Time to cut out the nap??

[boltfam]

DS is 2.5 yo and he is a BUSY boy! Right now, he wakes up around 7 a.m., takes a nap from about 2/2:30 - 5:00ish, and then will lie awake in bed until between 10 or 11 p.m. I really want him to keep taking naps since DD is only 8 weeks and I need some down time not to mention a nap on occasion. However, there is something wrong with a 2.5 yo still being up at 11 p.m. Am I right?

Should I cut his nap short or cut it out all together? If I cut out the nap, I'm going to have to still do a quiet time or something for him...I need a break and so does he. Any ideas?

[Kaylee31]

Glad to hear they still nap that long at that age!v:) On the weekends, my DS wakes up at 8:30-9, and takes a 2-3 hr nap around 2:00. If his schedule gets pushed back any later than that, its hard to get him to go to sleep by 10. So, I would just cut your DS' nap back a little- to no more than 1 1/2-2 hrs. I would not cut it out completely, obviously he needs the sleep! Will he play quietly by himself for like a half an hour in his room, before he takes a nap?

[edurnemk]

I would either make it a shorter nap or try to gradually move it to an earlier time. And move up his bedtime at the same time.

My DS is 2.5 and naps from 12 to 2 or 2:30, he goes to bed at 8 pm and is up at 6-6:30 pm. But if for some reason he takes his nap later in the day it's very hard to get him to fall asleep at his usual time. But I don't think he's ready to give up his nap yet, he's very cranky when he doesn't sleep during the day. Each kid is different, though, my mom says I gave up naps at 18 months.

[g-mama]

It sounds like you should try to start the nap earlier and end it after 1.5 to 2 hours max. Id' try that first before giving it up.

My kids have always napped til they were pretty old: #1 til 3 years 10 months; #2 til 5 years 9 months; #3 til 4.5 years.

[jjjo1112]

I would try and move it to an earlier time. My older 2 are 4.5 and 3.5, they still nap on most days. They are very busy kids and go non-stop from wake-up til nap and then again until bedtime. I have noticed that if they nap late- 2 or after, they go to bed much later. I usually try and get them in for a nap around 12:30 and get them up by 2:30, then they still go to bed at 7:30.

[hillview]

I kill the nap at this point. SORRY!
/hillary

[LadyPeter]

This might help.

http://alphamom.com/parenting/baby/going-from-two-naps-to-one/

[brittone2]

We usually put up with the later bedtime for a while and then eventually axed the nap around age 3 both times. But yes, for a long while that resulted in a very late bedtime. My kids didn't have to be up early in the morning so they slept in until 9 am, then napped 2-4 and were up until 10. '

At 2.5 I might try tweaking things a bit like a PP said before having them give it up.

[boltfam]

Thank you all for your responses! It is a relief to hear that I don't have to give up that nap time yet! Sounds like I should try pushing up the nap, but do you think he'll get up in the morning earlier than? I have an 8 wk old and would love to still be able to sleep until 7. I will definately cut his nap shorter, though.

[belovedgandp]

I sacrificed the nap to get the nighttime sleep instead. With a nap DS2 was up at 6:00 or 6:30, without the nap he'll sleep in until 8:00 or 8:30. He's still getting 11 to 12 hours of sleep a day. If we're really busy, he'll still take a nap once a week with no impact to night sleeping. We still do quiet time with books, alone or a movie.

[khalloc]

I think most kids nap alot earlier and wake up from their naps earlier than 5:30ish. My DS is 2 and naps from about 1pm-3pm. I never let him go past 4pm on days when he is home with me. And thats only if I put him down late, at like 2pm. He goes to bed at 8pm and is up between 5:30-6:30am each day.

[cvanbrunt]

My 2.5 DD still naps. We follow the daycare center schedule and it is much earlier. She goes down for a rest after lunch. That varies between 11:30-1pm. Usually around 12:30. She sleeps for 2 or 2.5 hours. Even if she goes down later than that, we never let her sleep past 4pm. She goes to bed around 7:30 pm.

[Cam&Clay]

Around here, we call it The 5 Hour Rule. DS2 is 2.5. Naptime begins about 5 hours after he gets up in the morning, so today that would be around 1:00. He usually naps around 2 hours, so he's up at 3. Bedtime is about 5 hours after he wakes from nap, so around 8 or 9 tonight.

Both of my kids did well with the 5 hour rule!

[MommyAllison]

My 2 year old wakes up at 8am, naps from 1:30-3:30, and bedtime is at 9pm (8pm in winter). I'd try to push the nap earlier in the day. My DD stopped at napping around her 3rd birthday, and on the rare occasion that she takes one now, she is up super late.

[Minnifer]

I've been trying so hard to keep the nap w/DD (2yrs2mos) but it's a losing battle. She's never been a big napper and I have spent most of her little life trying to be very consistent and really working to get her to take regular naps. Sometimes I feel like that's all I've done is work on this!

But she started trying to drop it at altogether around 21-22 months, and I'm losing the battle. She'll nap for the nanny during the week usually, but not for me on the weekends, and I've tried pretty much everything (shifting the naptime, shifting lunch and snack and bottle times, having her just have "quiet time" in the crib, etc etc etc). She typically goes down btwn 8-8:30 pm and gets up anywhere btwn 6:30-7:30am. If she does nap, she's not generally tired until between 2-3 pm, so we only have success getting her to nap then, and she'll sleep for around 1.5 hours. As much as I'd *love* her to still be napping (it makes for some very cranky late afternoons!), it seems like I have to settle for her getting all of her sleep at night...

[elephantmeg]

we did 12-2 at that age. I think the nap is just to late and too long. To get DS up earlier than he woke up we would just open his door and not be very quiet...

[carolinamama]

At that age DS1 was napping from 2-4 and then staying up until 9 or later if he had napped longer. This arrangement was fine. But then when he turned 3, DS2 came along and I couldn't deal with him staying up until 10-11 so we took away his nap and started putting him to bed around 7-8. I think I would try making the nap earlier and if that doesn't work, you have to decide where you want that sleep - during the day or in the evenings.

[firsttimemama]

My thoughts:

if it's working for your family, there's nothing wrong with a late bedtime for kids, as long as everyone is getting enough sleep

and try an earlier nap before you ax it

DS is 2.5, naps somewhere between 12:30 and 3:30 generally (not for 3 hours straight - about 2 hours within that timeframe) and goes to sleep around 11. I know I could ax the nap and he'd go to bed earlier - but I NEED the nap so for now it's sticking