When did your toddler drop his/her afternoon nap?

[arivecchi]

Sorry, I cannot search for old threads under nap for some reason. When did your toddler give up his nap? I am wondering if I should have DS1 give up his nap as he was having trouble falling asleep last night.

[wendmatt]

DD gave up napping around 2, which was a total bummer for me! If she napped she wouldn't go to bed at night. Which child are you talking about? Is it the 3yo, I'd say you've had a great run! My friend's child gave up napping around then but she still put him in his room for quiet time every day. It's a tough transition because they still are tired but won't sleep at night if they nap. Good luck, some people have 5 yos that still nap so maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones.

[MMMommy]

Both DDs stopped by age 2. Not by my choice!

[WatchingThemGrow]

2.25 and it made me absolutely crazy. REALLY, really crazy. She goes to bed very easily, though. Last night it was at 7pm.

[TwinFoxes]

This thread is scaring me...my 21 month olds still take a morning nap (they were never really afternoon nappers unless we were in the car). I neeeeeeed that morning nap!

[khalloc]

DD is almost 4.5 and she still does better WITH a nap. Most days at daycare she will take a nap, as long as the rest of the kids are napping. At home I can only get her to nap if I let her watch a movie on the couch...then its not a sure thing, but about 65% of the time she will fall asleep for 1 hour. She is much more pleasant to be around if she gets a nap in. If she doesnt she will usually have some sort of tantrum/crying fit in the late afternoon or early evening. Its awful.

[catcombs]

My DD gave up her afternoon nap right after she turned 3 years old. That was when we also took away her paci and I have always wondered if they were related. My DS1 is still napping but starting to resist it and he will be turning 3 yrs. at the end of May.

[elliput]

Afternoon naps became hit or miss with DD at about 2.5, by 3 she had pretty much completely dropped them. I was not happy.

[arivecchi]

DS1 does not resist his nap at all. He loves it. He naps for at least 2 hours. Last night, he could not fall asleep until it was well past 10. He nomally goes to bed around 9:30, so maybe I should force him to drop the nap?

[sste]

This is our DS's exact schedule and he is 2.5. It probably comes down to you how feel. I am struggling with it because I am EXHAUSTED by 9:30/9:45pm bedtime - - it leaves zero time to spend with DH or just alone.

I was debating trying to reduce the daytime nap to an hour or so and make his bedtime more in the 830/900 pm range. The problem for us is that his daycare has a mandatory 2 hour nap window that we can't control -- not sure if your DS is starting preschool soon but it may be worth considering before you alter his schedule.

[EQ_Bo_07]

2.5. There are days when she would take a nap, for more now she goes without the nap. She goes to bed earlier though, so there is an upside.

[KpbS]

DS1 started taking longer and longer to fall asleep and sleeping a shorter amount of time when he dropped his naps at 3.5. I was sad (and exhausted with a newborn) but bedtime went from 8:3- 8:45 to 6:45-7 pm and it was great to have that time in the evenings.

[alexsmommy]

My DD gave up her afternoon nap right after she turned 3 years old. That was when we also took away her paci and I have always wondered if they were related. My DS1 is still napping but starting to resist it and he will be turning 3 yrs. at the end of May.

Oh. My. Was going to sleep paci-wean (only time he uses it). Mmm, may rethink this. I need him to nap until DS3 is at least 4-5 months and we're past the really exhausting tiny baby stage.

DS1 - 4.5 y/o. Would have kept going but I was getting concerned with kindergarten and most of his friends had given it up so he was missing out on afternoon activities/b-day parties/playdates. He did very well.

DS2 - Still taking 2 hr nap, but can be shortened easily when we need it to. What we can't do is go over 2 hours or he'll be up until midnight. DS2 does not go to bed until 8:30 because of his nap, but this works for us. This way DH is home, gets some time with him and puts him to bed most nights.

[AnnieW625]

DD still naps everyday for just over an hour or so sometime between 1 and 3 at daycare and then anytime between 1 and 3 at home on the weekend usually for about an 90 mins. then. She has shown any signs of giving it up because she is still cranky without it, but I honestly believe that because of the nap all of the kids take at daycare.

If DD takes a shorter nap on any of those days her bed time goes from 8:30 to 8:00 and in some cases sometimes it's been as early as 7:30.

ETA: DD wakes up between 6 and 6:30 every morning and has been since she started sleeping through the night. We have tried putting her to bed later on special nights out and she might sleep until 7 or 7:30 so keep that in mind if you try putting your child to bed earlier, they might wake up earlier.

[BeachBum]

Mine stopped taking a nap right around his 3rd birthday. For many months after that though I was successful at "quiet time" for about 45 minutes. I would put on a CD and he could play alone during that time. When the CD was over he could come out.

For our family, no nap and a early bedtime works much better. DS goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 and he is 4.5 now. He has several friends that still nap, but they go to bed around 10. DH and I really enjoy/ need some time without kids each day.

[baileygirl]

DS1 stopped napping around his 2nd birthday, he is now 3 and we do sometimes make him nap on Saturdays.

[mecawa]

dd1 gave up hers a little after she turned 2.

[Minnifer]

Oh god this thread is scaring the bejeezus out of me - DD (22 months this week) has been really *really* fighting/not taking her nap the past 4 weeks - and I've been in denial that she could possibly be dropping it this early. I've tried moving the nap earlier, later, before lunch, then back after lunch (right after, or after a bit of playtime) - and nothing is helping. She's even giving the nanny problems but is definitely worse with me when I'm home on the weekends.

She was never a great napper (as an infant she barely napped, although she's always been a good night sleeper) - and I worked my tush off to get her taking a regular nap every day - and man, what a blessing that hour and a half has been in my life! And now this??? She's pretty much a wreck by the end of the afternoon, and if we go out will pass out in the stroller for at least an hour so I do think she still needs the nap, but she just refuses in the crib, and I can't always be out pushing her around to accommodate her new habit. And a much earlier bedtime isn't an option (she usually goes down by 8) as I don't get home from work until 6:30. Ugh, I'm kinda at my wit's end on this one...

[hillview]

DS1 stopped at 3
DS2 we stopped at 2.5 as he was up til 9 otherwise.
/hillary

[KrisM]

DS1 was 2.5. DD was 2 even. That one drove me nuts because it was weeks before DS2 was born.

DD does nap once or twice a week in the car now at 3.5. Mostly on school days.

"nap" is too short for the search function. Try using Google and do "nap site:winsorpeak.com". You get a nice list (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=nap+site%3Awindsorpeak.com&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&fp=a048890d3c90c6fc).

[Melaine]

Ummm around 2.5. BUT....for the last week or so I have found they will sleep with me in our bed if I lay in between them. So maybe naptime is back....I hope.

[SpaceGal]

DS#1 (5 yo) still naps...for an hour or less and if he doesn't he knows he has to have quiet time there in his room. DS#2 (3 yo) naps still...for an hour to even 3 hours. My kids stay up late and wake up late though. If they don't nap they go to bed at 9pm, if they do then 10 or 10:30pm...they usually wake up at 8:30am or 9am. DS #1 probably could give up his nap but he has to "go down" because DS#2 won't go down if he is still awake, DS #1 was always a good napper for me. For our family, this works since DH usually gets home late and is still able to see the kids this way...if they went down at 7 or 8 he may never see them.

[clc053103]

dropped a regular afternoon nap at 4.5 (it was 2 hrs long) and now just takes one if we will be up late for some reason, or if particularly tired. Sleeps 8 pm to 7 am.

[g-mama]

Wow, I am lucky. My oldest ds stopped just before turning 4, my middle ds stopped a few months shy of 6 only because I made him in order to get ready for full-day kindergarten, and my youngest is 4 & 3 months and still going strong.

I would not give it up after one bad night of nighttime sleep. We go thru spurts of that around here and it always comes back around to normal. It would take many more nights for me to call it quits.

[pb&j]

DS turned 4 in Jan, and still needs a nap most days. He went through a phase of only napping 1-2x/wk, but he's back to almost every day naps. But, he's always been an incredible sleeper, and didn't drop his morning nap until he was more than 18 mos.

[mommylamb]

DS is a really good napper. He goes to sleep at night around 8:30-8:45 these days, but he goes down easily (though he's still an occasional early riser). But his naps are regularyly 2 hours at daycare and 3 hours on the weekend.

In some ways I'm looking forward to getting rid of the nap becuase then we'd have more freedom to do things on the weekends. Oh well, there are real pluses to naps.

[crl]

Over the course of about 6 months, starting at about age 3. (Some days he'd nap, some days he didn't. I couldn't control it. Days he napped he went to sleep sooo late at night, like 10 pm. Days he didn't he was a melting down mess by dinner and it was all I could do to get him through dinner and put him in bed asap.)

Catherine

[neeleymartin]

we ended ds1's naps not too long ago. he will be 3 in june. we started to see that he was up until the wee hours and making bedtime routine lag for what seemed like hours.

he still has a relaxation time each pm. he gets to watch a show (something low key, like mister rogers) while ds2 has his nap. bedtimes are much more pleasant. he falls asleep within 5 minutes. ahhhh!! i wish they lasted longer, but honestly it's nice to have private time with him in the afternoon. ds2 hogs alot of the attention when he is awake.

[Carrots]

I haven't read through all the posts yet, but I am terrified. DD is 21m and her naps are getting shorter and shorter. I keep telling myself it is a phase, but maybe it is not. :eek: She will be just over 2 when the new baby arrives..... I am counting on her naps!

[arivecchi]

I would not give it up after one bad night of nighttime sleep. We go thru spurts of that around here and it always comes back around to normal. It would take many more nights for me to call it quits. Well, he slept like a rock last night so maybe something was amiss the night before. He has always been a great napper and our nanny says he gets really sleepy around 2, so we will let him continue taking his naps for now. I am glad I asked because I sometimes feel like I am the only person with a 3 year old toddler that naps.

[arivecchi]

In some ways I'm looking forward to getting rid of the nap becuase then we'd have more freedom to do things on the weekends. Oh well, there are real pluses to naps. I actually love the weekend naps because I get to ditch DH with the kiddos and go out with my friends. ;)

[elektra]

Well my almost 3 yo still naps. That's why I didn't answer. ;). She also goes to bed late (9 - 9:30). I have tried dropping it but then it makes the 4-7pm timeframe UNBEARABLE. She pretty much cries that whole time and then crashes. And then since DS still naps it's nice to have them both down. So we are sticking with the nap for now at least.

[g-mama]

Well, he slept like a rock last night so maybe something was amiss the night before. He has always been a great napper and our nanny says he gets really sleepy around 2, so we will let him continue taking his naps for now. I am glad I asked because I sometimes feel like I am the only person with a 3 year old toddler that naps.

Yay!! So glad last night was better. I hope he keeps napping for you as long as bedtime keeps going smoothly. I LOOOOOOVE naptime! And I know many 3 and 4 year olds who still nap, so you are not alone.

[fauve01]

My DD dropped the first morning nap at age 10.5 months, and the second afternoon nap at 19 months. it was so hard! i tried EVERYTHING to get her to nap again, but she just wouldn't--didn't want to miss anything. At 19 months, she didn't understand "just stay in here and be quiet for an hour for quiet time..." sigh. but eventually she did understand "stay in here til the alarm goes off and I'll give you two m&ms." LOL

DD has always been the kid who slept the minimum number stated on all those sleep charts.

the up side to dropping the nap was that she went to bed at 6:30, which was nice for me and DH. Although DH missed her some nights because he wasn't home til after 6:30. this super early bedtime didn't last forever though, and DH respected DD's need for sleep.


HTH,
Anne + DD 10-03