2.5 yo not going to bed until 9

[TaraRhu]

Hi everyone

For the last 6 months my sons bed time had bring getting later and later. He just won't settle now before 9ish. It is fruitless trying as he just isn't interested. He is almost at the point where he is able to go the whole day without a nap. At the weekend he can just about do it and he will settle a bit earlier. But often he falls asleep At 4pm and is hyper. He still takes a 2h nap At nursery - which he will not do at home anymore.

He is a good sleeper and is sleeping later than usual until 7am. I shouldn't complain but I'm 5 months pregnant and working full time. This 9pm thing means that we need to eat dinner when he's still up and there's not much evening left after he's in bed.

I end up asleep on the couch at 10pm. Any ideas on how to get him to settle a bit earlier? Or do I just deal with it until he drops the nap completely?

My DD is the same. She was napping 2hrs in the day at nursery and then not tired until 9pm and waking at 5am. Over the past month since she's been at.home we've managed to drop the nap and she now goes to sleep at 8pm and sleeps till around 7.30 most mornings. She might have the odd 10min nap if we're in the car in the afternoon but usually we try to go to the playpark around 2pm and that keeps her awake and then i let her watch tv at about 4pm so she stays awake till dinner at 5pm, big splashy playing at bathtime also keeps her going till we do stories and she's usually asleep within 5mins of thr stories ending. Maybe try no naps over the weekend and see if it helps

Tell the nursery no more naps!!!

You may find they need one or two naps per week for a while though.

Agreed, having different sleeping patterns on different days is really confusing for kids, they need to be consistent with waking and sleeping times as much as possible so their body clock adjusts. Speak to the nursery about dropping his nap and definitely watch out for thr 3 or 4pm danger nap for the next.couple of weeks as that will make bedtime impossible again. On average 2.5yr olds need an awake window of at least 6hrs before they feel tired so if you want bedtime to be 7pm then naps must finish at 1pm or earlier

Mine was the same. It never bothered us and he ate dinner with us when he was 2.5, usually around 7pm. He just wasn't tired early on and enjoyed doing various things downstairs. He slept well at night and didn't wake up early but was easy enough to get up on the days I went to work.

Small children soon let you know when they want to sleep. Don't let it worry you and never compare with other children! Let him be himself, he's unique.

Yeah. I was hoping the nursery would reduce the naps. He's just moved up to the next room but they still have 2hrs. I have no idea how they get him to sleep - I know it's a battle though!

You are entitled to tell nursery no more naps!!

Do you not normally eat as family?

Definitely time for the naps to go.

23 month old here doesn’t go to sleep til 8.30/9 and he’s up at 7.30/8am. He takes a 60-90 minute nap most days. The wake-up time works for us so we just need to accept the bedtime I think, as much as it would be nice to have some of our evenings free!

I have to get 3-4 hours work done every evening or I won’t keep up with workload (primary teacher). Our house is open plan so I can’t do this with a toddler around.

At around 20 months DD started refusing to nap until 4pm, so we had no choice but to drop it. She only ever had half an hour anyway so cheerfully adapted within a few days. She’s only in nursery one day a week (ILs rest of time) and they said they’d happily take her to a different room to play while the other toddlers slept, but I find if they limit it to half an hour she’s ok with just the one nap a week.

Definitely talk to your nursery, all children have different sleep needs and a good setting will facilitate that.

Thanks everyone. I'll see what the nursery say. I shouldn't complain as he really is a good sleeper! I'm just a bit tired and hormonal!

We all get like that sometimes, Tara, but it is wonderful that your little boy sleeps well so don't make too much of him staying up late. It really doesn't hurt. You're a family.

You really need to tell the nursery- I told them when my LO was 2.5- a 1hr nap max and they used to wake her up.

You can request nursery restrict his nap to 45 minutes or an hour, but bear in mind they can't keep him awake if he wants to sleep.

As pp have said. Nursery either cuts down on nap time or stops it altogether.