One nap to none? How do you know, when etc?

[ilovetivo]

Since there's the other nap thread, I thought I'd ask. How do you know when they're done with naps altogether? What age did your kids drop their naps? DD's 37 months and in a crib (doesn't want big bed yet).

DD sometimes takes 1 1/2 hrs to fall asleep (not crying or anything, I can just hear her moving around). This happened last night and she did nap. However the day before she wouldn't nap at all. She was sick recently, so I haven't played with the naps, but before being sick, she was taking a long time to fall asleep at nap time and at night. She soooo gets cranky if she doesn't nap. When I try to have her nap and she doesn't want to, I've been keeping her in her crib and telling her it's quiet time and she can play w/ toys if she wants. That hasn't stopped the crying yet.

So, in summary: This started last month soon after turning 3. Most often she naps and falls asleep at night well. Rarely she won't nap. On those days, she falls asleep quickly. Sometimes she takes a long time to fall asleep at naptime and at night.

She's also getting more independent and definitely started at that 3 year old talking back/attitude terrible 3's stuff.

Thanks!!

[o_mom]

Our formal naps ended when DS1 was taking an hour or more to get to sleep for nap and waking his brother (who really needed the nap) in the process. From about 3-3.5, we progressed from naps every day to naps every other day and then no naps. Now he will nap on his own when sick or overtired, but mostly doesn't.

You might try a loose every other day schedule. Just don't even try the nap on the off days and plan bedtime for 30-60 min earlier on those days.

[egoldber]

I took Sarah's nap away when she was around 3.5 because it was taking her hours to go to sleep at night.

It was a ROUGH transition though, because she would have/could have still napped during the day. But for her, any nap at all was disruptive to the nighttime sleep, so we took the nap away cold turkey. Many kids can do it more gradually though.

It took several months for her to not be really cranky in the afternoon. I just made sure we got out and about every single day in the afternoons.

[Tondi G]

My older DS stopped napping around 2.5. He was fighting the nap and taking so long to fall asleep that he wasn't waking up till 6pm and then wouldn't go to bed till 11pm! It wasn't worth the battle. There were days where we would be going to dinner and he would fall asleep in the car and we would just have to wake him up when we got there! Now my younger one is going to be 3 in early May and he is still taking a good nap in the afternoon. He goes down around 3 and up at 5 (cause we have to pick his brother up from school at 2:30). It is still working for us.... they don't go to bed till 9 or so but it's ok! There are days here and there that he will be too busy to nap or we are gone all day at the Zoo or Disneyland and he will be fine with no nap! He gets a little grumpy in the evening but it's ok.... as long as he is busy or being entertained he just keeps on!

It all depends on the child cause I know people who have 5 year old Kindergarteners that come home and nap! Our neighbors son quit napping at just over 2!

~Tondi

[Moneypenny]

DD is 3.5 and is trying to drop her nap. I'd say 1 or 2 days a week she doesn't end up falling asleep for nap. Of course, she's a grouch and a half by suppertime and evening is not so fun. The days she does nap don't seem to affect her nighttime sleep, so we aren't really doing anything right now except try to roll with it. The days she doesn't sleep at nap she does just play quietly in her bed, so we have talked about how she at least needs quiet time even if she doesn't sleep.

[cmonbaby]

I just replied to the other nap post and commented on how my 2.5 DS has been pitching a fit over naptime just this week! It's so reassuring to know that every child is different. I think the bottom line for me is that I'm the one who isn't ready for him to go without a nap. He can be super crabby in the evening if he doesn't have one and we have a DD due next month and I'm thinking that him napping still will be helpful. Reality is that he is probably ready to drop it altogether. Ahhh... I could pull my hair out over it!

Good luck to you and your DC!

[o_mom]

I just replied to the other nap post and commented on how my 2.5 DS has been pitching a fit over naptime just this week! It's so reassuring to know that every child is different. I think the bottom line for me is that I'm the one who isn't ready for him to go without a nap. He can be super crabby in the evening if he doesn't have one and we have a DD due next month and I'm thinking that him napping still will be helpful. Reality is that he is probably ready to drop it altogether. Ahhh... I could pull my hair out over it!

Good luck to you and your DC!

I just wanted to add that with both DS1 and DS2 we went through several times when they would refuse to nap and I was sure they were giving it up. They would skip the nap 3-4 days a week for a week or two, but we kept up the routine and they did get back to napping well. For DS1, it was when he kept up the not napping multiple days a week for over a month that we switched to every other day.

[KrisM]

We took away DS's nap at 2 years 8 months. Even if he only napped an hour from 12-1pm, he would be up until 11pm at night. Not good. He was only getting about 8 hours of sleep and was just cranky all the time.

No nap was hard, since he really wnated to nap, but it was better after a few weeks. He started going to bed about 7:30 and was getting close to 11 hours of sleep. Much better!

Now, a year later, he'll occassionally nap and he generally still goes to bed at bedtime. But, it's only when he's had a really busy day.

[lablover]

We took away DS's nap around 3. He wasn't falling asleep until midnight and it was not working. I instituted quiet time in his room, but found that if I left him in there too long he would eventually fall asleep, so I moved him down to the family room couch where I could easily keep my eye on him. We have to be careful when taking late afternoon car trips to make sure he doesn't fall asleep - even a 10 minute catnap screws him up for the night. We will only have him take a nap if we know he is going to be up late that night for some reason.

[ilovetivo]

Thanks everyone for your posts! (I'll take more too if ya have 'em :) )

I do think I need to watch it for a while and see if this is a consistent thing, before trying something new. I guess go w/ the flow.

I forgot to mention dd naps 1 to 1hr 40 min a day. Usually it's 1 hr 15 min. At night it's 8pm (ish) to 7:30am (ish).