My oldest is 4 and we've just stopped naps with him as he was fighting it and it was affecting his bedtime. My 2-1/2 year old gladly sleeps, he was sleeping from 12:30 until 4:30 however, just in the past month he now wakes up at 2:30, however, he's up until 9 or 10 at night and in my bedroom at midnight so I guess it's time to give up naps.

Question, should we go cold turkey or should I scale them back to an hour? I've tried waking him at 1:30 in the afternoon but he seems to have a hard time waking up and usually lays around for an hour and just can't seem to get going. If I don't let him sleep by 4 pm he's a basket case. Ugh I hate transition.

I'm open to suggestions.

By Annie2 on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 11:46 am:

I would scale him back to two hours from 1:30-3:30. Then keep him active until dinner and quiet time after bath in the evenings. Give him dinner a bit earlier and start the bed-routine soon after. Maybe an hour or so; you do not want waking up too early in am.

I still insisted that my 4 year olds took quiet time in their rooms for at least 45 minutes to an hour, close to after lunch. They would look at books, play with their dolls, colored, etc but it was great down time for them....and me

Hang in there; it will all work out.

By Tonya on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 09:49 pm:

Jade is 4 and still needs a nap most days. She only gets a nap maybe 3 days a week and boy the days she doesn't you sure can tell. Shorten the nap by getting him up maybe move him to the couch to get him roused or something. Don't cut them out completely cold turkey wein him off them.

By Reds9298 on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 09:57 pm:

Natalie will be 4 next month and hasn't napped since last summer. Once she officially stopped though, and I knew that there would be not more actual sleeping, we still did quiet time in her room for an hour or so for 3-4 months. Then we just kind of got out of the habit and things transitioned just fine. We did just books with dim lights for a bit, then play in her room quietly (puzzles, dolls, nothing too rowdy). She never naps since then and on the very rare occasion when she might fall asleep in the car after a long day at the zoo or museum (for an hour at most) she is up and running until almost midnight. (!!!)

Good luck! I think transitioning to a quiet time is a really good idea. Helps mom with the transition, too.