2.5 year old Boy nap/sleep regression please help!

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onepassionate1

New member
Okay first time mom and my son is my only child at this point. He just turned 2.5 and for the last couple of weeks he has been back and forth on refusing naps. Some days he only cries for a few minutes others it’s full screams. It started when we ended up having to skip a nap when we took a beach trip with the grandparents. Since then he fights naps tooth and nail. He will cry, scream, jump in his crib, throw everything out, plus more…it’s even starting to affect night time sleep. He just started waking up shouting “mommy! Mommy where are you?” I thought this was a response to me going into his room the first few times he shouting out “I need you”. Some days he naps it seems like the night time sleep waking is worse. On days where he doesn’t nap, night time doesn’t seem to be as much of a struggle. My husbands first child with his ex wife was apparently the greatest baby ever and never cried, never took a binki, and never had sleep issues so he is no help on what we should do. My husband is also very against creating any sleep crutches and does not want me to bring our son into our bed. I slept on the floor one time but I am disabled and have major nerve/spinal problems so I can’t do that again or hold him long enough for him to fall asleep. This is partly why we sleep trained at 6mo and he’s been a star at sleeping since. This new issue has me at my wits end and I don’t know what to do please help…

I’ll lay out facts- he does watch tv (mostly Disney movies but we are mostly playing while they are on in the background), he eats plenty and we do pre nap sandwiches, we run and play but I can’t do too much with my back so I got him an indoor trampoline with climbing wall and slide that he loves, he’s been sleep trained since 6mo, he willingly gave up binki 4 months ago, he is potty trained for day time but still wears diapers during nap and night time. On days he doesn’t nap he tends to be a bit more cranky towards the end of the day but not always a total meltdown.

What do I do?
 
@onepassionate1 My daughter dropped her nap at exactly 2.5yrs. Was also popping all of her 2yo molars and was EXTRA difficult for a while (which I don't blame her for, I'd be grumpy too). But yeah, sounds normal, he might be done with naps
 
@baboo We’ve already been through the molars thankfully. He’s always been ahead of the curve in everything. He’s taller than average, larger than average, he met every developmental step early. He’s ahead on his speech, learning, recognition… I just wasn’t sure if him dropping his nap before 3 was “okay”. I have a lot of childhood traumas and issues and I’m killing myself by trying to do everything “right”.
 
@onepassionate1 Maybe time to throw in the towel on the nap. If he gets a bit cranky in the evening maybe move up the bedtime to compensate for the longer wake time. It really sucks not to have a break in the middle of the day but if it may be more work than it’s worth.
 
@judilyn55 Is it safe for health and development to allow him to not nap? The break is nice, yes, but I’m more afraid of stunting him and his development by not allowing his brain the shut down during the day.
 
@onepassionate1 Totally normal to drop the nap or inconsistently nap at that age. Replace with quiet time, books, soft music, and no screens and you can see if the nap comes back on its own. I know quite a few 2-3 year olds who stopped napping very early on.
 
@kaat1623 We have routines that we established when we started sleep training. Bath time starts at 6:30 then around 7 we’re all done bath and we brush teeth while we listen to Dance Mode from bluey. We get pjs on and then read goodnight little blue truck. We say goodnight, I lay him down tuck him in and then leave. He typically wakes up 6:30-7. For Nap time we do nap sandwich at 11:30 then 12:30 we go potty, put on nap time diaper, then we gather his stuffies (he sleeps with a baby shark, raccoon and a giraffe) and go upstairs. I will hold him and rock a little while I tell him I love him and will see him after his nap. Then I lay him down and he would typically sleep till 2.
 
@onepassionate1 I think at 2.5 he might need more wake time but I personally would not consider dropping the nap yet because I know in my household I need that time to rest myself or get some things done. I would push nap to 1pm, even 1:30, if that’s doable and push up bed time up as well, 8pm ish. Even if he just took a short nap at least that might tie him over until bedtime with less crankiness. I personally would rather have a bit of a later bedtime instead of dropping the nap altogether. I’m hoping to keep the nap as long as possible!
 
@kaat1623 Unfortunately since bed time has been what it is since that 6mo mark when we did as suggested and moved it back to have a later nap he ended up waking up at the same time or even earlier. That was the third thing I tried to adjust… it didn’t help that my husband felt as though we didn’t have enough “us” time with him going to bed later since I have a set bedtime of 10:30 for myself.
 
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