Sleep Scheduling at 3.5 & 2 Year Old

For a 3 yr. old he's going to bed awfully early. I would continue the nap for as long as possible. He will just end up fighting it when he starts school and they still have nap time. We are having to go pick up our grandson at noon due to him not napping. They lay down for an hour and since we pick him up that means he misses an hour and a half of class time in the afternoon.

He is also old enough to start doing activities like soccer and T-Ball. Sometimes the games don't even start until 7pm. I'd start letting him stay up later. Especially since Summer is always hard. It is still sunny at even 9pm sometimes.

That's just my opinion, he is growing and needs to start adjusting his bed time to a later time and still needs to nap every day for as long as possible.

I have this problem with my 6 yr old son, and my 2 yr old. The 6 year old is the first to go to bed and wonders why his big sister and little brother get to stay up later. It's easy to tell him his big sis is older, but he gets mad about the little one. I just say, he takes a nap, so he's not tired at 7:00. When he stops napping, he'll be the first one in bed.

I agree with Anonymous. Start waking the little one up early, then feed her an early lunch like around 11:00 AM, and put her down from 11:30-1:30. Then she'll probably be ready for bed at 7:30.

Good luck!

Can your 3.5 yr old not make it that extra hour so you can put them both to bed at 8pm? I'm getting to the point where I will probably have to address this issue real soon.

My almost 4 yr old (couple more days) really could go without a nap, but I'm making him anyway since I have another one on the way. I put them both down for their nap the same time, sometimes he naps sometimes he doesn't, but he doesn't have any problem going to bed at usual bedtime "usually 8/8:30pm' whether he naps or not.

I've tried having my 2 yr old skip his nap, and it just doesn't work--if he skips he's ready for bed between 6pm-6:300pm and even without a nap my almost 4 yr old isn't ready for bed that early.

I would suggests easiest solution would be to keep your 3 yr old up longer, obviously if he's getting up he's not sleeping any way right? Do they get up at the same time in the am?

Try waking the 2 yr old up earlier in the morning, so she'll take an earlier nap....basically just shift her whole schedule up. Either that or make the older one understand he has to stay in bed!

It may just take you 6 months to a year to work out. Mine are almost 3 and 5.5 and now neither nap. Before when my little one napped the older one went to bed first (around 8). But it was close enough they got ready at the same time and the little one got more stories or quiet playtime--but this only works because both parents do bedtime, one with each kid. Also, now I have mine going to bed at the same time the younger one needs to sleep later (and her brother usually wakes her up).

I had the same issue.. my kids are sleepers.. but last summer - I had a 5.5 year old and a 4 year old and I gave up on naps. as just like yours with a nap they wouldnt go to bed at night. I too tried the short nap.. but my son was too hard to wake up and a bear when you woke him from a nap too soon.

I would suggest doing a sleep diary for both kids for a week or so.. write down the times they actually sleep count up the hours of sleep each day and see how much sleep they are getting and how their mood is. My kids need 12 hours per day. I try to do early bedtimes . but if we are busy and they are up later in the evening then I add a nap. my 4 year old often naps on weekdays while his sister is in PM kindergarden. This is a hard transition in naptimes -- you just have to experiment.

Put the 2 yr. old down for a nap earlier and she will be tired earlier. I would say go down at 1 p.m. and up by 3 p.m. for sure if not earlier. She should be ready for bed then by the time your older son is ready. If they are in the bed quietly at the same time they should be sleeping close to the same time or at least resting and soon sleeping. Otherwise you are going to have the older son up and bothered every night. If it was the other way around it might work better, younger down first and older second.