What are your 2.5yr olds doing about naps/sleep?

[LPF]

Ds has always been a big sleeper - 12hrs at night and 2hrs after lunch.

This past month though things have gone a bit iffy.

He still wants his nap after lunch, asks for it, falls asleep in seconds and could happily sleep for ages but we've started waking him after an hour (which he hates) in a bid to help him go to bed better.

He goes to bed at about 7.30pm but he's been lying in bed, talking to his toys and chatting and falling asleep at about 8.45pm (which is when it feels a lot darker here - but he has a black out blind so he shouldn't notice!)

He then sleeps til just after 7am.

Some nursery days he doesn't nap and then he's a nightmare when we get him home, is fast asleep at 7 but impossible to get out of bed in time for nursery at 8am the next day - he's shattered without a nap.

I think without a nap he'd go to bed better but would be a NIGHTMARE during the day....or should I just leave things as they are as its not doing any harm him lying there for an hour.....

So difficult!

 

[KayBea]

ide just leave it tbh, LO sleeps 7am-9am & a 2hr ish nap after lunch..

but some nights she does talk to her teddies for 45 mins ish, it doesnt bother me as i guess its her chill out/alone time iykwim?

 

[Natsku]

As long as he's not making a fuss about bedtime and just chatting quietly and chilling then I would keep the nap.

 

[LPF]

It's funny because we've just this week redone the bedrooms and put lo into a proper single bed with a bed guard....but he's not even getting out. He lies there with dino, Duffy, Mickey and Ariel (!) and chats, sings etc with them until he falls asleep. The only annoying this is listening to him!!

 

[supertabby]

I'd leave him as is. My lo is 3 months younger but quite similar pattern - during the week she goes to nursery and we have to wake her (sometimes she asks for more sleep bless). During the week she doesn't often nap at nursery, though she did when she was younger. She goes to bed about 7.30 and usually chats to herself for a while, sometimes an hour or so. She's not upset during this time so we leave her to it, sometimes listening to her over the monitor giving her teddies instructions etc gives us a giggle!

At the weekend she has a lie in and we get up when she is ready, she also has a 2-3 nap after lunch (I know we are lucky! ). I tend to think she's recharging at the weekend. We went on holiday last month for a week in wales, she had a lie-in and nap everyday. I'm not worried at the moment as she's not got bags under her eyes, she's got loads of energy, can concentrate fine on quiet activities, and she's not behind in any development areas.

 

[Laucu]

That inbetweeny time is so hard. When Emma first dropped her nap she was a wreck by 4pm, so we would just get her into bed as early as we could. I'd say it took her 2 or 3 months to adjust.

 

[Laurenmomma]

Dd dropped her nap when she turned 2, if I let her have a nap now she would nap for hours as she loves sleep too!

At first it was harder as it was like she needed the sleep but didn't want to go! After about a week of no naps she was fine
She sleeps from 7.30-7/8 x

 

[Thurinius]

Mine dropped the nap before he was two. He goes to bed at 7 and sleeps until 6.30-8ish depending.
We do have to make sure he is very active during the day, two or three walks at the minimum otherwise the little ***** runs around upstairs till 11 p.m!

 

[karlilay]

Zach sleeps 7.30-7 ish, and still has two hours after lunch.

 

[Pixelle]

Kai has a nap but I make sure its before 2pm otherwise he won't sleep until very late. The days he doesn't nap are very trying.
He is bad at sleeping through the night and wakes very early too but having tried stopping his nap, I've found it made no difference.
I'm carrying on with his nap until he wants to stop.

 

[polaris]

I'd leave things as they are for the moment. Thomas was the same at that age, napping well but then taking about an hour or more to fall asleep at bedtime. He was the same as your LO though in that he would just chat away to himself in bed until he went to sleep. Now at 3.5 years he is finally dropping the nap but it's not going very smoothly even now. We are trying napping on alternate days and limiting nap duration and keeping naps early in the day. At this stage I just want him to be finished with napping but he's just not able to manage without it yet, he's fine for a couple of days and then starts getting really overtired. But if he naps he often can't go to sleep until 10 or 11 at night so he isn't getting enough night time sleep.