3 wks of no naps and we are all going crazy!

Let me start off by saying - UGH! Because my kids were waking up at 4am a few weeks ago, we decided to make some changes, namely taking out their afternoon nap. Well, its been 3 wks of no naps and I am going insane, my kids are pretty good in the morning (which is great for the preschool teachers as they go 4 mornings/wk), but from the time I pick them up at 1pm to bedtime, I have constant tantrums, crying, fighting... I honestly mean that it is nearly constant for 5.5hrs every afternoon. Now the first week I just thought they needed time to adjust, but come on, shouldn't they be getting used to it by the 3rd wk? I am so grumpy all the time because all they do is fight me, aren't reasonable at all (and when they were napping they were nothing like this), cry at anything and everything. I mean, I feel like I have newborns again with all this crying!
Because my kids just can't sleep in past 6am no matter what we do, we have resorted to making bedtime 630pm to try and get them at least 11.5hrs of sleep (which is on the low end, when they used to get about 12.5hrs when we had naps).

I am so fllippin frustrated, I want my nice, reasonable (well-mostly), happy kids back. I doubt myself everyday about whether I should put the nap back in.

We do quiet time every afternoon, and today for the entire 45min, one or both was crying - DD because she didn't get a sticker on her chart from days ago, and DS because he wanted a toy DD had - seriously 45min of one or both screaming...they NEVER did this before I cut out naps... UGH!

 

My complete guess would be that two major changes at the same time might be too much for them. Maybe try having them nap again and see if they start waking up super early again - maybe they are burning enough energy at school that they need to nap. How are they on the non-school days?

 

I know it sounds crazy, but could you make their bedtime even earlier until they adjust? When we stopped naps on their 3rd birthday they acted the same way until I started to put them to bed SUPER early. With naps, they would go to bed at 7:30 (but it would take them until 9-9:30 to actually fall asleep). So I moved their bedtime to 6:00 and they slept 13 hours :woohoo:. When they started waking at 6:00 (which for me is way too early), I moved their bedtime to 6:30, then 7:00 and now 9 months later their bedtime is 8:00 and they wake between 7:30 - 8:00.

Once I moved their bedtime up, their behavior began to improve. It took about another week or two until the fully adjusted.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I really appreciate them, because for some reason I am just stumped with this problem. I go back and forth on an hourly basis as to whether I should put in short naps again, earlier bedtime, or just wait it out. My kids are so uncharacteristically out of sorts right now that I think I may try putting back in the nap, but only a short one - perhaps one hour max (awake by 3pm at the latest, as I read somewhere that if you expect your child to go to bed by 7pm, they should be awake by 3pm in the afternoon). it is really hard for us to get in supper, baths, books etc and have them to bed by 630pm, let alone earlier.

Will keep you all posted on how it goes...but then again I may change my mind in an hour and just put them to bed earlier - gosh, I wish I knew the "right" answer : )

 

Maybe working on a more restful quiet time would be an alternative to going back to naps? My children are still much younger but I think I would try to create a really peaceful hour of quiet time during which they can fall asleep if they really need it on any given day. You could try all snuggling up on the couch with blankets together, drawing the shades and listening to music or an audiobook or reading to them or even watching a quiet movie.
I know this means you don't have that hour to get stuff done without them but it might be worth it for happier children and thus a happier afternoon.

 

Ok, today I picked the kids up early from nursery so make sure we were home in time for a 130pm nap, we got home, we talked about nap time, they were ok with it. I put them in bed, and put their gates on their doors, turned the lights and walked away. However the kids didn't feel like napping today, so they didn't! Although they did have a nice 1hr of quiet time. Then the rest of the afternoon was heavenly, they were great! No fighting, played nicely, no crying or yawning. So, we ate supper early and they are having a 6pm bedtime! Lets see if I can keep up this streak of having happy kids!