Friday 22 June 2012

This week: nap/no nap limbo


My son, who is three and a half is in a real nap / no nap limbo at the moment. When he started being less sleepy at bedtime and using every excuse in the book to delay the going to sleep process, we recognised it might be time for him to lose the daytime nap. It's been a gradual phasing out and a following of instincts. Some days and often at weekends he doesn't seem at all tired and we replace nap time with quiet time. On those days, he is definitely ready for bed and will get straight to sleep at a prompt bedtime.

Some days however, he is visibly tired, he complains about being tired and is happy to admit himself that he needs a nap. So he takes a nap on those days. When he naps, he rarely wakes in cheerful spirits (which I know from speaking to other mums is not uncommon for toddlers) and often, I will wake him to ensure he doesn't sleep too long and is still ready for bed when it comes to bedtime. Of course, no matter how careful and gentle I am in waking him, it's never a pretty sight!

I know with time, it will get easier and the naps will totally phase out as he gets used to coping with full days and weeks. In the meantime, there will be days when he does need to catch up after some energetic days without naps and a daytime sleep will be the best thing for him. For those days I will keep working on my techniques for a happy, cheery post-nap mood but if anyone has any tips, do please share in the comments!

Does your toddler still take naps? If not, do you remember the transition from nap to no nap and how it went?
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photo credit

5 comments:

  1. I am really interested if anyone has some good recommendations! My middle child is a 6 year old boy. He is full of energy and generally in a happy mood. He never completly has grown out of the need for naps :) During the school year he would occasionally fall asleep in the late afternoon after school. And just like your little boy, it is not pretty when he gets up. I often will wake him so he will go to bed at a decent hour, but it still makes it very difficult. Sometimes I am not able to wake him at all. He is big now, and hard for me to pick up. I try everything to get him to get up and sometimes it is impossible. Of course then when I finally get him up he is not well rested because I tried to get him to wake, and he won't go to bed. Ugghh, it is a difficult thing for sure!

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    1. Oh no, so I have a lot more of this to come!!

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  2. My almost-3 year old daughter has recently just started napping again after stopping them for a pretty much 6 months *hallelujah!* She generally wakes okay, thrusting her arms upwards to be picked up as soon as she has opened her eyes, but on the odd days where she really doesn't want to get up I put her CD player on at a soft volume, half-open the curtains and hold her hand as I start singing along to whatever kiddies song is playing. It's generally not long before she can no longer resist and starts laughing or singing along too, bopping my hand around in time :) Maybe i'm just lucky though x

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    1. That sounds like a really nice gentle way to wake her up with the music and singing. I might just try it with my son. Thanks!

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    2. Hope it yields happy peaceful results :) x

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