When did your DC give up their naps for good?

[Bearhut]

Since I'm not sure what is happening with naps in our house I was wondering when your DC's gave up the nap for good. We are at 32 months and my DC has decided to spend the hour sitting at the top of the stairs screaming "mama come get me".

[jamsmu]

They're both napping right now, but I couldn't help but laugh. Though I'm sure when we get there I'll be pulling my hair out!

[bcky2]

i just voted for my older ds as my younger one has not given his up yet. he is now 25 months. my older ds gave them up between 18-24. i hope my younger one naps till he is 18 ;)

[Piglet]

DS1 will be 5 in a month and still naps about 2 hours a day. He can skip his nap, but everything works out better with a nap. I think we will have a hard time adjusting to full day kindergarten next year. My DS is an exception as most other kids his age have long given up their naps. DS2 on the other hand is a lousy sleeper and dropped down to 1 nap a day before his 1st bitrhday and will probably give up his nap on the early side if he can help it!

[hez]

We're praying for 3 1/2 + ;) He's 33 months now.

Payton skipped his nap last Saturday, and he was a complete disaster come 7pm. He was asleep for the night at 7:30, though he normally doesn't go down 'til after 8:30. That little experiment indicated to us that he still needs the naps.

[lizajane]

i voted 2 1/2- 3 but really we took the nap away. he was staying up until 9 or 10pm with a nap. it was awful. but the afternoon is awful now. so i guess i am a terrible person to ask...

[colleenfs]

Julia napped a bit past 3.5. This was great because Emma was born last summer just around that time. Julia still napped for a few months after her baby sister arrived.

Very rarely, Julia (now almnost 4.5) will fall asleep mid afternoon, and then we have HECK to pay. In fact, just yesterday, she took a nap. She normally goes to bed @ 7:30, definitely asleep before 8. Last night, she was up and down about 5-6 times, and nowhere near tired at 9pm. ARGH!

~Colleen
Julia, 1-10-02
Emma, 7-27-05

[Elilly]

Colleen was 3 1/2 in May. She still has a daily nap. Sometimes she "rests" in her bed for an hour before she falls asleep for 1 1/2 hours, but this mama needs at least a 2 hour break every day!

[Bearhut]

That's the thing, I definitely need a break; to just have some quiet time to make phone calls and to get a few household chores done each day. I've been trying to vacuum the first floor of my house since Monday and it's still not done. She's not napping, just spending that time screaming to come and get her.

We went through this about four months ago as well. It lasted about 2 weeks. I'm hoping this is the same thing, but I'm REALLY worried that this is it with the naps...

[Elilly]

Ah yes, that's where bribery comes in. Colleen is allowed to watch "toonies" from 1:30 - 2:00 pm in our bed. At 2:00 Sponge Bob comes on. Sponge Bob might as well be a 4 lettered word in our house. So, Colleen will come into the living room and tell me that SB is on and that we MUST turn the TV off. After turning off the TV, I then walk her into her room where she is allowed to have 2 books in bed with her. She usually falls asleep within 10 minutes. If we skip the TV time, she will not fall asleep. It's as if she needs something to "zone out" with and calm down. I know it's not the best thing in the world. But, it works for us and I'm a better mom becuase I get a break.

[ajmom]

I'm not sure what I'll do when my kids give up naps! My oldest will be 4 in a couple of weeks and he still takes a nap. Let me rephrase that- he takes a nap MOST days. There are days that he just lays in bed and plays quietly, but I make him stay in there while his brother sleeps. I think they both still need the downtime- and so do I!!

[american_mama]

I'll offer a suggestion that I got from my sister, and it worked for us for about 4 or 5 months before the "naps" completely died out. If your child complains about not being tired, not being able to sleep, tell her she needs quiet time. She can play quietly in her room but cannot come out. Get a timer for upstairs (make sure it doesn't have a continuous ring), you or she set it for an hour (my DD loved to do this), and put it somewhere audible to your child but outside the room. Remind her she doesn't come out until the timer rings.

The whole purpose of the timer is to prevent her coming out all the time. Also, for me, it was supposed to be a reminder to wake her on the 50% of times that my DD ended up falling asleep (which, as others said, often resulted in a really late bedtime for her). Unfortunately, the timer would ding and I wouldn't be ready to give up MY quiet time, so I'd ignore it... but it worked really well when my DD stayed awake and heard it ding.

[jesseandgrace]

My youngest gave it up between 2 and 2 1/2 because with a nap she wouldn't fall asleep until 11:00pm. without a nap we have some tough early evenings, but that is MUCH better than having her awake until 11:00pm. She goes to bed at 7:30 without a nap, and wakes up at about 7:30am, so it really works well. We will get a nap in usually once every few weeks and we almost always regret it come bedtime. My oldest would have happily napped until he was at least 4, but an afternoon pre-school session got him out of it. He had no trouble going to bed, but consistently woke up just before 6:00am. It just goes to show you how different kids are, I think there is really no right answer!

[R2sweetboys]

Oh, I truly feel for all you moms whose kids gave up their naps early. I LIVE for naptime and truly dread when they don't nap anymore! I've been very fortunate with both of my boys. My 5 year old took a nap for a couple hours in the afternoon until January when he switched to afternoon Kindergarten. He would still go to bed at a reasonable time and he really didn't fight naps that much. Even now, on the weekends he will take a nap when my 3 year old does. He doesn't have to have it but it does make him a much happier guy in the evenings. Often, if he doesn't nap, he will fall asleep if we go out late afternoon. My 3 year old still naps every day and definitely needs it. He's tired come nap-time and doesn't fight it. Both boys go to bed at 8PM so it's not like they're up late because of it. I know, we are SO lucky! I didn't realize how many kids give up their naps so early. I've been spoiled.
P.S. I will say though, that neither of them were great sleepers as babies. I feel like they're making up for it now! :)

~Leslie

SAHM to...
Ryan 8/14/00
Matthew 2/14/03