Not sure how to title this post to tell you what I want to talk about. :shuffle:

Josiah will be 3 in July. He went from 2 naps down to 1 around 22 months or so. Pretty late. He's been a pretty good sleeper, all things considered. But I think he might be kicking his nap altogether. Or maybe its another issue I need your help to wake me up about.

The past few weeks, if he gets lots of physical exercise (meaning, the weather is nice enough to get outside) he'll go nap around 1:00 or so and sleep until 4:00 or so. There are times I'll go wake him because I don't WANT him to nap more than 3 hours. But there are also times like today and yesterday that are too cold to go outside, and he doesn't end up napping. I can tell by looking at him that he's tired (bags under the eyes) but he's in pretty good spirits. Not crabby. But then when its time to go to bed he melts down. I've been assuming its because he does in fact get over tired.

I guess I should tell you timelines, here. He got up today about 8:00am, we tried to put him down at 1:00, but it didn't happen. Now at 7:30 DH is upstairs holding his door closed because he keeps opening it and he's screaming and doesn't want to go to bed. 4 days out of 5 he's very good about going to bed at night. He may stay awake and play for an hour (or more) but he's in good spirits and not screaming.

So... thoughts? I'd appreciate any insight/advice. Thanks!

When Joe (4) and Frances (2.5) don't want to nap, we just do quiet time. They have to stay in their room and they can play or read quietly. Sometimes they end up falling asleep anyway.

So if he fights napping, try telling him it's just quiet time and see if that works. Then I would try putting him to bed a little earlier on days he doesn't nap. As you said, it sounds like he's overtired.

Dennis

We have the same issue come up periodically w/ Rayna (2yrs 4 mths). Actually, we are going through it this week. She did not want to nap for me on Sunday. She is still in her crib, so I ended up putting her in there and letting her talk/cry to herself for almost a good hour before she fell asleep. Then Monday and Tuesday at school - no nap. She kind of goes on these nap strikes every once in a while. Don't know why. It can also be harder to get her to go down at night b/c she is overtired. Last night when I picked her up from school you could tell just by looking at her how tired she was. So, we did an accelerated night time and I made her go to bed at 7pm. I always rock w/ her in the glider first before putting her in her crib, and she was snoring in less than 5 minutes. But, she was up at 11:30 crying. So, she ended up in our bed for the night.

No real advice, just letting you know we have the same issue. We are hopeful that it will work itself out like it has in the past. I will be interested to see if she naps at school today.

Emma transitioned out out of naps at around 3.5 years. Actually, she still sometimes takes them, but only 2 - 3 times per week. We try the "quiet time" approach that Dennis suggested, and it works some of the time. It took her a few weeks to get herself settled back down, so give him some time to make the adjustment.

We also solved the nighttime struggle by letting her read one book in her nightlight- she loves to curl up right by her light, and look through a book. Amazingly, she's very disciplined in that she goes right to bed after doing that. Maybe letting him read one story to himself would help stop the screaming match?

He definitely sounds overtired, but again, this will lessen the more often he skips his naps. All I can say is hang in there, it's a few weeks of hell, then things should settle down. :hug99:

Kaitlyn stopped napping at 3yrs old - her bedtime has been around 8pm. We usually have her brushing her teeth BY 7:30pm and in bed BY 8pm - so she is asleep right around 8pm. There is NO fuss from her - because we have always had a routine when it comes to the "after supper is done" time of day.


I do give Kaitlyn *down time* from 1-3pm where she plays quietly in her room while the daycare children are napping (I run a home-based daycare).

She gets up around 7:30am - meaning she gets between 11 and 12 hours of sleep at night. So she doesnt "need" the daytime nap.