Bed Time for a Three Year Old

If I let my 3yo (just turned 3) nap, he's up until at least 10pm. If he doesn't nap, he's in bed by 6:30-7pm.

He probably doesn't need that much sleep now that he's close to 4. So if he naps, try putting him down at 8:30-9pm instead of 7-8. That's still 12.5-13 hours of total sleep per day, which seems pretty right for someone his age.

You could try shortening his nap to 30 min. I do that with my DS sometimes, and he's in bed a little earlier, around 9:30pm.

If you skip his nap, there's no reason not to let him go to bed at 6-6:30pm. He will surprise you and still sleep until 7:30am! It may take a little bit of getting used to though. If he's overtired, then he might wake up early.

I have a 3 year old, like yours, soon to be 4. He doesn't generally take naps, but I know if I have him take a nap- he will sleep. SO He occasionally takes a nap,when he really needs it-- but it doesn't change when he goes to bed(Which is between 815-900pm) and when he naps, it isn't for long (around 1 1/2hrs- I don't want him to sleep more than that anyway.) He would never go to sleep as early as 7pm, too much going on in my household for anyone to be sleeping ;-)

Hope it helps!
Kathy

My 3 yo was the same way, and I just gave up the nap and put her to bed early. For me, that was 7! It was nice, to have that free time in the evening, although it interfered with doing any evening activity for her. It was easy to get a babysitter, too, because she was already in bed if we wanted to go somewhere.

My 3 year old sleeps for 2 hours at nap time, but doesn't go to bed until 9 or 9:30. If he doesn't nap, he's a monster. So I guess it is a trade off... shorten the nap time or go with a later bed time.

Does he need to be in bed by 7 or 8? If you stay-at-home you have the advantage of experimentation. You can push his bedtime back if you think he still needs the nap. It's a good chance to implement a before bed quiet reading time. Get him ready and put him in his room about 20 minutes before lights out for a chance to look at books by himself or with a parent. It sounds like he probably still needs the nap so maybe be more flexible with the bedtime. Or give up the nap and just send him to bed when he needs to although that may create an earlier morning problem (like getting up at 5:30!) I'm going through something similar with my daughter, we generally skip naps every other day or so and it helps, although she seems to go to bed at about the same time regardless of the nap. It's an adjustment period. It sounds like you'll just have to experiment with a couple suggestions and find out what yields the happiest little guy! Good luck!

You could try shortening the naps to no more than 1-1 1/2 hours. You may want to try waking him up 1/2 hour earlier and putting him down for a nap earlier. Just a little suggestion, I am not sure if it will work.
Good Luck
S.

Easy solution...
Keep the nap, so he's not crashing so early, but shorten it. Maybe just let it be an hour long, then wake him up.
Then don't put him to bed until 8:30.
I read that children that age should sleep 10-12 hours at night and if they nap, they should be short naps. That way, they sleep approximately 12 hours out of the day!
Good luck!!