When did your toddler/child stop napping?

[LyLMyssChaos]

Forgive me if this has been covered, but I searched and nothing came up. I was wondering what age you stopped making your child nap? And what led you to this decision? Our DD is almost 26 months old and for about the last month, she has fought naps tooth and nail. So much so that she screams for hours and finally falls asleep around 4 or 5. Then she wants to stay up until 2 in the morning. We've also found that even when we can get her to nap at a reasonable time (around 1 or 2 p.m.) She still wants to stay up until midnight or so. Yesterday, I decided to try an "experiment." I did not have her take a nap and she zonked out while eating dinner at about 7:45, I was a little concerned about her going to sleep that early thinking she would wake up in a few hours and then be up all night. It didn't happen, she woke up briefly at about 9:30 for a drink and went right back to sleep and woke up this morning around 7:30, so she slept almost a full 12 hours!! That is unheard of for her! Since DS usually falls asleep for the night around 8 or 9, I'm thinking this schedule could really work. Am I crazy for stopping demanding naps so young? Or is this fairly normal??

[vjel]

I'm far from dropping naps but thought I'd chime in anyway. Maybe continue to experiment w/ no naps and see how she does. I'd rather my dd go to bed at a reasonable time rather than staying up past MY bedtime, KWIM?

I think Weissbluth says that a large population of kids still take a PM nap at this age but there is also a small percentage who don't nap at all. Maybe your dd is one of them. I think that if she functions well w/o a nap during the day, forgo it and put her to bed earlier like you did. 8pm for a bedtime is very reasonable and not *that* early. good luck!

[nicks]

I just wanted to see if anyone else wanted to chime in on this? My 25 mo DD has been really resisting naps this week and has only napped 1 of the last 5 days. The thing is, I know if I put her in the car she would fall asleep, so I don't think it's that she doesn't need them. I am hoping it is just another phase but would love to hear some other input or experieinces?

LMC - Did your DD end up dropping her naps, or did it pass??

[kmack]

my DD is 29 months and went through a period of not napping - back in march when she was about 20 months she stopped for some reason. i thought i was going to lose my mind b/c i really needed that break during the day. i kept putting her in her crib at the same time and after 6 weeks she finally got her naps back on track.

a couple months ago we went through the same thing, and again i just kept putting her in her crib and after another 6 weeks she started sleeping again. however, this time around she was a nightmare to put to bed at night! she still isn't consistent with her napping, but some days i dont care so much if she doesn't nap b/c i know she will conk right out at 7:30 instead of fighting us and crying until 10pm.

when my DD wasnt napping i knew she had to be tired so i used to drive around at naptime and she still wouldn't fall asleep. i thought 2 yo was too young to give up naps so i kept trying and eventually she gave in - maybe your DD is going through a similar phase....

[catmom]

20-21 months, but I think this is pretty unusual. She just stopped going to sleep at naptime, and moving it later made no difference. So I moved bedtime a little earlier and she did fine. She does still get "quiet time" in her crib every day, and for a while she would fall asleep if she was really tired or sick. But that hasn't happened for a long time now (she's 2.75).

After she gave up napping, she slept 13-14 hours at night for a long time. Now we're at 11.5-12 most nights, though last night she did 13 again (she's been sleeping poorly this week since DH is out of town).

[hub1176]

My 2.5 year old is pretty much giving up her naps. On days she does nap, she's running around her room until 10:00pm. Considering mom and dad want to be in bed by 9:30, that doesn't work. I thought I had read that a typical 2 year old needs about 12 hours of sleep. So if they are in bed at 7:30/8:00pm and wake around 7:00/7:30am, they probably are getting enough sleep. I joke that we keep "country hours" here, but truthfully we have dinner around 5:30, snack at 7:00 and bedtime by 7:30-7:45. I need that downtime in the PM!

[jeninef]

We went through a small phase as well around 20 months where DS wouldn't nap...but I could get him to play in his crib for an hour or more. And then he started napping again. Now he usually naps around 2 hours and he's 22 months. Some days it's less. I noticed that I had to push his nap time back to around 1:30-2pm or so...and he will sleep to around 3:30 or 4pm on a good day. He goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes around 7:30.

[nicks]

Thanks everyone, I guess we will just continue to work through this phase and hopefully she is back to napping soon!

[a_spark]

Just wanted to bump this up and see if anyone's DC ended up actually dropping their nap, or if this was just a phase? I REALLY need DD, who is 25 months old, to keep her nap (I work from home and that time is extremely important to me!), plus she's so very tired in the afternoons if she doesn't nap.

She just started school a couple of weeks ago (a 2 year old preschool program that is 3 mornings a week) and I'm hoping the nap thing is just related to her adjusting to this big change, but it sounds like a lot of kids go through this around this age. Just hoping to hear that most kids picked their naps back up again!

[AlisonCO]

My DD did this for awhile at 2.5, went back to napping again for a couple months and dropped it completely about 6 weeks ago (she will be 3 in one month.) Luckily for me she does have quiet time in her room everyday from 1:30-3 and she stays in except to potty. She loves her quiet time to play and look at books so it is all ok with me. Plus she sleeps 12 hours straight at night now that she doesn't nap whereas before when she was napping, she sometime took 1 hour to fall asleep and came out several times.

[Pookie]

DS, 3 1/2, probably naps a couple of times/ week. If he does nap, though, he stays up very late like the OP's DD. I'd just like him to get use to doing a hour of quiet time, though. On the positive note, he will sleep about 12 hours at night and go down wayyyy easier. I think this started sometime around age 2. (BTW, our ped said to start looking for this to happen around age 2.)

[hub1176]

Pookie - I do quiet time with both my kids. They have a few books and stuffed toys and stay in their rooms for about an hour. This saves my sanity as my now 2 yo has decided to drop her nap:eek:

[Alanna]

we have just started to see the nap/late bedtime connection in the past few weeks....

it totally bums me out because i am due in early september and had hoped that DD would keep napping normally for a few more months at least.

if she naps during the day for a couple of hours she is up til at least ten at night - if she doesnt nap she seems to fall asleep 7:30 - 8pm pretty easily.

Its funny because she will go down for a nap no problem - which seems to indicate she needs it... but then she just can't fall asleep at night... I don't know which is the better situation....

DD will be 3 in november.

[BethIrish]

Its funny that this was bumped - I was coming on to search for something similar!

DS (21 1/2 months) has recently started delaying his bedtime until 9:30 or LATER (much later - like 11pm!) every night. It's a vicious cycle - as he then has to get up by 7 the next morning and he's tired and cranky. We were on vacation this past week and the days that he skipped his nap he went down at 7 with no problem!

Unfortunately, he is in daycare and they do nap from 1:30-3. I'm hoping this is just a phase, but I'm glad to see it looks like a *normal* phase ;)

[tray622]

We had a few short phases where there was a no nap strike but at almost 4, my older takes a nap Monday-Friday and it is touch and go for the weekends.

[Ellyn]

DS is 3yo in another week and he naps about 3-4 days out of a week. He always has quiet time in his bed (and has NEVER gotten out if you can believe that! :rolleyes:) for at least 1 hr. while DD naps. That helps him and me. He goes to bed at 7:30 every night and is up by 7am, rarely earlier.

[anemone]

Alanna My DS is almost the same age as your DD, and he (well, we) stopped his naps about 2 months ago (when my DD was only 4 weeks old). He would still be awake at 10pm at night after having a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day. Some nights DH and I were going to bed, and he'd still be awake. I stopped the nap when I felt able to, and he'd be in bed and asleep at around 7pm, sleeping through really soundly until 7.20am. With DD basically sleeping from 6.30pm onwards, it is just much nicer to have a couple of hours without children around before I go to bed too!

We have quiet time between 12.30 and 2pm. He watches a DVD, does quiet play on his own (like playdough, stickers or something else I don't have to supervise) and I tend to use it as my "rest" time (even though I can't actually sleep). I'd also add that from what I've heard from friends that have two children still napping, they rarely manage to get the baby and the toddler napping at the same time.

[smurf]

My DD (25 months) has been refusing her naps for the past few days. I really hope this is just a phase, as I'm due with #2 in a couple of weeks. Either way, I plan to make her stay in her room for 1.5 hours every day for quiet time/nap.

[Kopper]

BUMP!

DS (32 months) is still napping every day minus one or two days a month. It's probably too much to hope for but I hope he continues to nap until at least a few months after #2 comes in June. Do any of you have 3+ YOs who still nap?

DS needs his nap or he is super cranky and usually gets 1.5-2 hours (sometimes 3 hours) and sleeps 11-12 hours at night. He goes to preschool 2 days per week and naptime is later on those days so bedtime ends up being a little later those days as well.

[Teresita]

Kopper My DD stopped napping at 2.5 (just in time for DS's arrival :rolleyes: ), but lots of her little friends are still napping at age 4, so there is hope!

[gretazmama]

My 4.5 y.o. still naps about 60-70 percent of the time. We do naps M-F (or at least quiet time) and I typically skip naps on the weekends if we have something going.

After 2-3 days of no naps she's ready for one!

[Ohana]

Kopper My 5 yo still naps daily. Some days, her naps are pretty short (1 hr or so), but she cannot get through the day without at least a short nap. I imagine she'll continue this way until she starts Kindergarden next year.

[twinnyme]

DD1 will be 4 in January and still naps. At daycare/preschool 3 days a week, she naps or has quiet time for 1.5 hours. At home with me Mondays and Fridays she naps anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours depending on how busy we were in the morning.

She typically naps 2 to 4ish (but sometimes starting at 1 and sometimes even at 3), and still goes to bed around 7:45-8:00. She's always been an early riser, though, so she gets only 10-11 hours at night (usually up by 6-6:30) so she still really needs her nap. Yesterday, for instance, she napped from 3:20 to 5:30 - and still went to bed at 9 (got to stay up late to watch Charlie Brown).

Plus, she barely napped for the first year of her life (I call her my recovering catnapper) so I figure she's making up for that now. :D Perhaps those kids who napped well their first year have dropped their nap by now, but she knows I'm not ready for it, given that first year of her barely napping or sleeping, so she's indulging me - okay, maybe not. Actually, she has protested naps here and there, and has skipped some at school but she still consistently takes one at home (unless we're out and about more on the weekends, and we deliberately skip it).

I really thought she would have dropped her nap by now but I am so glad she hasn't, especially during the transition to two kids. I hope it works as well for you, Kopper!

[snoopy30]

My DS just turned 3 and still naps 2-3 hours a day. Every few weeks he has a day when he won't fall asleep but does stay in his room and plays quietly. I'm expecting that he will have more and more days when he never falls asleep but I plan to enforce a rest time for several more years if I can. I just think kids need it! We are expecting #2 in February and my worst fear is if DS #1 stops napping but at least at this point all is well ;)