Is it possible my 20 month old is ready to drop the day time nap?

[emmyloo2]

My DS seems to be having shorter and shorter day time naps. He used to sleep for a good 2-3 hours in the middle of the day but lately he has been waking after 3--45 minutes crying. He is still lying down when I go into him but is crying and won't re-settle. He is then quite happy once he comes out of his cot but I can tell he is still tired.

He can then survive the rest of the day but if we goes in the pram or the car in the afternoon he falls straight to sleep. He goes to bed around 7.15pm and we have been having trouble with him night sleep although the last few mornings this has improved and he now sleeps say 7.15pm to 6am (this morning was 5.10am though). It just doesn't seem like much sleep to me and I thought children slept during the day until they are around 3??

He is a very active child - not sure if that makes a difference.

Thanks

Watching with interest

It is quite normal for the nap to naturally shorten a bit as they head towards 2yrs but most children still need to nap until between 2-3years so unless he switched to 1 nap really early I would doubt he is dropping his nap just yet. For the nap to suddenly go as short as it has, I am wondering if maybe he needs a routine tweak.

My DS needed a change in his routine at around 20months as he started taking ages to settle to sleep at bedtime & also started waking early. I had to push his nap later to 1pm & start capping it a little (to 1h 45 instead of 2hrs).

Soooo can I ask......

What time does he usually take his his nap? And how long has the nap been short at 30-45mins?

Can you also explain what trouble you have been having with his night sleep (until the last few mornings) as it may all be related.

My DD was on 45 mins a day at 20 months otherwise she would wake early. She dropped the nap just after her second birthday although has continued to have the occasional nap for the past 9 months (sometimes nothing for weeks and then she'll have 20 mins catnap once or twice a week, so it's all v sporadic).

I do believe children can drop the nap this early as I know of 2 people whose LO's have cut it out at 18 months and had no ill effects. However, this is rare.

Both my boys stopped daytime sleeping around 14months - they would only sleep in the car. It didn't affect them particularly badly - infact the only discernable difference was an earlier bedtime as they would sleep from about 6pm - 7am for the first few months without a nap.

DD1 stopped around 22months.

As a result of no daytime sleep they all slept much better at night - which they hadn't done previously.

My dd stopped daytime naps at that age so it's not impossible, bloody annoying though. Good luck!

My 18 month old is still napping in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon - would this explain her waking at around 2.30 - 3.30am every morning? Would you recommend knocking out the daytime naps for a full nights sleep (for her and me?!!!)

shakeypain I wouldn't drop them all together at 18 months but you can probably go to just a single after-lunch nap instead.

DS is nearly 3 and still needs an afternoon nap about 3 or 4 days a week - often he doesn't need one but if he didn't have one the day before and then has an active morning he is practically falling asleep at the lunch table. Several of my friends' children of similar age have droped naps entirely months ago, every child is different.

We have learned not to let DS sleep for as long as he wants to in a daytime nap. Left to himself, he would sleep for 3 hours and have very little afternoon time awake. We make him wake up after 45 mins to an hour, and that refreshes him enough to have a fun and active afternoon and still sleep (reasonably) well at night.

Agree with heads. Timing of nap can be as important as length so I'd go for one lunchtime nap only.