Toddler refusing afternoon nap but melts down by 5pm
Wei S.
4 mesi fa
My 22 month old has decided naps are optional. Some days he flat out refuses, lies in his cot babbling for an hour, then by 5pm he's a sobbing puddle on the kitchen floor over literally anything. The days he DOES nap, bedtime is a 2 hour fight.
Is he dropping the nap this early?? That feels too young. What do I do with these in-between days?
Julia P.
3 mesi fa
22 months is usually too early to fully drop, most kids hang onto one nap until 3-4. This sounds like a classic 'nap strike,' they go through phases of refusing then come back to it. I'd keep offering rest time and ride it out.
Lucia F.
3 mesi fa
On the no-nap days, an early bedtime is your best friend. Like 6 or 6:30. Don't try to push through to normal bedtime, the 5pm meltdown is pure overtiredness. On nap days, maybe cap the nap at 1-1.5 hours so bedtime isn't a battle.
Felix I.
3 mesi fa
We had this exact phase. What helped: shifting nap a bit LATER (like 1pm instead of noon) so he was actually tired enough to fall asleep, and capping it. The lying-in-cot-babbling is them not being ready for sleep yet at the old time.
Aisha C.
3 mesi fa
Quiet time as a concept saved us. On refuse days I'd say 'you don't have to sleep but you have to rest' and put on calm music, books in the cot, dim room. Sometimes he'd fall asleep, sometimes not, but at least his body got a break before the witching hour.