Help — 2.5 y/o staying up so late

[Anonymous]

The last several nights my 2.5 year old son has suddenly started staying up so late — 9, 10pm verses his usual 7:30/8 bedtime. He used to be so easy to put down, just laid him in his crib, sound machine on and door closed. But now he wants the door open and hall light on and will just move around his crib playing for a long time. He was up at 5am today after not falling asleep til close to 10 last night. Maybe it’s a phase? I hope?

He still naps from 1-3pm daily and really seems to need that, especially with this decreased sleep.

Advice/tips/insights welcome!

[Anonymous]

He is getting ready to drop the nap. When ours did this, their wakeup time stayed consistent but bedtime naturally rolled back to an earlier time.

[Anonymous]

Op here. I wondered that too but everything I read says 2 year olds really need to nap still. My older son didn’t drop his til 3. This child isn’t 3 til end of June. And fwiw he seems to really love the nap. But he’s just not tired at night so I see why you’d suggest that. I wonder.

[Anonymous]

Try cutting the nap shorter, wake him up after an hour instead of the 1-3 time frame. If that doesn’t help then try dropping the nap altogether. FWIW my younger kid pretty much dropped his nap at 2.5 as well, whereas my older one needed a lot more sleep and could easily take a 3 hour nap and still fall asleep by 8:30, and wake up for the day at a normal toddler/preschooler time between 6:30-7 am.

[Anonymous]

That naptime is a nightmare for my kids, even though it is a very common nap time. Every time they nap from 1-3 they stay up till 9:30 or 10. If they nap earlier - 11-1 or 12-2, then they can sleep around 8pm. My toddler who goes to daycare has that naptime which I can’t do anything about because all the daycares have that schedule. I even attempted to find a new daycare with an earlier nap and found no options around where I live.

My preschooler went to a daycare with the same schedule in the summer and it was horrible until he returned to preschool in the fall with an earlier and shorter naptime. He started sleeping at 7:30pm-8 again, so I know it was the timing.

My kids still need naps, but they just do way better with an earlier nap. Waking up at 3PM is way too close to bedtime and not enough time to get tired if bedtime is 7pm.

Your wake time schedule is also very lopsided. If your kid wakes up at 5AM, and naps at 1PM. That’s a gap of 8 hours. He wakes up at 3PM, and is asked to sleep at 7:30-8 PM. That’s a gap of only 4.5 to 5 hours, and this time, the child is expected to sleep through the night. I would move the nap earlier. If your child goes to daycare, then unfortunately, it is just something you have to accept.

[Anonymous]

Yes, this happens to many many many of us - either you drop the nap, power through the mood swings and get their bedtime back (my preference) or you keep the long nap and suffer through til they naturally stop napping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this happens to many many many of us - either you drop the nap, power through the mood swings and get their bedtime back (my preference) or you keep the long nap and suffer through til they naturally stop napping.

This. OP are you aware that sleep needs change over time for little kids? Your kid is moving into needing less sleep. Adjust.

[Anonymous]

Dropping the nap is developmentaly appropriate. Some kids nap until 4 but some are done at 2.

[Anonymous]

Cut the nap short but you can’t negotiate on having the door open and the light on.

[Anonymous]

Drop the nap. Mine was done with naps by age 2.

[Anonymous]

Drop the nap. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Will he nap earlier? When my kids were starting to stay up later I moved their nap time to 11-1. I also tried dropping their nap but then they’d fall asleep in the car or on the floor/ at the kitchen table between 3-5 pm and then stay up until midnight even when I woke them after a few minutes. Moving it earlier helped out a lot until they were ready to move on from the nap.

[Anonymous]

Don't drop the nap, just limit it to an hour. Then he will naturally phase it out when he's ready (by not falling asleep at nap time).

-sleep consultant

[Anonymous]

He's done with the nap. Mine were similar and were both done by 2.5 yo.

[Anonymous]

Before dropping the map, try moving his bedtime to 8:30. My kids napped at that age, but bedtime was 8:30. Or 10. Otherwise they’d roll around in bed until 11 or so if we missed the sleep window.