Naps or no naps

Anyone have any advice for me. My boys will turn 3 in one week. :huh: Where does the time go, right? So they willingly and pretty easily take naps still. Same routine, we rock, read stories, they get in bed, turn out lights and they go to sleep. Sometimes almost immediately, others talking for up to 15 - 30 minutes to each other. Well, they nap for at least 2 if not 3 hours! And if you wake them early.. UGH, it's a nightmare. so ugly. The problem is they seem to be waking up to 5x's per night between the two of them. I think maybe they are getting too much sleep? Normally in bed at 8:30/9, up by 6:30.

Yesterday they did not get a nap, and they were asleep at 7. Just now waking up at 7 am. 1 wake up, and it was pretty legitimate with a really loud thunderstorm that scared them.

My problem is with summer fast approaching we like to do things and stay up later, especially on the weekend. So I'm afraid if we give up naps, they will be little bears to deal with, and not very flexible.

Any tips on what you did at this phase? Sorry, I'm cutting this short, and I don't think I've put my thoughts all down, but someone's calling for me!

 

My boys are 4.5 and still nap! Lol! Now, they are in school so naps don't happen four days a week, and they are exhausted!

My kids have always been good though if they go to bed late and wake up at their usual time. Always. Like you, it's hard in the summer because you are so busy and they are having fun, etc etc. Getting to bed at a decent hour is nearly impossible!

If I were you, instead of 2-3 hour naps, I'd shorten them to one hour, or 90 minutes tops. See if that helps with the wake ups, their attitude/behavior vs not napping entirely. Good luck!

 

If they still nap, they need it. You can try putting them in bed later though. It's how we did it, just pushed bedtime later until it was just too late for us (9.30pm) and we stopped naps... but they were a bit older than yours, and had pretty much given up on naps most days by then anyway.

I 100% hear you about the waking them up thing... we can't do it either, or they cry for one hour... it's ugly. That's why waking them up from their nap was never an option for us... and they always took long naps too. I'd try to put them in bed at 9pm every night and see if it helps for now... Do you know why they wake up at night though? I know we had a phase here too when DD kept waking up... not sure if it's because she didn't like the dark or what...

 

Our kids go to bed late anyways (9:30-10pm is bedtime), so when bedtime was becoming a 90 minute battle, and naps were 90 mins, I knew naptime had to go. I stopped putting them down for naps and put them to bed a bit early for a week or so, then gradually moved their bedtime back to their normal time. Now, they go down around 9:30-10pm and wake up around 8:15-8:45. My daughter Rylee needs less sleep and is consistently the one to wake them up, however, when it comes to bedtime, she's out like a light, whereas Liam can sometimes be awake another 15-20 mins or so.

I have to admit I'm jealous of the LONG nap, none of my kids napped longer than 60-90 mins ever! But I do think that long nap is interfering with their overnight sleep. If cutting back nap isn't an option, try moving their bedtime later. However, my personal suggestion would be cutting nap down to 60-90 mins. Yes they are going to be grouchy for a week or two, it's called transition. Move their bedtime up a bit earlier to compensate for it. Once they are sleeping consistently at night I bet you'll find you don't have to wake them from nap anymore, they'll naturally begin waking on their own. You can't expect them to adjust to it in one night Give it a good 10-14 days before deciding it's not going to work. They may surprise you

 

I have long nappers too (apart from the few days when they refuse naps altogether which are miserable). However, I do wake them no later than 3.30 pm regardless of whether they have been napping 1.5 or 2.5 hours because they need their regular bedtime in order to get up on time in the morning, otherwise mornings are miserable on my office and their daycare days.

They can be pretty grouchy and crying if I wake them up from naps too suddenly. If I do it gently, they are usually ok with 5 minutes of cuddling after wake-up. I go in, open their shutters and a window to let in the sun and some fresh air, tell them its wake-up time and then do some activity on the landing and in their room (folding and putting away laundry usually) while talking to them until they wake up enough for cuddles. By 4 pm they are dressed again and ready to go downstairs for a snack. This 30 minute routine seems to work for us.

 

we lost naps right after they turned 4. i'd dreaded it, but it was the best thing for us--they sleep MUCH better at night, now. the goal is still 11-12 hours/sleep in a day, which doesn't always happen. but, it happens far more often now. and less night waking.

best of luck!

 

My girls did this constantly. We started sticker charts for them. We could not keep them in bed all night! So, I got little sticker charts, and every night that they were able to stay in their bed all night, they got a sticker. They got to pick out their sticker and put it on the chart. After a couple of straight nights, they got a treat, after they got their whole chart filled, they got to go to ToysRUs to pick out a toy. It worked wonders for us. Now, granted, not all kids like stickers, but my girls loved them.