cutting out naps?

[mintycat]

When do toddlers cut their afternoon naps?

My LO is 2 years and 2 months old. She wakes up at around 7-8 am, takes a nap at around 2:30 for 1.5 hours. She goes to bed at 8 pm, but she doesn't fall asleep until about 9:30-10 pm. Her bedtime routine takes a long time including drinking the milk, brushing teeth and story time. She does not fall asleep on her own and wants us to be by her side until she falls asleep. She used to be able to fall asleep on her own but after being sick in the winter and moving house, we let this bad habit form by staying at her bedside until she falls asleep.

Now that I have a 3 week old at home, I don't have time to sit that long by her bed. The last few days, she couldn't nap and so I let it be. Then at night she fell asleep very easily and it took only 10 mins.

Should I let her cut her afternoon nap? If so, she only gets about 10-11 hrs of sleep a day. Is this enough for her age? She also takes a long time to fall asleep at naptimes.

She won't let the helper put her to bed and I can't let the helper feed the newborn since I breastfeed. I feel like I am being pulled by both sides! And my husband doesn't come home til 9-10 pm so he is of no use when it comes to putting LO to bed unless it's Fridays to Sundays.

Any suggestions?

[sophwillsmum]

My son who is 2 years and 8 months is going through a similar time.He seems to be needing a nap every other day. My 6 year old daughter went through the same thing at about this age. My only comment woould be that your nap time seems rather late. I have always made it a rule to never let my kids nap past 3pm. Any later and they weren't tired at night. I find with my son skipping sleeps that it can be good at times. On the days when we are out and about, I don't have to rush back home for his sleep. The up side of this is that he then absolutely falls in to bed at 6pm for a good thirteen hours. If we are at hhome, I encourage a nap as then I too get a break. I try to not let him have more than an hour and a half though. Then he still goes to bed by seven thirty. Although these days it may take him until 8pm to drop off.

You really just need to go with your instincts. As long as your child is getting around 12 hours sleep per day, then it is just a matter of working out the pattern which best suits.
Sally.

[MickeyMom]

I read this wonderful book by Elizabeth Pantley " No Cry Sleep Solution for Baby" and another one which is "No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers". Very simple and practical tips on how to help children sleep --- especially learn to sleep on their own without letting them cry it out. It also has a chart on how many hours of sleep babies/children need depending on their age. You may want to google as she has online links something like www.nocrysleepsolution.com

hope this helps

[carang]

my boy wouldn't sleep by himself either, wanting us to sit beside him.

after the new baby came, there was one night, that i just couldn't do it. i told him straight, and there was very little crying. i just said that i was very tired and i needed to feed the baby. he called me a few times and that was it. we still have the odd occasion when he wakes at night and keeps calling me. but they happen about once per month now or so.

just be firm with her at bed time. tell her that you have to feed the baby. that you'll come back when you've finished. if she cries, she cries. just make sure that she has everything she might need.

we used to put a no spill sippy cup with water beside the bed. i made sure he had that, the toy he likes to sleep with, even a book. and gave him a **** and then i left.

now, if he cries i tell him i'm going to shut the door (which he hates) because he's being too noisy and he'll wake up the baby. he usually stops crying right away. this is because i HAVE shut the door on him before for a couple of minutes....

good luck!

[mintycat]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

I also think she goes for naps too late and that's why she cannot sleep at night until 9-10 pm. Most of the time, she just doesn't seem sleepy at naptimes. I will try to move her nap earlier which means I have to move her lunch earlier too. I will try to get those books. I have the Ferber one but I don't agree with a lot of his methods.

Last night she cried so hard when I left the room. It was heartbreaking and she woke up this morning with piggy eyes. Sigh!

[kellyst]

mintycat, pls do let us know how it goes. i'm worried about the exact same thing when the new baby arrives, i don't want helper (or anyone else other than hubby for that matter) to put any of the kids to bed. so i'd actually want to get dd on her own routine before the new baby comes. keep us posted and good luck!

[joannek]

i think you can cut the nap. my daughter cut hers when she was 1yr10mths. sometimes she dozes off at around 4pm, if so, she sleeps at 11pm, which i think is too late for a small child. she wakes between 6-7am, sleeps at 7.30 since she cut her nap. when she still napped at 12noon for 1 hrs, she would sleep at 8.30-9pm.

[MickeyMom]

Ever since I followed Elizabeth Pantley's books, my son would take between 2-3pm, then sleep between 8-9pm. He will wake up at 7am. According to the book, when your child wakes up with a beautiful smile everyday (no need to be waken up), then you know he/she has had enough sleep.

Good luck to all the moms out there. Not an easy task. I'm blessed to have an easy child. Even his potty training only took 2 weeks (we followed the Gina Ford technique for this)