When did your LO stop taking naps?

[EchoSoul]

I've been trying to wake up my guy for half an hour, and he's NOT having it. He's still asleep when I try to nibble him awake, STAND HIM UP, pick him up, he's just...zonked out. And I don't know...maybe he's trying to shed his one remaining nap? Usually it's been pretty simple waking him up from naps. He'll be a grouch about it for a while, but I've never had *this* happen. Additionally, his 2 year molars are coming in, so maybe he's just super tired from that? And maybe he WILL go to bed early tonight regardless of how long he naps because he'll be super-tired from teething still? They've caused him to cry quite a bit today.

I'm just afraid if I let him sleep for much longer he's gonna be up all night... We recently went for months with him adopting a nocturnal schedule due to an unforeseen milk allergy, and after his body cleared that up, I've been spending this week trying to get him back on track. I HATE waking him up. I don't believe babies should be woken up... and should be left to sort out their sleep schedule on their own.. so I'll only do it when it's absolutely necessary, like for the morning when I was trying to remind him that it was day-time, and since that's been getting better and better by the day, I've only been waking him up from his naps. If I let him sleep longer than an hour, he's up all night. Additionally, I'm on my period, so I'm quite exhausted myself, and I really, really, really don't want to be up all night with him because my body just wants to sleep, sleep, sleep :(

Lately his sleep schedule has been like this: He'll wake up on his own around 1 pm(yesterday 1:15, today 1 pm even), stay up for 4 hours, I let him take an hour nap, I wake him up, and then he'll go to bed at either around 1 or 2 am after a couple hours of all the lights being down low(so I still have some light to see him when he's playing), and then when I see that he's getting tired, but still having trouble settling down, for half an hour I'll rock him in my Mai Tei carrier, and he'll pass out either in it, or after nursing straight after I take him out of it. And yes, I have been trying to push the bedtime back further by waking him up earlier, but I've been doing it very gradually.

I'm so confused, and a little daunted.. because like I said, I've been trying to get him back on track, but now I can't get him to wake up at all!

Oh, Oh, oh! He's 21 months old.

[katelove]

So he has a nap at 1pm and another one at 5pm and then goes to bed for the night at 1-2am? Have I got that right? If so, I'd try really, really hard to not let him have the 5pm sleep and try to get him to bed for the night at 7ish. What time does he wake up in the morning? Will he sleep for longer at 1pm? I'm wondering if a 2hr sleep then will make it easier to cut out the later sleep and still go to bed at a reasonable time.

[EchoSoul]

He gets up, after sleeping the night, at 1 pm. Takes a nap typically at 5 pm, I let him sleep for only an hour, and then he'll stay up for 6 hours and go to bed around 1 am or 2 am. He did go to bed around 10 pm a few nights ago... but sadly 2 cats chased my cat and caused enough noise to wake him up at 1 am that night. Since then I've been trying to get him back to going to bed at 10 pm. If he wakes up earlier and takes a nap around 1 or 2 pm I let him have 2 hours to nap...but that hasn't been the case lately. Ever since the cats woke him up that night, he's not tired for a nap until 5 pm  while I slowly try to get him back to where he was.

[katelove]

Ok, sorry, I misunderstood your first post.

In that case, what if he didn't have the 5pm nap and went to bed around 7pm? Then, once he was back on a day-night schedule you could reintroduce a daytime sleep? Because it does sound like he will need one.

My LO is 2.5yo and has an hour long daytime sleep. She would sleep for 2hrs sometimes but then be up until 10pm and still wake at 5:30am so we wake after an hour most days if she doesn't wake up by herself .

[EchoSoul]

I'm not even sure how I'd do that... I've tried that before, and unless it's been on his terms, his body will instinctively take a nap. Way back when this food allergy started we all thought he was trying to skip out on naps altogether, because he was falling asleep at 8 pm. I took him downstairs, turned the lights off, but he'd be up in 4 hours. And be up until 6 am and sleep until 3 pm. Did that until we realized it was an allergy to low fat/no fat milk products, and once we took away all those, and once his body cleared up, he started getting to the schedule he's on now. Like I said..I don't know if I'm unintentionally screwing up his body's natural rhythm by waking him up, since I don't believe in waking babies up at all.. I think their bodies need to be able to sort it out on their own unless their sleep schedule is so screwed up due to certain circumstances like his was... but if I let him sleep as long as he wants and come to find out it was only a nap any way, we're gonna be in for more wakeful nights. =\ Today we managed to wake him up after he slept for 2 1/2 hours. The lights are all down low now, and I HOPE we can get him to bed at what's been normal.... I just really hope it's not that he's trying to skip naps and I'm screwing it up for him, because I'm so selfish in not wanting to be up with him the whole night >.<

Because I mean... even if he is trying to skip out on naps, trying to sleep the night starting at 5-6 pm isn't going to work out. He's been sleeping for 10 hours. That would put him at waking up for the morning at 3 am. That's....too early of a start to the morning. And I'm still pushing when he wakes up after the night earlier, just gradually as to not screw with his system to much. Because he was doing so good until the damn cats woke him up, and his schedule's been screwed up ever since then.

Edited by EchoSoul - 1/13/13 at 9:15pm

[Parker'smommy]

I am thinking if you tweaked his am wake up to an 8 am time, and then a 12:00 or 1:00 nap, he would be ready for bed before 10 pm. It sounds like he needs a reset. Unless you like him staying up till 2am and sleeping during the day.

My older kids napped until they were 5 years old...the summer before Kinder. My youngest is 29 months old and sleeps 2-3 hours every day. Sometimes that is early- 11 am, and sometimes is 12:30. I put her to bed no later tham 9 pm. But my older kids have school, and we go out during the day so I encourage this routine. I am up early for school, so I couldnt be up @ 2 am and be sane. Good luck!

[skycheattraffic]

You may be doing this already but it might help if you're not. At noon, open the drapes and let in lots of light, turn on the lights in the room to send the message it's daytime. Hopefully after a few days his body will pick up the signal and he'll start waking up earlier. That should bring up his naptime and bedtime too in the rhythm he's used to. Then move up another hour. You may also have to use noise with the lights to send the message. Vacuum a nearby room. Flush the toilet. Put on a cd or something. I haven't tried this myself but i dont have the same problem. It sounds like his body has a strong rhythm so maybe retraining when it recognizes morning could help. Good luck. That sounds like a tough schedule!!

[EchoSoul]

The unfortunate thing is, our bedroom is downstairs, with one window, but no sunlight reaches it anyway because it's surrounded by trees. We have a light that we can schedule to automatically turn on, and I'll be setting that up. As of today I'm trying to be as little disruptive as possible and try to let his body work it out on his own. I tried to wake him up from his nap after an hour, but he was SO tired, he just fell back asleep no matter if I had him standing up leaning against me, upright perched on my hip.. I figured if he was that tired, his body needed rest. He's been asleep since 4 pm, and here it is 7 pm. We may be in for a long night, but controlling his sleep schedule hasn't been doing much good. This is an experiment, really.... To see if his body works this out on his own. Maybe he'll sleep the night like this, have a really early morning, and tweak his schedule here and there on his own... We'll see I suppose. =\

As of late, when I can finally roll out of bed I'll turn on the light and start cleaning up around the bedroom to get his body waking up little by little. He has no issues(except for today) waking up at 1 pm, so I'm trying to flow with not screwing his body up as much as possible...

[EchoSoul]

To say I'm shocked would be an understatement. Last night I let him sleep for his nap as long as he wanted to. Wound up being 4 hours. He woke up just after 8 pm. I was hoping he wasn't going to be up all night... He stayed up no later than he normally does after an hour nap. Went to sleep just after 3 am. And woke up today, without ANY initiation from me, at 10 AM, even. I pottied him, hurried to flip the light switch on, and hurried back to nurse him as he was getting ready to fuss, hoping he wouldn't go back to sleep. He didn't. He sprung up, pointed at a kitty running by, and was the most wakeful I've seen him in....months.

..So taking away 3 hours at bedtime added 3 hours to when he'd wake up after sleeping the night. It's bizarre, but...it's working out. I'm flabbergasted, but pleased. I should have never doubted his body sorting this out on its own.

He even had enough energy to nearly push daddy over for a hug when he saw him this morning!

Edited by EchoSoul - 1/16/13 at 7:36am

[skycheattraffic]

Wonderful! Hopefully this will mean an early nap and bedtime too! Got my fingers crossed for you!!

[EchoSoul]

I'm sure it'll be a couple days of a long nap to sort everything out.. and then he'll even out when his body feels it's right. :) Just gotta keep up with turning the lights off when it's dark out so his body knows when to adjust :)

[EchoSoul]

Update: Since leaving his sleeping entirely alone, he's been trying to go to bed consistently for the past 2 nights at 10-11 pm(which didn't work out long-term, due to too much commotion). Tonight he woke up from his nap after only 2 hours, without any incentive, and their duration seems to depend on the level of excitement in the house. We just had friends over for a couple nights, so his naps went back to being 4 hours long and he didn't go to bed until 2 am due to having a tough time winding down. He's been consistently waking up around 11 am instead  of 1 - 3 pm. I expect the bed times will get earlier now that our friends are gone. :)

[kayleesmom]

My first dd stopped at 4 my second around 3 and my son around 2

[EchoSoul]

Update: He's now been going to bed at 12:30 am for the past 2 nights, and waking up just after 10 am, <3 With naps ranging anywhere from 2 - 4 hours on a day to day basis, and he's STILL going to bed earlier and earlier! So much progress in what feels like so little time. It's hard to believe that several weeks ago he was going to bed around 6 am and waking up around 2 - 3 pm.