Dd 3 can't stay awake in day, won't sleep at bedtime.

[muddyprints]

Dd (3.2) has always slept 1-3 every afternoon to fit with school run, previously she was happier for it, rarely moody and slept 8-6 at night sometimes longer.
Now she must be getting too old for day naps as she won't sleep at night till after 9 so I'm not putting down for naps anymore.
But she crys, whines, shouts, gets very loud, falls over and then just falls asleep on sofa, in pushchair, in car, at table, anywhere.
If I wake her she howls the house down for an hour.
She is very moody.
Then at bedtime she was singing puff the magic dragon at full volume over and over and over keeping her sister awake.
Have resorted to putting dd1 to bed first tonight so she can get enough sleep for school and then struggled to get dd2 asleep with her singing and laughing.
I need her to stop napping. How?

I have just stopped dd1's naps at 3.2 because of the exact same reason. We had similar issues so I have to keep her really busy, try not to go in the car for very long and keep her off the sofa. We are on the 3rd week now and it is getting easier abd at least bedtimes are easier. Days spent at home are the hardest but one thing I found worked was an afternoon play in the bath with lots of bubbles and toys, I can't really let her have any quiet time as she will just nod off!

Bath is a good idea. Problem is she is getting tired by 3 and if she walks to school she often asks me to carry her as she's so tired, she actually fell asleep I the playground one day, but she's too heavy to carry far, so I take the pushchair and then she falls to sleep.
I know it's a short term problem and soon she will last the day, but most children her age don't sleep in the day.
Good job she hasn't started nursery yet.

Umm that's tricky then if she uses the pushchair. Has she got a scooter/bike/ dolls pushchair that she could take on the school run?

Wouldn't trust scooter near main road but might try dolls pram as it might keep her walking. When she's tired she just sleeps and flops to the floor.
I cannot stand the full renditions of puff the magic dragon again tonight at 9pm.

No I couldn't either! We had to do something as I also have 7 month dd who is a dreadful sleeper but when I did get her settled you could guarantee that dd1 would start singing/shouting/bouncing etc and it really was a nightmare. Good luck with it all x

When we dropped naps it didn't happen straight away. Sometimes they would nap and others I'd try to keep them up. If I was trying to keep them up and they were falling asleep in the car or pushchair, I'd try to keep them awake (open windows, talk to them, prod them, that kind of thing.) If that didn't work I let them have a short nap. How long will she sleep if she falls asleep in the pram and you let her sleep?

Managed to keep her awake today by refusing ouch hair and she went to bed at 6.30, great.
If she sleeps in pushchair it's half an hour journey.

if I want ds to stay awake I just keep asking him if he is tired . reverse psychology works a treat on him but then he is the one fighting day time naps rather than me!