When did you know it was time to drop the day sleep?

[Ellie]

My 2.5 yr old has always been a great sleeper ... Day and night ... now she is suddenly taking ages to go to sleep both for her day sleep and then at night ... She just talks to herself until she drops off. Should I drop the day sleep and risk things going haywire??? Thanks

[onthefly]

Does it matter that she takes a long time? I wouldnt' try adn drop one so young - hang on as long as you can

[LuluHB]

I agree with MadB - definitely don't give up on it yet. My 4 and 3 year olds still have an afternoon sleep of some kind most days - the 4 year old has about 30 minutes nap at kindy and my 3 year old can sleep for up to 2 hours. They both can go a day or two without having a sleep if we've got lots on, but boy do I notice the change in them when they miss out.

[Ellie]

Thanks Ladies that's what I thought but have people around me telling me otherwise!

[sneakysparkle]

I disagree - both my girls dropped their day sleep early - DD#1 was just over two and DD#2 wasn't quite two!

Both of them became impossible to get to bed at night, and didn't sleep well during the day anyway, when I dropped the sleep they both were asleep by 6:30pm and slept beautifully!

It does mean that we've had to make dinner 4:30pm, and Im totally exhausted by 3pm, but it was what they needed, and it works better for us.

Each child is different, so don't let anybody tell you what you SHOULD be doing - do whatever works for your child, and family

[briggsy's girl]

if it's not causing you (or her) distress, stick with what you're doing. some kids just don't drop off straight away - but if she is content, let it go. she might wean herself off the actual sleep - but if you can encourage at least a period of rest (esp given you have DD2 that probably has a nap around then) - why not? i was a kidlet that always took forever to fall asleep (still do most nights!), but i was never upset - i just needed to take my own time to wind down. if it's working for you and yours, run with it.

i know ethere is no way we could have DD in bed early at night with my work hours if i wanted to have any time with her at all - so she NEEDS the sleep during the day. yes, that day sleep means she is still awake at til around half 8 at night - but that means i get a few hours with her every night so it's something we're not in a hurry to change.

i speak to families all day and every one of them does what works for them. some need to get their kidlets in bed early, some need a day sleep - do what works for you and Miss A - you're the ones that matter here - not the opinions of everyone else!

[*TripleJ*]

i knew when he refused to go down which was a few weeks ago but she will nap when mummy is at work

[Beach Mama]

Both of mine still sleep DD at 4 sleeps for 1-2 hours other than creche days and DS at nearly 3 has 2-3 hours. They go to bed at 7:30-8 JJ goes down earlier and it works for us. The time they go to nap has shifted recently to around 1-2 but without it both are beside themselves by 5!!! Up to you and you could miss one nap one day and see if it makes a difference to night sleeping, we find it makes no difference and they wake up in the morning at the same time.

[Jakabella]

DD is 2.5 and still sleeps during the day for 2-3 hrs. If she didn't she would be foul come bed time. I'll be keeping her day sleep till she moves out! Lol..

[Shanti]

DD is 2.5 years at the end of this month and she still needs her 2hr day nap every day. If she misses it, she is so cranky by mid afternoon so we know she really needs it. I also intend to keep her daynap as long as possible!! It's a good thing for them and us

[gypsy79]

I wish DS still had a nap, but he dropped his right about when he turned 2 (just when DD was born). During the transition period, we were finding that he wouldn't settle at night until 10 or 11pm if he'd had a sleep. And by not settle, I mean he was constantly getting out of bed and coming back out to us, not just lying quietly. And on the days when he didnt sleep, he was always reasonably well behaved in the arvo still. So now we have dinner at 5.30, then bath etc and bed at 7. It works fine for us.

[Ellie]

Thanks everyone! Have had a shocking day/ night with her and yesterday wasn't great ... We've gone from chatting herself to sleep to screaming the house down!!! Will see what tomorrow has in store

[AnnaBelle]

Hi Ellie,

My DS1 is a couple of months older than your DD but I found at about 2.5yrs the same thing happened - a child who slept 2 to 3 hours easily in the day and easy to put to bed at night changed to a child who would take ages to put to sleep in the day (talking to himself calling out sometimes etc.. until he eventually went to sleep for his nap..)
I started putting him down for his nap about half an hour later and that seemed to help and didnt really affect his night sleeps. Some days when he was restless i would go in and give him a book to look at - which would calm him down also and he would eventually go to sleep.
If you are anything like me I live for sleep time - it is my sanity saver and gives me precious time to get things done so try a few different things to see if you can keep the day sleeps going.
Good luck with it but at the end of the day - you know your baby better than anyone so go with your gut instinct and not what other people think you should be doing

[Ellie]

So I think we're back on track! Tried no sleep on Friday (by accident) we were out and she was too busy ... disaster! So I've pushed her back till 12.30 / 12.45 and she's gone straight down ... and DD2 going down at 12 so things are looking up... fingers crossed for a good night tonight after great day sleeps

[BeautifulMadness]

my Eldest DS was 2 and half when he stopped his day sleeps, he was a pain at night so we dropped the day sleep and he was fine at night. plus id spend a good hr tryign to get to day sleep.