Help: Naps?!?!?!

[newmomto1]

At what age did your DC stop napping (whether they stopped on their own or you took them away).
TIA!!!

ETA more info:
I posted the above in a hurry this morning. I wanted to add more info as to why I am asking.
DS (DC #1) was always an awesome sleeper. He napped until he was almost 4 years old. He could take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon & still go to sleep no problem around 8pm. Right around the time he turned 4 he started having a little trouble falling asleep at night, so we had him drop his nap.

DD (DC #2) has been a pita in the sleep department since she was born! She turned 2 in Jan. She was doing great with her one nap / day for awhile. Now, about half the time when I put her down for her nap she won't sleep (during her nap). If she does sleep, I had been waking her after about 1 1/2 hours otherwise there is no way she'd sleep at night.

Now it seems if she sleeps at all during the day, she won't fall asleep at night until between 9-10:00 pm (too late for us!). If she doesn't sleep during the day, she'll fall asleep in a reasonable amount of time (bedtime between 7:30-8:00pm)

I am considering taking her nap away...but this seems SOOOOO crazy to me based on how DS was. 2 years old seems SO young to stop napping...but I don't know what to do. I am very frustrated :(

[AngelaS]

With my oldest, she stopped in kindergarten. She continued to have 'quiet time' for an hour on her bed in the afternoon, but she didn't sleep.

My second child is a first grader. She still sleeps for 60 to 90 minutes every afternoon.

My youngest is 4.5 and still sleeps 90 minutes to 2 hours in the afternoon. (They both sleep 10 hours at night as well. :))

[BillK]

We're currently working on Zach - who is 4 years old - giving up his afternoon nap (us and him). He's mostly been having "quiet time" in his room for the past few months - but he get so noisy (quiet time?!?!) that he's been waking up Ben (22 months).

So we decided that the nap was gone last week - it's been up and down at night since then - sleep is disrupted and nighttime sleep is screwed up (we've been spoiled as heck with both of 'em sleeping through the night for a long long time now) - but hopefully we'll get through it w/o driving each other crazy.

My wife and I both agree that Zach "probably" could continue his nap time in his room for a while yet - but the actual sleep vs. not-so-quiet play has been dropping off so much and it's been screwing up Ben's nap so badly that we both said heck on it - Zach can suck it up and go w/o a nap.

[brittone2]

I stopped DS when he was a little over 3. DD was born right before he turned 3, so we kept them for a bit after that and then started cutting them out. I didn't want to, but I have kids that like to stay up a bit later at night, and the nap was just making that waaaaay worse. Cutting the nap helped w/ an earlier bedtime for DS.

DD is just over 2 and will be keeping her naps for a while yet, although she is also a nightowl. She *needs* (and wants!) a nap 4 hours after getting up in the morning, but then after her naps she's wide awake and pleasant until like 10pm.

[WatchingThemGrow]

[through clenched teeth] DD started around 2.25 not sleeping consistently in the afternoon, which has been THE biggest annoyance, probably ever. I've been pg for most of that time, and it is driving me nuts. We've tried bribery, changing naptimes, bedtimes, everything. She won't even do quiet time in her room some of the days when she's obviously exhausted. She goes along with the whole "routine" then procedes to strip off her clothes, jump on the bed, empty her dresser or whatever suits her. No amt. of gentle or harsh mommy reaction or non-reaction has helped.[through clenched teeth]

How old is yours? Are you noticing a problem with naps?

[fivi2]

officially ended about 3 y 1 month.

I could occasionally still get a nap out of them, but then they wouldn't fall asleep until 9 or 10:00 pm (even if it was just a 30 minute nap). So we stopped naps and bumped up bedtime. It has worked great except a few afternoon crankies.

[KrisM]

DS1 was just over 2.5 years. DD was a week past her 2nd birthday.

I think they both would/could have napped for longer, but it would have meant much later bedtimes. I prefer no naps and an early bedtime. Even now, DD gets 12 hours at night. If she does fall asleep during the day, she's up until 9 or 10 and that's too late for me. But, if I didn't care, she could nap for an hour during the day and get 10 hours at night.

[egoldber]

I prefer no naps and an early bedtime.

:yeahthat:

I took Sarah's nap away when she was about 3.5. She had always been a good sleeper, but suddenly could not seem to go to sleep at night. She was up until 11/11:30! I took the nap away and her night time sleep returned. She had a rough transition for a few weeks (VERY cranky afternoons) but then she was fine.

I (mostly) took Amy's nap away when she turned two! Very rarely I will let her nap, but only on days when I know we will be up and out late as a family. Without the nap, she goes to bed for the night around 6 PM. With a nap she does not go to bed until 9/10 PM. I *need* her to be in bed before that. She is super cranky in the afternoons/evening whether or not she had a nap, so there is no upside for us in her napping.

[nfowife]

DD stopped napping recently, it's been about 2 months. So, about 3.75 years old. She goes to bed at 6:30 without napping.
DS still naps, but he just turned 2.

[newmomto1]

Edited OP with more info........

[fauve01]

My DD stopped napping at 19 months. NOTHING i tried would get her to nap; she just did not want to miss anything. she did start going to bed earlier (6:30) when she dropped the nap--that was nice.

it was rough for me not getting a break during the day when she was that age though!

Good luck.
Anne + DD 10-03

[Tondi G]

DS#1 stopped when he was 2. He was going to bed later and later cause he fought the nap harder and harder. I was done with laying down with him for an hour or more or driving around trying to get him to fall asleep!

DS#2 will be 4 in May. He still occasionally naps... usually after a late night or some hard playing. If we get in the car he often just knocks out ... he'll sleep for an hour and wake up ready to go!!! Yesterday he fell asleep at 5:15 in the car after my older DS"s TKD class... he slept till 6:15 and then had a really hard time falling asleep at bedtime... it was probably close to 11 when he finally went down.... but it's 8:30 am and he is still snoozing!

If you feel like you want to attempt dropping a nap... go for it... give it a week or 2 and see how your kiddo does. If you find it just isn't working you can always push the nap again!

[niccig]

We just dropped DS's nap and he's 4 yo. He was having trouble sleeping at night. I was reluctant because I loved having the break during the day. But it was 9-10pm before he was asleep. Now, it's 7pm and he's out. I love having our evenings back. DS does do quiet time in his room. It's really just play-time in his room without mummy. He does come out a few times to get a toy or to tell me something, but then it's back to his room to play. It's about an hour.

[vejemom]

DD#1 will be two at the end of the month, and has been trying to give up her nap for a while now. Actually, I'm not sure what to do. The easiest days we have are when we're running errands around 2pm and she takes a brief nap in the car. If we're in the house, I can get her to nap - but only after 20 minutes or more of me holding the door shut while she howls and fights to open the door. At a certain point, I can go in, help her into bed, and she will go to sleep. And she'll sleep for a long time, so I believe she is tired.

The downside is that I've got an almost 5 month old to deal with at the same time I'm dealing with the nap drama. The thing that makes me want to cry is that she doesn't seem to go down for the night earlier if she doesn't nap (i.e., she goes to bed about 8-8:30 no matter what). DH also claims that she sleeps poorly at night with no nap and insists that she take one. I know he's right, but he's not the one who gets no lunch and no downtime because he's fighting with her to nap already.

I think what I need to do is experiment with no nap + earlier bedtime. I have the feeling that we're missing her "Sleepy WIndow of Opportunity", and if we caught it by making the evening routine earlier, we might solve the problem.