22 month old dropping lunchtime nap - is my life going to be over?

[Ole]

Over the last few months my 22 month old toddler has been more and more reluctant to nap after lunch, and if he does sleep he will do 30-40 mins absolute tops. He is very active and I can't imagine life without the lunchtime nap. Right now he is in his cot asking to come out and has been like that for almost 1 hour (the first 30 mins he was happy reading a book there but now he is getting louder and louder). I thought they did not drop this until much later. I am very jealous of friend who say they toddler sleeps for up to 2 hours during the day. My son has always been a bionic baby and the 30 mins rest I get after lunch has been the one thing to keep me sane. I'm not really after advice as I know there isn't much I can do about it but just grin and bear it, I was wondering if anybody else out there is like this?

[Sanne Panne]

Go for a walk with him in the buggy a bit after the time he normally naps and see if he falls asleep - does he normally stay asleep if you come home and park the buggy in the corridor?

[Ole]

No, the only time this worked was when he was a small baby, i.e. less that 6 months. He will not nap anywhere else apart from his cot or in the car, but the moment the car stops he usually wakes up. He very rarely sleeps in his buggy. He is truly bionic he has gone through the day with no sleep when we are out and about many times, and although he sometimes naps in his cot at home it is getting more and more difficult...

[Ruth_Baldock]

Snap, same with us. Seb really resists his naps and on the day I manage to get a puny 45mins from him, bedtime is a total nightmare. As an experiment, yesterday and today I didn't offer him a nap, but we did have an hour of quiet time- no radio or telly, drew the blinds so it was more subdued and we read books. He did lie on the sofa playing with his etch a sketch too. Yesterday bedtime was a dream and he slept till 7:30 am this morning. I do miss the childfree time, but such is life! In short, no you're not the only one going through it!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Seb used to sleep everywhere and anywhere but Lex is like Mini Ole ( ;) ) and will only really sleep in her cot or the ergo if I'm lucky. Babies, eh? Who'd have 'em?!?!

[Ole]

He doesn't watch TV except in the evenings while I get dinner ready so the no TV will not cut it with him. I also read to him during the day too so that wouldn't be a novelty at nap time either. He went to tumble tots this morning and then walked all the way back so you'd think he would want to sleep.....Maybe I should just plonk him in front of the TV for an hour after lunch and that can be my 'quiet' time, but he gets really addicted to TV if I let him watch too much of it so I try not to encourage it. Oh dear, you'd think that as they grow you'd have more answers, but they just become different questions....

[chantelle]

i'd try to keep it going a while yet. I really think most under-3s benefit greatly from naps. Mine always slept better with the nap than without.

Maybe try wearing him out in the mornings so that he can't help but get tired! I definitely miss the nap (son now 3 years and some change) - I only benefitted on Fridays, when I don't work, but I really looked forward to that time to nap myself! Especially now I'm pregnant.

[Ruth_Baldock]

So true. On my second baby, and I still have no clue; no answers, just a faint sense of amused bewilderment.

Seb will only nap if his lunch has included protein. Maybe an idea? Really, though, who knows?!

[childsleepsolutions]

Could you try every other day? That is quite young to drop naps completely. I would probably persevere if I were you even if he only has a short nap as it will be far harder to persuade him to go back to napping once you have stopped and it could just be a phase. You know what its like, their needs change all the time just to keep us guessing!!

[EmilyE]

One of mine napped till well past 3, one stopped at 20 months. Not funny. But we introduced quiet time, where he lay down and listened to some music or a story. At least that gave me a bit of peace and quiet and him a bit of down time. Very occasionally he'd then fall asleep during the story.

[sunbob]

We stopped offering our daughter a nap a couple of months ago, 2.5 yrs, as she started taking longer to get to sleep at bedtime and waking up earlier plus could be heard awake during 2 out of 3 of her naps. It worked well and she's back to a full night's sleep. It has taken me 6 weeks or so to find a way of getting house work done, but am now getting the hang of her joining in 'helping' which she really enjoys. On the rest side, I have found that she seems slightly mote relaxed about spending some time during the day doing not much (i thought maybe she is pleased not to be put in her cot when she's wide awake).

[Smiler]

We cut it out at the same time as the new baby arrived, it was just getting too much of a battle! Eldest was fine and just got used to it, just had to get out of the mindset of waiting for them to nap to get stuff done and just started to ignore them and get stuff done instead!

[cuppa tea]

My lad, also very lively with boundless energy, dropped his nap at 2 years. It's really stressful forcing them to have a nap at that age, not that you can really force a person to sleep anyway, but it's easier to accept it and find ways to give yourself a break. I would stick the telly on for an hour and don't worry about it! If you still feel guilty, sit there with him and chat about the programmes.

[womanofdulwich]

or if you have a car you could always try a drive - ive spent many a 20 mins in a parked car with toddler asleep reading the paper........

or sometimes a nap every other day too.

[Ole]

Thanks for all the replies, although I am knackered it feels good knowing that I'm not the only one! (I have been out tonight so partly that is why I am so tired and awake still!), I think I will give him the option of a nap but if he really does not like it then to take him out and let him do quiet activities.Today in the end he dozed for about 15 minutes.....