Not napping signal to move from crib to bed?

[rlu]

Nearly 31month old DS is not napping well anymore. If he falls asleep in the car or stroller around naptime, he'll nap, otherwise putting him down at his normal naptime results in 30 minutes of screaming/crying. Without a nap he often falls asleep on the way home from daycare (6:30pm) but then wakes up at 5:30am very hungry (ugh).

He will lay down on the couch and tell me "I napping" but he's just playing and gets up about a minute later. He is really interested in laying on our bed putting his head on the pillow, but again, quickly jumps off the bed after a minute or two of play-napping (with fake snoring too).

DS jumps on our bed, so I hesitate to put him down for his nap on our bed and the couch is too central to the house to be used for napping (plus puts him in dog's face-licking range).

We have a toddler bed in the garage, but I don't want to rush the change from crib to bed if not necessary.

Do you think DS is trying to tell us to move him to a bed? Or maybe just give him a throw pillow to use?

[kristenk]

I hope someone more knowledgable answers your post, b/c I'm in the same boat. When I mentioned all of DD's sleep antics, someone IRL wondered if that was how she was expressing her desire to get out of the crib. I'm not sure if it is, but we have a big girl bed ordered and her bedding arrived yesterday. We'll be getting a twin mattress to put on the floor while her crib is still in the room and see if she likes that. I'm actually pretty worried about her leaving her room at times we don't want her to. I guess we'll put a gate in her doorway so she can't escape.

DD fell asleep in her bed today at naptime, but she was SUPER tired from not napping at all yesterday and going to bed late. I'm not expecting it to happen tomorrow unless it happens on the couch and that's doubtful b/c it's a weekend and DH will be home and going in and out right by the couch.

Sorry for the ramble, but you're not alone and we'll be experimenting with mattress/bed in the next few weeks.

[Momof3Labs]

In our case, those were all the signs that DS1 was ready to drop his naps completely. He stayed in his crib for another 6 months after he stopped napping. (Stopped napping at 35mo and moved out of crib at about 41mo.) It's tough to adjust their schedule when they first drop the nap but it does all fall into place.

[rlu]

Thanks for you commiseration and experience. Luckily DS slept both yesterday and today for his nap. He fell asleep in the car yesterday but today readily agreed to nap at his normal nap time.

He tells us "I want to play" when we tell him naptime and start the naptime process. I understand he will eventually drop this nap (it's his only nap) but he is so cranky and easily upset if he doesn't nap, that I don't think he really is ready to give it up yet.

I'm going to wait and see and keep trying to put him down for his nap at his normal naptime when he is with us (I work out of the home several days a week).

When we do move him to the toddler bed, we'll probably put his mattress on the floor where the crib is now for a few days and then move in the bed if the lack of the crib seems to be working well for us.

Thanks again!

[rlu]

Did you move up his bedtime when he dropped the nap completely?

Currently DS wakes up between 5:30 and 6am, naps around 1:30 for 2 or 3 hours, and then goes to bed at 8pm. If he doesn't nap he either falls asleep on the way home around 6:30pm or we put him to bed between 7 and 8pm.