Alexander currently has one nap in the morning (somewhere between 9-10am) for 1-2 hrs. Up until recently he was also having an afternoon nap of around 40 minutes. But he has just decided lately that he doesent want to have this afternoon nap.
Problem is that if he skips that nap then from around 4-7pm he becomes unbearable - tired, clingy, grizzly, whingy. If he has the nap then he is the most delightful little boy. Regardless of nap or no nap he still goes down at approx 7pm. We find if we put him to bed before then then he wakes up super early.
So I really need to if possible persist with the afternoon naps. Short of me standing there and rocking him for up to 40 min it is becoming hard work. Any tips?
And am I being unrealistic at this age to expect him to still have the 2 naps? I can remember DD having 2 naps a day until around 18-20 months - mind you she was always a GREAT sleeper unlike this little monkey.
Nina only has one nap. Usually between 11-1. If she has a morning and afternoon nap, then she's unbearable at night and we can't her in bed till late that night.
Nick dropped down to 1 nap when he was 18 months and Ryan was 12 months
Ryan now has his nap at 10am until 12/12.30
Could you try putting him down an hour later? Maybe then he wouldn't get grumpy in the afternoon
Or would he change fom a morning nap to an afternnon nap? Say put him down at 12 until 2?
I thought we were dropping to 1 nap at one stage, but we're back to 2. hehe. He tends to have a lunch time nap for about an hr, anywhere between 11am and 1pm. He then has a nap around 4 or 5 for about 40mins (altho he didn't want to sleep this arvo - so only one nap today!) But he has a night bedtime around 9.30/10pm so these naps work for us. If I were to put him to bed at 7 or 8, he'd treat it as a 40min nap and then be up until midnight! He's kinda slipped into this routine on his own, and it works for us. Basically if he's tired I let him sleep. I wouldn't worry about how many naps per day unless it's affecting his night sleeping too much.
Louis was 11 months...to start with the nap was at about 11am til whenever and now it's at around 1pm...in saying that I think he's nearly ready to drop it altogether (although I'm hoping he doesn't!)
Jack was about the same age as your DS when he dropped the second nap too. It happened just like you described - he stopped having an arvo nap but was too tired without it. We moved lunch to 11am and then he would have his sleep after that. As he got used to it, we moved lunch to 11:30 and now have it anywhere between 11 and 12:30 then his sleep, depending on what else is happening that day. He will still sleep for anywhere up to 3.5 hours during the day even at 2.5!
DS decided at around 20 months to drop his. Wasn't happy about it at first, and the cranky hour or two before bed was hard, but we all adjusted pretty well after a few weeks and can guarantee he'll be in bed by around 7.30 every night.
If he day slept, he'd still be awake around 10.30pm...
Lucy dropped to one afternoon nap a couple of months ago. It's usually 2 hrs from anywhere after 1pm. But if she's tired because of interrupted sleep or has a cold she'll have an extra nap in the morning, usually around 10am, usually for 2 hrs as well. She's in bed by 7pm and wakes anytime after 7am.
But from the other toddlers her age I'd say she's the exception, she seems to be sleeping heaps longer at her nap times than some of the others.
Good luck with figuring it out! I was going nuts when I didn't know whether to put her down in the morning or not. Eventually I figured if she wasn't whingeing or food would stop the whingeing, then she didn't need to sleep. *sniff* where's my baby gone?
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