for the love of nap.

Dear friends, I am in denial.

Methinks Choi Boy might be showing signs that he is no longer in need of naps… and I just can’t bear to think that might be true... Say it ain’t so!!

Since he came home at 15 months, CB has always been a great napper, napping between 1.5 to 3 hours every afternoon. He napped well at daycare and on the weekends and breaks at home, too. And outside of the home when we were away on vacation, too! The great thing was that he was never incredibly rigid about when he needed to nap (though at daycare, naptime was definitely a set time), but depending on our plans for the day, we would put him down somewhere between 12:30 and 1:45 and he would fall asleep within minutes. And an even better bonus was that his afternoon nap never affected his bedtime.

Well. For the three weeks, since I’ve been home with him once school got out, his napping and sleep schedule have been subpar. No, actually, I lie. It’s been bad.

I’d put him down for a nap between 12:30-1, depending on what time we were done with lunch, and for the next 1-2 HOURS, he’d be having a party in his crib. Singing, dancing, jumping, telling stories, bossing around his stuffed animals, screaming... basically, anything but sleeping. And then, just about when I’d had enough and was going to get him out of his crib, he’d pass out and be solidly asleep for the next 2-3 hours. Which means he wasn’t getting up until after 4, sometimes almost 5!

So, you can imagine how awesome bedtime has been, too. We’ve been trying to get him in bed at his regular bedtime of 8 to keep things consistent, but again, for 1-2 HOURS after we put him down, he doesn’t fall asleep! As I write this, it’s 9:30pm and he’s been in his bed for an hour and half and is currently singing The Wiggles’ “Hot Potato.” Awesome.

On top of all that, his wake-up time has stayed fairly consistent, so I know he’s tired during the day, but he won’t fall asleep! And what makes me nutty is that he displays all his normal “I’m sleepy” signs and gets super whiny at what should be naptime, but it’s like I put him in his crib and suddenly he’s Insta-party Guy!

See?

 

I don’t want to force CB to nap if he doesn’t need to (but let’s be honest, momma looooves that mid-day break). On the other hand, I don’t want him to be overly tired and out of whack for the late afternoon and evening.

And it’s funny how quickly this changed once he was out of daycare! I swear, peer pressure is very powerful…

When we were on vacation, we played around with this a bit. We didn’t force him to nap, but kind of just played it by ear. Some days, he was fast asleep by 1:30pm for a nap and other days he didn’t nap at all. And the earliest he fell asleep, even on non-nap days was 8:45. At the end of the week, we didn’t end up with any answers…just more confused about what our little guy needed.

I know he technically needs about 12-14 hours of sleep per 24-hour cycle, so I’d be okay with cutting out his nap if it will up his normal 10.5-11-hours a night by an hour or two… Wishful thinking? Or maybe even just shortening his nap to 45 min-1 hour and then moving his bedtime to 8:30? I don’t know!

Actually this past week, we’ve gotten in this strange nap-every-other-day cycle…One day CB will take a nap and then he won’t be tired by bedtime, so he won’t fall asleep until 10-ish. Then he wakes up the next morning around 8, won’t nap because he’s not tired by mid-day and will then crash by 6:45pm, sleep for 12 hours, wake up at 6:45am and nap that day and start the cycle again. It’s not terrible, but I know we need to find something consistent, especially as he gets ready to start preschool in September!

I was reeeeeally hoping CB would nap until he was 4.5 years-old or so. Because, again, selfishly, that 2-hour break I get really helps me recharge and have some much needed me-time. And, perhaps these last 3 weeks have just been a fluke, but I know I need to take my cues from CB, and so far, it’s looking like the cues are starting to point to possibly phasing out his nap.

Waaaaahhhh!

If we do end up nap-less, we *will* be instituting a quiet time during what would be nap time. That will probably require some “quiet-time training,” but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

When did your child stop napping? Or anyone else’s kiddos protesting naptime? Any tips or ideas you’re willing to share? Or do you just want to commiserate together?