2.1mo DS suddenly taking hours to settle for bed at night - time to drop the afternoon nap??

[BotBotticelli]

DS is 2 years 1 month old. He has never been a brilliant daytime sleeper, but for the last year he has pretty reliably had a 1 hour nap after lunch.

At night we usually put him to bed around 7 and after 20 mins or so of chatting and moaning (!) he usually falls asleep.

Until last week.

Now he is calling mummmmmmmy daddddy for HOURS at bedtime, shouting, chatting, singing etc. he then gets upset and we spend all bloody evening going in and out of his bedroom.

DH and I work busy jobs and I am 14 weeks pregnant and knackered. Fed up!

Should I start dropping/limiting his nap?? He never asks to go for a nap and often now takes 30 mins of chatting to go down for it. Should I try ditching it and see if he sleeps better at night?

Doh - title should read 2.1 YEAR old. Not month old. Obvs.

Ditch the nap. Definitely. Sorry!

We dropped the nap at just a bit younger than this for pretty identical reasons. He occasionally has a short nap now if we're in the car or out in the buggy but he now goes to sleep inside ten minutes of being in bed and it's possibly blissful!

I'd say give it a try, maybe with naps every 2-3 days if he seems to need them? Can't hurt to try it.

Positively not possibly!

Yes. Drop the nap and see how it goes.

Yep ditch the nap. From about 23months dd would only go to bed before 9pm if she had not napped at all during the day. Even 10mins in the car means messing around for hours at bedtime. I was gutted because it started right before ds was born.

DD is 2.3 and still naps. Usually goes to bed like a dream but started buggarising around last week, up and down like a yoyo, lying in the hall, calling for water etc

So I bribed her.

A smartie the next morning if she stays in bed at night. Night 4 and working perfectly. I'll stop the smartie this weekend now we've broken the pattern. Maybe worth considering if you want to hang on to the nap (which I do, currently 23 weeks pregnant)?

Thanks all! heymickey he is still in a cot so thankfully there's no buggering about coming downstairs etc. we just have shouting/throwing toys out, pillow on the floor etc etc!

Would LOVE to keep the nap but I just don't think he is tired enough at bedtime :-(

Those of you who've replied suggesting we drop the nap - were your kids still happily going down for the nap when you dropped it? Or were they resisting that sleep as well?

It seems harsh to drop it when he still seems to want it at the time...or do I just need to man up and be the parent here, and decide what he needs, rather than what he wants?!

I think she would still have a nap now at nearly 3 if I would let her but there is such a clear link with bedtime difficulties that we only let her have one if in the car on a long journey.

Ditch the day time nap. He might get a bit tired in the afternoon but jolly him through and put him to bed half an hour early in the evening if desperate

You will probably find he is desperate for a day time nap twice a week

Thanks all! Hmmmm am gonna have to be brave and go cold turkey I think!

And then need to convince nursery to do the same - he is there 4 days a week and it's part of his routine there :-(