Toddler dropping nap

Hi anyone out there,
I haven't used this website much but something is really bothering me and so I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced the same problem and if they could offer some advice!!! Please!!
My son at 2 and a quarter started dropping his nap and before that has always been an excellent sleeper, sleeping thru the night and 2.5 hour daytime sleeps on average. He now sleeps during the day pot luck!! Sometimes he can go a few days in a row with a nap but then a few days without.

I know I have to accept the fact that he is becoming more independent and thinks he doesn't need sleep but actually he does. The problem is if he doesn't have a daytime sleep he just gets wound up and finds it hard to calm down. He has always been an easily stimulated child! But unfortunatley he ends up being in a really difficult mood, often being naughty or throwing little tantrums, and gets very rough in his play....I can't stand being at home with him sometimes ( I also have a son who just turned one).

I have tried changing his sleep times later and earlier and again it seems to be pot luck and its hard to know whats going to happen....he also has a wind down time before bed, quiet video then i read him a book with soft music.

It really stresses me out (on the inside generally) when he doesnt sleep but yesterday I lost it! I need a break!! How long does this period generally last for when toddlers drop naps?

Has anyone else gone thru a really difficult period like this...it annoys me so much because I know he NEEDS the sleep and then I have to put up with his behaviour Thanks....

My DD is exactly the same. She's been dropping a midday sleep about every 2nd/3rd day for a couple of months now. I find it's got worse with the heat so I ensure she goes to bed with little clothing on and make sure her rooms nice and cool with air con in the house and fan on. On the hotter days she'll only sleep 40min-1hr and on a cool day she'll sleep 2hrs. I've also found by dropping her nap time back half to 1hr has helped but I really just wing it on the day and see how active she's been in the morning etc. Also, another thing that has worked sometimes for me is after the quiet time (reading books etc) with her, I lie down next to the bed with my head on the bed and close my eyes with her and that seems to make her stop and do the same as me and not get up out of bed and muck around. When I've done that, I've never had to do it for more than 3-4min at a time, because she's fallen asleep that quick!!

If she just won't have a sleep no matter what I try, I just re-enforce that she has to stay in her bedroom and read books or play with her doll because it's 'quiet time' and that she doesn't have to have a sleep if she wants to but she has to have 'quiet time' in her bedroom for a while. This seems to work and she is happy to stay in her room for at least an hour to hour half with the door shut.

Although I never feel quite as calm inside as I do when she's actually asleep, I still get a solid hour to myself to at least have lunch and do a couple of things if I need to.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know what works for me. I guess it would be a little harder to do having two kids.

All kids are different - at my DDs kindy, there are kids younger than her that don't sleep at all but there are kids in the pre-school room that still have a midday nap - lucky for some!

My DS is nearly 3, and has gone through a phase of "dropping" his nap a few times since turning 2. I persist, insisting that he at least stay in his room, and so far the phases have never lasted longer than a couple of weeks. If he still seems to need a sleep, keep persisting, if he won't sleep than at least get him to rest. Hopefully this will just a be a phase for you too.

One of mine dropped her day sleep at 3.5 yrs, the other one at just under 2. I compensated by putting my son to bed a little earlier while his body adjusted to the loss of the day sleep. Yes he was still a cranky little tiger some days, but it only took a few weeks for him to adjust to his new routine. Every now and then he'd still nap in the car if we were going somewhere after lunch... but it was very rare.