Resisting PM Nap & Nightiime Wakings !

DD has always been a great sleeper. STTN much earlier that DS. She would sleep 11 - 12 hrs per night with a 2 - 3 afternoon nap but over the last couple of months (straight after she turned two) this has all changed. She screams and crys when I put her down for afternoon nap, I know she is tired but she will not remain in her cot. Usually after aroung 20 mins I get her up as I am worried that she will wake DS. This makes her very grumpy in the afternoon, she is prone to major tantrums anyway so tiredness makes it worse!! To make things evern harder she has started waking up every night at around 11pm crying and shouting for me. I try and resist going in but eventually do just in case there is a problem. Anyway this then goes on all night, last night I was up with her at least 7 times and did not get to sleep until 2am. Of course then she lay in past 7am this morning as she was exhausted but DS is such an early riser at around 5am so I am only getting around 3 - 4hrs sleep per night and it is now taking it's toll. I really do not understand why the sudden change. Any tips or advise would be very much appreciated.

 

Sounds to me like she might be transitioning out of nap time. My boys started the same sort of thing; night wakings, not going down in the afternoon. I resisted taking nap time away, but now that they are up all day they sleep much better at night and are much better behaved. About once every two weeks they still need to take an afternoon nap depending on how busy they are, but they rarely sleep during the day anymore. One thing to look forward to is more freedom! We never have to be anywhere at any given time now. If you still have one who is sleeping you can have a quiet time with the one who is awake; read stories, watch a tv show, sit on the couch for a bit.

 

Oh man, we went through a lot of changes as our twins turned two!! The only thing I can suggest is to try pushing nap time back 15-30 minutes, but keeping the same wake time so to preserve their bedtime. My twins went through something similar at that age and I was not willing to give up naps. I pushed the nap back 15 minutes for 2 weeks, then another 15 minutes after that and that is where we have stayed at age 3 (wake at 6:30, nap at 12:30). As they got older, they did start to wake at night again so I started cutting the length of their nap. We went from a 3 hour, then to a 2 hour, and now a 90 minute nap... but they still nap!!!

Something else to mention... any chance she might have an ear infection? Could she be cutting her second set of molars? Either of those things could also be causing sleep problems. As my twins got older, they never really showed signs of an ear infection (namely a fever) besides sleep problems and general crankiness. Try ibuprofen before bed and see if that helps. Good luck!!

 

I had the same experience, I was NOT ready to get rid of naps! My girls stopped napping before they turned 2 but now sleep all night (usually). They will occasionally sleep now during the day if we've had a very busy weekend or they are sick but that's it. Bedtime is early, between 6 and 6:30 depending on how miserable they are in the evening, which is a nice trade off. They have quiet time in the afternoon where they are supposed to read in their beds (we're still working on the "quiet" part, lol). If they are super energetic and not calming down in their room I will get them to take their pillows and blankies to the couch and turn on Dora as I need down time too.

 

I would wait it out. Kids go through a lot of phases, and I would wait until they have the same behavior for 2 weeks before stopping naps... 2 is really too young IMO to drop naps. And if she's that grumpy in the afternoon, she needs it.

I would make sure that she doesn't have an ear infection as well, then at night I'd just go in once, make sure she's ok, put her back in bed, give her a hug, and tell her that it's time to sleep and you'll come see her in the morning... and not go in again. Also I'd try and put them in bed earlier, it's harder to sleep when you're overtired...

Good luck. We went through a lot of phases like that around that age, but they still napped at 3 (stopped at 40 months or so).

 

I am having the same problem with my Athan. It's been about two months and we are all tired. I'm not ready to give up naps either but maybe I'll make nap time fairly short and see how that goes.