Nap advice

[MrsL2012]

Hi

Just a question about naps. I have a 16 month old DS, he dropped to just one nap at 11 months. He's now pushing his nap back to 1.30/2pm-2.30/3pm every day and then isn't tired when we put him to bed at 7! He usually has a play in his cot and goes to sleep at about 7.45pm.

I can't get him to nap earlier, he just won't have it. He's always been a bit of a nightmare to get to sleep during the day, and have to put him in the buggy and wheel him up and down my hallway or go out for a walk.

Do I try to drop the nap? It seems way too early at 16 months! Or do I wake him mid-nap? Or do a later bedtime? I don't really want to do this in case it encourages him to stay up even later! It seems like he needs the sleep because once he's out he sleeps for 1hr 15-1hr 30. I do my best to tire him out in the morning but nothing works!

Thanks!

Gosh, I cant imagine dropping the daytime nap before 2 years old. In fact none of mine have dropped it until past 3 years old.

Personally I would be more inclined to either alter his morning wake-up time or start limiting the nap, rather than dropping it altogether.

(I say this on the assumption he is sleeping solidly for 12 hours at night)

I don't particularly want to drop the nap! I enjoy that hour, especially as I'm pregnant and the rest in the middle of the day is lovely! There's no way he'll keep napping until he's 3. He's never had much sleep during the day, even as a young baby he was wide awake most of the day.

He sleeps until about 7am from whenever he decides to go to sleep (put him down at 7ish, tonight he was away by 7.30).

7am is a reasonable wake-up time. I had wondered if, for example, he wasn't waking until 8am or 9am.

I'd work for limiting the nap in that case, rather than dropping it.

As long as his night time sleep stays unaffected, I'd start routining his lunchtime meal and nap as much as possible, so it is predictable in the same way bedtime is. For example dinner 12.30, drink, clean up, nappy change, story and then into bed for 1.30pm every day (where possible). Then leave him to go to sleep and then always wake him up at 3pm if he isn't awake by then (or earlier if he's awake earlier, but don't let him sleep any later than this), even if he didn't go to sleep until after 2pm.

The predictable routine might encourage predictable sleep.