Days they don't nap.....

My boys are getting so they don't nap many days. Once or twice a week, they go right to sleep and sleep 1.5-2 hours. But the rest of the time, they laugh and chatter for as much as 60-90 minutes, and then sleep only 30-45 minutes.

Today, they laughed and play, then one of them got a foot stuck (they have daybed type toddler beds, but I don't know HOW he managed to get his foot like that!). Much screaming ensued, and then they were too wound up to go to sleep at all. So no nap at all.

My question is, do you all make bedtime earlier on days like today where they get zero nap? We ended up putting them in bed about 20 minutes early (7:25 rather than 7:45) because they were just having meltdown after meltdown and clearly overtired. They went to sleep without even a peep or fuss, which is rare - they usually make some noise at least while they are settling in.

We have tried adjusting naptime, bedtime, etc., and that doesn't seem to matter too much.

 

I really play it day by day now. We took naps away at 2.5 yrs old because nighttime was a nightMARE! If they slept 45 mins, it took them 45 mins to settle down at bedtime. 1.5 hrs.....1.5 hrs of them up over and over and over at bedtime. In an effort to retain my nighttime sanity, we stopped naps and moved bedtime up about 15 mins.

Now, at just over 3 yrs old, they will still ocassionally (maybe once every 2 weeks or so) fall asleep on the couch in the afternoon and sleep 45 mins or so. Those nights, bedtime is a huge hassle again. I tried to avoid the nap if I can, but sometimes when I'm cooking supper, and they are watching tv they just crash! :lol: Days they don't nap, bedtime is 9:40-10pm. Days they do nap (like today) it was nearly 10:30 when they settled down. Mine sleep until 9:15 or so most mornings, sometimes Rylee gets up just before 9.

 

We definitely adjust bedtime depending on whether they get a nap or not.

 

I used to adjust as well until they started sleeping longer at night to make up for the nap they were no longer taking. Some nights they were in bed at 6pm!!! The more meltdowns they were having, the earlier the bedtime .

 

I used to adjust at night time when they were younger but now at 4, if they don't nap, they really don't miss a beat at night time.

 

Thanks, ladies. I was afraid they would wake up super early with the earlier bedtime (because they tend to be awake really early anyway), but they slept until their normal time this morning and seem very cheery. So I guess we just play it day by day for now

 

I used to put them one hour early when it happened... still do it when they're really crabby!