I recently noticed my 2-year-old son starting to take a longer time to go to sleep during nap time. He would typically go to his room for a nap around 12:30pm and take a 2-3 hour nap. But lately I have noticed he’s taking about an hour to 90 minutes to actually go to sleep. During that time he’s been happy to sing to himself in bed, read a book or grab a toy.
I have heard it’s possible that some 2-year-olds will drop their naps (there were a couple days he went without one), but I’ve been hoping that wasn’t the case for us. Sleep is so important, and (let’s be real) I also enjoy having the time to focus on other things during nap time. When I realized he was consistently taking longer to go to sleep, I realized he wasn’t trying to drop his naps… His schedule was simply shifting.
Now, instead of being tired mid-day, he is able to stay awake longer in the morning. I started putting him in bed for his nap around 2pm instead and he’s been going to sleep much faster. This has pushed bedtime back about an hour as well which hasn’t been an issue. His behavior in the evenings is still very pleasant so the new schedule is clearly working for him. I just hadn’t realized his sleep schedule would change again!
Have you experienced this change in your 2-year-olds sleep schedule? Or did you just drop naps all together?