Should I cut down my toddler’s nap?
I have a 2.5 year old who has been on the same schedule for quite a long time. Wake 7 am. Nap 1-2:30. Bed 8:30. I wake her up in the morning and I cap her nap at 1.5 hours.
For the last two weeks she has been very resistant to settling down for nap time. We have not changed our routine leading up to nap time. We don’t do anything overstimulating in the period before her nap. She mostly just jumps around in her crib, throws stuff out, doesn’t want me to leave, and eventually just gets super worked up and angry (all new behavior). It takes a few tries in and out of her room to get her to settle down and try to take a nap (probably 10-15 minutes). I try my best to not linger and to not indulge any crazy requests. Once she lays down, she’s out in 5 minutes, so I have a hard time believing she doesn’t need a nap or is not tired.
This behavior has now started at bedtime, but again, once I’m able to leave the room she is out in 10-15 at night. She doesn’t wake through the night, no early wakes.
Is this a phase? Should I just continue with our schedule and see if it fizzles out? Shorten her nap?
It really hasn’t become a huge problem yet, it’s just a bit exhausting to navigate every day 🫠. Any thoughts are much appreciated. Maybe this is the start of not napping anymore? Not sure.