toddler day time naps...HELP

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October 29th, 2011, 01:28 PM
jett's_mum

toddler day time naps...HELP

hi ladies i need some advice on my 2.5 year old. He had two naps a day until he was close to 2 and then switched to a longer nihgt sleep and one 2hr afternoon nap. now he has started getting really difficult about his afternoon nap. he wont nap for two days and then nap on the third and so on...when he doesnt nap he gets really sooky and hard to please late afternoon but when he does nap he has so much energy he is literally bouncing off the furniture unti 8 -9pm which is way past his regular bed time. ive tried taking him for walks and to the park and swimming to wear him out which helps get him to sleep in the afternoon but then once he is up after that nap nothing seems to get rid of the excess energy. im hoping its just a phase but i'd love to know when everybody elses kids stopped napping or changed routine like this and how to make it easier on him? thanks
October 29th, 2011, 01:39 PM
helle

I don't know. But my mum always says once they drop a nap to still encourage "quiet time"? Maybe instead of a nap he can sit and watch a movie, read books or play quietly in his room instead of actually sleeping?
October 29th, 2011, 01:46 PM
jett's_mum

thank you, thats what we've started (as of today) so im glad im on the right track!
October 29th, 2011, 01:57 PM
helle

:

thank you, thats what we've started (as of today) so im glad im on the right track!

I'm only going by what my mum says, I'm not that far yet! ;) hope it works!
October 29th, 2011, 02:02 PM
Miss.September

DD is the same age as your DS, and although we dropped our day sleeps ages ago - she had the same signs as your son. If she'd have a sleep, she wouldn't go to bed until 10 - 11pm. As soon as we stopped the day sleep, she's been going to bed between 7.30 - 8pm. Other than one wake up during the night where she gets into our bed, she then sleeps until about 8am the next morning. Good luck!
October 29th, 2011, 02:44 PM
[M]umma[M]ia

wow!!! good work getting him to have day sleeps for so long!

Stop letting his sleep stress you and just go with the flow. Give him quite time with a movie or a book. The more you stress about it, the less likely he is to sleep. Do most of your busy things in the morning and leave the afternoon for just quiet type things until his body adjusts to not sleeping during the day.
October 29th, 2011, 03:19 PM
Jellyfish

My DD had long dropped her day sleep by 2.5 but it was much the same signs. If she had a nap she would be up all night so I decided to just keep her distracted for a few days and stop naps, she now goes to bed by 6pm every night with no fuss. It can be a loooooong day (for me haha) and we always try to do things in the morning to keep afternoons more relaxed but she sleeps so much better at night and we are all a lot happier now there is no fighting to sleep.