This dropping the nap malarky..

[BoilingHotFrayedKnot]

DS is 2.4. he still needs a nap imo.

Until v. recently he went up to his cot for a nap at 1pm-ish every day, and slept for 2 hours most days.

Now..often, he just won;t go to sleep.

last week I tried dropping the nap altogether, replaced by quiet time with TV / DVD, and by Thursday he had tunred into the twin brother of Damien from the Omen.

So..today I am leaving him up in his cot in his room for an hour for a "rest" regardless of whetehr he sleeps. He is playing up there, not distressed or anything.

Is that OK? He won;t sleep downstairs at all..

Puts head on pillow on sofa, two minutes later says "wake up time now" and starts jumping about.

I wouldn;t mind if he was OK in teh afternoons but his behaviour has been shocking and we are PT as well.

He goes to nursery in the mornings so he is pretty tired in teh afternoons anyway.

If I abandon it will he kind of "get used to it" or will he be devil spawn for months?

I could do an earlier bedtime but DH never gets home early from work so wouldn;t see him. he goes to bed at 7pm anyway.

Hi Frayed knot,

Agree with your tactic - going through something similar ourselves with DS, who's 2.3. I also leave him to "rest", and usually he does go to sleep within half an hour or so, but exactly like your DS, if we miss it, he becomes the devil child by 4, then falls asleep in dinner and doesn't want to go to bed until 9. If your DS is happy and playing quietly, then I wouldn't worry about it at all. I wondered about dropping the nap on alternate days in a little while, so that he just gets it 3 or 4 times a week until he's really ready to drop it altogther. Sad thing is I don't think I'm ready to drop it - 8 months pg and need the rest myself!! And I worry that an earlier bedtime might mean an earlier get up time... not an option!!!

When I went up he had done a poo & was playing with it again (second time this week, he put the poo in his Dizzy cement mixer and was mixing it)..

On second thoughts perhaps quiet time on the sofa would be preferable.

Message withdrawn

Yep, we do quiet time here too. Ds dropped his nap at about 2 1/2 and I thought my life was over. A lot of times that is when he gets to watch a dvd. Sesame Street even has a Quiet Time dvd!