 5 mins ago.

I experimented by cutting his nap down to just under an hour the other day and he was far, far easier to get to sleep of an evening but was a horror all afternoon - clingy, grumpy and throwing things around.

What to do?? I would hate to think that that was it nap-wise :(

what's his usual bedtime & when does he usually wake in the morning? You say he usually naps at 1pm - is that typically 1.5hrs now or is he sleeping for 2hrs frequently?

I found with my DS as we got to 19-20 months that a 2hr nap was too much, esp if I wanted him to go to bed at 7.30pm - he would faff around for ages falling asleep nearer to 8pm then wake at 6am the next day. So we shifted his bedtime to 8pm which helped a bit, then he started waking earlier again so we pushed his nap later (used to be at 12.30) & we've now started cutting the nap back. We are currently doing a 1.5hr nap (DS is 21 months) & his routine is looking like this:

Up: 7.15
Nap: 1.15-2.45
BT: 7.45

The key thing I've found with DS is that he needs 6hrs awake in the morning. If he is awake for less than that before his nap (eg he wakes later one day & I keep nap at usual time) he will settle fine for his nap, but he won't be ready for bed at bedtime. It seems that the longer morning really means he is well ready for bed. Just something to consider if your DS is usually getting up at say 8am, a 1pm nap is probably too early.

Oh and when did he drop from 2 to 1 naps? If he was early to drop his morning nap you might find he will be earlier than some to drop his nap altogether. But it might not happen for a while yet so try not too worry!x

Thanks for your reply omama

His usual bedtime is around 8.15 and he wakes at around 7.15 although it can be later.

Hey, you could well be on to something there with the point about the nap being too early. I will try it later tomorrow, he will have no problems staying awake for a bit longer after lunch :)

He very very rarely sleeps for 2 hours - I can remember one occasion and we were up with him until 10 or 11 pm that night . Usually it's 1 hour, or 1 hour and 30 mins or so. Today, for example, he had 1 h 30 and didn't fall to sleep at bedtime until around 10pm.

He dropped his 'morning nap' (which was only ever 30 minutes anyway) at around 10 or 11 months.

All new to me as DD still had 2 x 2 hour naps per day at 16 months old, and slept for 10 or 11 hours at night. She still loves her sleep!

So, an update - tried first line of defence today, cutting nap down to strictly no longer than an hour. He was absolutely shattered today, poor wee man: I felt sorry waking him up when clearly he would have slept on.

However, I went out this evening and DP got DS asleep for 8.10 pm, which is fantabulous beyond belief. Not that he stayed that way but never mind.... :)

Sorry only just seeing this. It sounds like capping may be the way to go then. See how he fares. If he seems to be getting overtired try an earlier bedtime. I'll keep my FX'd for you that it works out!

He is definitely not overtired, slightly sad to report!

Ahhhh, I think it's me that needs to do the adjusting :)