3 year old naps?

MirandaHobbes

Our 3yo naps like a fiend. On the weekends he'll nap minimum 3 hours. He doesn't even protest. He is usually up by 6:30 am and asleep at night by 7-7:30. He's always been a great sleeper, save a couple random phases of restless sleep.

 But for the last two months he's been waking, crying, several times a night, and then waking for the morning at about 5 am. We take him to bed with us but he won't go back to sleep. He's very cranky and tired throughout the day. He still naps well in the afternoon at daycare (only 1 hour allowed). We have the option of dropping his nap (he'd move to another classroom of non-nappers). DH is terrified at the thought and thinks we should leave well enough alone (he enjoys his 3 hours of free-time on the weekend). We tried moving his bedtime to 7:30, but it doesn't seem to be making a difference.

WWYD? He seems like a kid that needs a nap. Would you fight nature and try to get him to drop the nap so that he sleeps better at night, or carry on hoping that this phase will pass?

khartner

I would tend to think he's having bad dreams, which is a normal thing for this age.  My son currently has this issue.  If he weren't napping well I'd say you might want to consider dropping the nap but it sounds like something else.

jlw2505

3 year olds still need around 12 hours a sleep a night/nap.  I personally would not stop my 3 year old from napping.  My DD will be 3 on Sunday and she is in bed typically by 7pm and during the week is awake at 6:15 and on the weekends bedtime is anywhere between 7 and 8 depending on what we are doing and she can sleep as late as she wants and wakes up between 7 and 8 typically.  During the week, she will nap 1-2 hours and on the weekend, it tends to be around 2 but sometimes we still get a 3 hour nap from her.  I would think the issue at this point is bad dreams or being over tired.  My older DD will be 5 in June and she still naps for about an hour a few times a week and has quiet time the for an hour or 2 the rest of the week.