Toddler dropping nap and waking all night

[PocketRocket12]

How the hell do we stop this merry go round? My 2.4 year old (who has always been a rubbish sleeper but does occasionally sleep through) has started dropping his nap. He goes to nursery 4 days a week and might nap two of those days. At home, he’s hit and miss too.

On the days he doesn’t nap he’s out like a light exhausted at 6.45pm but is awake for a 2.5/3hour stint around 1am before settling back down and being exhausted when we have to wake him at 7.

Will this pass? Anything I should do? He just doesn’t seem to need more than 9/10 hours at night so I feel bedtime is too early but he can’t go any longer!

Mines a little bit younger than yours. But bed times can be an ordeal for us so I expect a nap drop to be on the horizon.

Can I ask do you try for a set time for a nap or do you follow wake windows still? I've always followed wake windows so getting him to nap is no problem but I find he has to be up by 2 to have any chance to be asleep as night for 8pm. I just wake him up from naps, he never has more than 1.5 hrs now but can be more like 30 mins sometimes if he woke up late in the morning.

Could a later capped nap work for you to for a little while?

Thanks for your reply @LGBirmingham! he’s at nursery 4 days a week so unfortunately can’t guarantee a nap everyday. Some days I can get him to snooze at 3pm for a top up which pushes bedtime to 9pm but he does sleep a bit more solidly.

I suspect you’re right and I need to try and do this as much as possible and accept the later bedtime until he can handle the longer wake times.

He went to bed last night at 7.30 and woke at 10, 1, and then was awake 3 until 5 before falling back to sleep until 7. Urghhhhh

Oh gosh if he isn't snoozing until 3 then he really does sound ready for the nap to go. I struggle to parent after 8 so if it was me I'd be dropping that nap completely and waiting out the bad nights or trying to do something to make it earlier.

Do you think he would drop off earlier in the car? Mine often drops off before you'd expect it in the car. Perhaps on his home days you coulg have a trip to the supermarket at 2 and see if he will take a cat nap then?

Otherwise maybe you just have to suffer the pain until his body gets used to no nap?

I'm sure this will be us in a couple of months and I'm not looking forward to it!