How many still nap? night weaning protocal?

[herbalshakti]

My ds (17mos.) seems to be a very particualr sleeper. He prefers to sleep around midnight or even later when he has a nap during the day. This pattern is getting me very frustrated since my dd (5yrs) sleeps at 8 and I hope to get it to 7 soon, I do hope to have some solo time for studying, cleaning, etc.

I am considering taking out his daytime nap entirely. My dd is already at the point where she doen't need a nap (they used to nap together). However, I am nervous about his bad mood during the day.

Another thought, is night weaing him, (we cosleep) he doesn't seem to be needing the milk for nourishment at night and just fools around switching from one side to the next, pinning me down, getting on top of me etc. even the nights that I do go to sleep early with the kids, he gets out of bed and tries to go to another part of the house to play, if he stays in bed he fidgets non-stop, beyond this point of the night (8-12) he keeps me up through out the night with his consistent "social feeding"

I am really feeling at the the end of my rope with this, I get up tired, usually one side of my body hurts from feeding on a particular side and to top it off he's not even well rested since he keeps himslef up with the constant feeding and shifting about. A couple of hours later and he's ready to take a nap!


any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

tips on how to night wean?
my dd was totally different so I really need some new insight.

what age you took out the nap?

etc.

thanks!

[lifeguard]

What time does he wake up for the day? We had success with waking ds up earlier to shift his bedtime earlier. It was rough for a few days as he was totally overtired but then he shifted to an earlier bedtime & started waking up earlier on his own. We do seem to have to be careful to not allow him to shift later again though.

We just nightweaned over Christmas. I used the Dr. Jay Gordon method. It went VERY well but I think that was in large part because he was ready for it. I was prepared going into it that if he was really resistant to it I would stop & try again in a few weeks but after 2 nights he started sleeping longer stretches for the first time ever. Now he sleeps 5-8 hours at a stretch & I only bf after 4 or 5 in the morning. Before that I try to cuddle or rub his back to get him back.

[lifeguard]

For the nap - he generally naps 1-3 in the afternoon now. But if we go anywhere in the afternoon his nap ends up being in the car & shorter. Doesn't seem to bother him but I try to have him home for nap most days of the week.

[Umpqua]

My 19-month-old still naps, but he has cut back considerably. He used to do a 2-hour afternoon nap and he has cut back to 45 minutes to an hour. And he doesn't get cranky and still sleeps well at night, so I go with it. My mother has told me I was a horrible napper and she just cut out naps altogether after I was 1 year and I slept well at night. So maybe that's what would work for you!

Also, my 3-year-old naps maybe 2 or 3 times per week. He stopped napping in bed close to a year ago and will only nap in the car or occasionally on the couch. If we have a few busy days and he doesn't get a car nap in he'll just conk out on the couch, so I know he WILL nap if he's tired enough. It works for us and he sleeps well at night. Both boys sleep well at night and seem to only wake up occasionally with a bad dream. Hope you find a routine that works for you!