So it's 10.15pm and our 22mo is still awake... time to drop the lunchtime nap??

[fromheretomaternity]

So... it's gone 10pm, we've tried about 2 or 3 times to get our 22mo off to sleep, but he has screamed in protest each time we put him in the cot and our patience runs out after about half an hour. He doesn't seem in the slightest bit tired, has been running around the past hour.

He's always been a bad sleeper, but after a long struggle we got him in a routine; before Xmas he had a 1.5-2hr lunchtime nap, then bed at 7.30-8pm and slept till about 7. Since a visit to grandparents, where he slept badly, it's all gone horribly wrong and he now HATES going to bed.

Getting a bit desperate now to get our evenings back. Anyone dropped the lunchtime nap at this age? Or is it too early? Don't want to sleep deprive him but need to do something :-/

oops he is only 21 months... i am a bit frazzled

Yep we dropped it around 24 months as having terrible trouble getting DD down in the evening.

But if he was sleeping fine before the grandparent visit, I wouldn't rush into dropping it yet.

Have you tried a 1 hour nap in the first instance to see if this improves or worsens things?

Ps. did you let him stay up longer/alter his routine whilst on the visit?

Sounds like hard work! My DD is a bit older, but I find if she has a nap in the day she is a nightmare to get to sleep in the evening and is usually up until we all go to bed.
You're probably the best judge of how much daytime sleep he needs - but is there an issue of making bedtime a more appealing prospect?
When we moved DD from cot into a bed we also gave the room a bit of a 'make-over' with lots of accessible books and toys. We put a gate across the door to stop her wandering about near the stairs too - but she likes her room so much she will often play in there and closes the gate too.
Also, sometimes kids seem not tired - running about etc, but this can sometimes mean they are overtired..def the case with my DD. Maybe you need to be gentle but firm in re-establishing the routine you had before it got broken?

Hi yes his routine was completely disrupted at grandparents, wouldn't go to sleep in travel cot so ended up late watching tv with us (I know, i know, we are paying the price now...).

He is absolutely furious when he goes in the cot now. Funny thing is, he generally sleeps through once he is asleep. Exhausted I guess.

Has anyone else dropped nap at this age or do I just have to perservere with sleep training?

Ps he is still up, rubbing eyes and yawning a little but still running about. Will scream when I do take him up.

11pm and he is now asleep... I miss my evenings!

I think he was screaming and running around from being overtired.

Shorten the nap a little but perserve with getting to bed at an earlier time IYSWIM.

another few months you may have to drop the nap though (and oh is it sorely missed)

We only managed to get our 17 month old down at 10pm - and he only had a 40 min nap at lunchtime, we've been cutting it back because of struggling to get him down in the evenings.

I'm wondering about cutting it back further to 20 mins.

5/6 weeks ago he was having a 1.5/2 hour nap after lunch and then going to bed at 8pm

Shorten the afternoon nap. Wake him up before he goes into a really deep sleep, which will be really difficult to rouse him from. ( so a nap of about 45 mins)

If you drop the nap entirely you may find he is falling asleep at 5pm, but then waking up early.

Get back into a bed time routine, and DONT GIVE UP when you get bored of trying to get him to bed. He is learning that if he fusses enough, you will let him get up and play.

SleighGirl - so right about missing that nap! The first couple of times it happened I could barely keep my eyes open....I chronically missed that hour or so to just relax and have a coffee or catch up with some jobs..
Back to the original thread - we ruined our nice sleep routine by going on holiday, DD wouldn't sleep in travel cot either and it was in the same room, so we ended up letting her stay up late and sleep in with us (naughty but nice)...but luckily she is pretty half hearted about protesting and got back to normal after a few days.

Thanks all, will experiment tomorrow w shorter nap. And yes he definitely understands now that if HD screams enough he gets to go downstairs and watch telly... Have to knock that on the head!

Gnight all, hope you all get lots of sleep.