My son who is 3 has been really good about taking naps. Now he has been giving us the hardest time when its bed time. He now goes into a crying fit and will cry loudly when we make him go to sleep. Any suggestions on how we can get him into bed without a fight?
I don't think he is at the point of not taking naps. Because when he does finally calm down he will sleep for 3 hours and when I go to wake him up it takes him awhile to finally get out of bed. I know he still needs the rest. Plus he dosn't fight just naps its even happening at bed time. But thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.
Make sure it's not a phase before you give up on naps completly. My son stopped taking naps at 3 1/2. I kept trying for 2-3 wks until I was sure he was done. Now, when my 2yr old takes a 2hr nap, my son has quiet time for the first hour or so and then has mommy time until his little sister wakes up.
Does he take a nap every day? my advise do without the naps. He will be tired and ready for bed early in the evening. There also could be a onset of dark fear, maybe something he watched or saw that made him afraid. My son stopped taking naps at 18 months and he is in bed by 8 oclock every night he just turned 4. He also has to have a light on all night long cause he dont like the dark. Good luck
C.
He might just be growing out of his naps. If he is, and you feel that he still needs to rest a bit, what about having a "rest" time, and not "nap time". He can go to his bed for whatever amount of time, and rest his body with a book, or stuffed animal. That way he is getting the rest you think he needs, but he doesn't know it. Who knows, he might even fall asleep.
Hi D.,
You have been lucky that he has napped this long. When my now three year old turned two he refused to take naps. I would put him in his crib and he would play until naptime was done. I agree with the other mom that there should be a quiet time where he reads books, ect. That is what my son still does. I warn you that the next month or so will be kind of long. It was not a fun stage. My son still kind of needed the nap and alot of times would fall asleep around 5 which meant his bedtime became messed up. I would suggest putting his bedtime earlier. My son sometimes went to be at 6:30 and would still sleep through the night. Good luck.
Chris
He is probably out growing them. Try quiet time instead. Reading books in his room or watching a video quietly. You may also try moving bacak nap time. My son (2 1/2) used to nap regularly from 12:30-2:30-- now if I'm lucky he will take a nap around 3 or 4. Mostly he won't though.
I had the same problem. I just do quiet time. Sometimes he sleeps. Sometimes he doesn't. I also put him to bed earlier when he doesn't sleep so that makes up for the lost nap. I kinda like the no nap go to bed earlier thing better anyway.
