Almost 3 and not napping on the weekends

[twowhat?]

For the past several weeks the girls will not nap on weekends. We put them in their cribs but they just play around and talk for up to 2 hours (during that time, they ask to come out and go pee, or need water, or whatever so it's not exactly restful time for me either - I can't go take a nap myself).

At school, they nap for 2 hours every day. On weekends when they don't nap, they go to bed about a half hour earlier and wake up on their own at their regular time.

I'm OK with them dropping the nap while at home. The problem is that I think they still need it. They'll fall asleep if we're going anywhere in the car in the late afternoon (like 4-5pm). And the problem with them falling asleep in the car is that they wake up GRUMPY - it takes an hour or more for them to stop crying when they wake up from a "nap" in the car. It is especially difficult when I'm by myself because they both want to be held, and get even angrier if I try to hold them both at once since they each want Mommy to herself. So - I stopped trying to go anywhere in the late afternoons.

If they don't nap or fall asleep in the car, they are pretty grumpy in the evenings, just making it hard for everyone. I'm talking 1+ hour meltdowns of full-on screaming. We've been using the TV more and more and I hate resorting to the TV but we're all exhausted.

Any suggestions on easing this transition to dropping a nap? As I type they're singing "Happy Birthday" on the baby monitor. It's 2:18pm. I put them down for a nap at 12:45pm. I WANT them to nap today because we've got a birthday party to go to...in the late afternoon...I can see things spiraling downhill fast...

[wimama]

Good luck! We gave up the fight for naps on weekends around when DS turned 3. We kept trying for a while but gave up when we realized we were not going to win the battle. DS would still nap at daycare, but didn't even nap at daycare very well after he was 3 years old. My DS is 5 now and he has friends that still nap on weekends, and it amazes me. I remember hating naps when I was his age, so I guess it is only fair I wound up with a kid like me.;)

[JBaxter]

Never had one nap regularly after 2 Im in awe of people who have nappers at 3

[KrisM]

Well, none of mine were still napping at 3. It always amazes me that kids nap at 3+!

But, I'd probably work on transisitoning to no naps on weekends. Don't go anywhere in the late afternoon. Keep them up and put them to bed an hour or 2 early. My kids would go to bed at 6:30 on no nap days and it worked really well. It only took a few weeks for them to adjust to staying awake without being grumpy and getting a slightly later bedtime again.

DS2 turned 3 last month and he hasn't napped since Christmas or so, regularly. He will at times sleep in the car, but rarely. He goes to bed about 7:30 and is up at 7:30-8.

[twowhat?]

I'm wondering what'll be worse - the transition from 2 naps to 1 or the transition from 1 nap to none...

For those whose DC still napped at daycare - were they OK to go to bed an hour early on the weekends but an hour later on the weekdays and adjusted to where they won't be grumpy on weekends? I feel like that would make it even harder to drop the nap entirely if they still nap at daycare. The grumpy thing is what's really killing us here...

[Clarity]

Well, none of mine were still napping at 3. It always amazes me that kids nap at 3+!

But, I'd probably work on transisitoning to no naps on weekends. Don't go anywhere in the late afternoon. Keep them up and put them to bed an hour or 2 early. My kids would go to bed at 6:30 on no nap days and it worked really well. It only took a few weeks for them to adjust to staying awake without being grumpy and getting a slightly later bedtime again.

DS2 turned 3 last month and he hasn't napped since Christmas or so, regularly. He will at times sleep in the car, but rarely. He goes to bed about 7:30 and is up at 7:30-8.

:yeahthat: Put them to bed early and enjoy the extra time with your dh. :)

[ZeeBaby]

Thanks for the post OP! Of course I thought we were the only ones with this problem. Silly me. :rotflmao: DD1 doesn't nap on the weekends and naps for 2 hours at daycare. I was trying to fight her to go to sleep today, but reading this post makes me realize, it isn't just us and I just need to roll with it!

[pb&j]

No advice, just comiseration. DD will be 3 in Nov, and usually doesn't nap during the week at school, but will nap at home on the weekends. Weekdays, she's exhausted and overtired and grumpy in the evenings, and gets tantrum-y. Weekends she just can't settle down at bedtime, but if I push her bedtime later, guess what - overtired with tantrums. It's lose-lose right now. :(

DS napped daily until ~4, and several times a week till almost 5, and very easily transitioned to no nap. If he didn't have a nap, we just put him to bed earlier, and it was no big deal.

[wellyes]

At almost 3.5 DD still naps reliably at daycare and only sometimes at home. I tell her she doesn't have to sleep but she does have to do "quiet time". It really does help, when we skip quiet time we get meltdowns.

My rules:
1. Stay in bed (or her mat or designated blanket if we're travelling )
2. Be quiet. She can read, or she can talk to a doll, so long as she keeps her voice hushed.

But of course it'd be harder with 2. Any way you could separate them? Make rules about what they're allowed to do?

When she naps it is for 1.5 hours at least, but when she doesn't fall asleep I let her get up after an hour.

[Clarity]

I'm wondering what'll be worse - the transition from 2 naps to 1 or the transition from 1 nap to none...

For those whose DC still napped at daycare - were they OK to go to bed an hour early on the weekends but an hour later on the weekdays and adjusted to where they won't be grumpy on weekends? I feel like that would make it even harder to drop the nap entirely if they still nap at daycare. The grumpy thing is what's really killing us here...

My dd was fine going to bed earlier on the weekends. Sometimes we had her in bed as early as 6:15-6:30p.m. but we typically aim for 7:00p when she hasn't napped. She still woke at the same time and she usually goes to bed by 7:30p-8:00p through the week. I think what you may find is that your dd's start dropping the daycare nap after a bit.

[ahrimie]

At almost 3.5 DD still naps reliably at daycare and only sometimes at home. I tell her she doesn't have to sleep but she does have to do "quiet time". It really does help, when we skip quiet time we get meltdowns.

My rules:
1. Stay in bed (or her mat or designated blanket if we're travelling )
2. Be quiet. She can read, or she can talk to a doll, so long as she keeps her voice hushed.



This is what we do. We're in a very similar boat: DD still needs the nap but she fights it an awful lot. Since DD2 has arrived, I started instituting a strict quiet time rule. I make it 2 hours. Some days she naps, other days doesn't. But if we're in the car, almost always will she fall asleep. On days she doesn't, I try not to go anywhere and will feed her dinner early (around 5) and try to put her to bed 1.5-2 hrs earlier. She's grumpy grump otherwise!

[Melaine]

I remember this stage (although it happened much sooner). I hated it. We fought it for a long time and I felt perplexed because I knew they still *needed* the nap but I started to comprehend the fact that it wasn't going to happen and fighting it was making it worse. Someone here did naps every other day for awhile and that worked sort of for us for a bit. I hope you find a better solution.

[elephantmeg]

hmm. DD occasionally doesn't nap on the weekends but if she naps in the car for 20-30 min she is better not worse. DS was like your DD-no naps and grumpy. It got better eventually-I'm sorry-it SUCKED

[twowhat?]

I think you're right - it's just going to be a (really) sucky phase. Yesterday DDs did end up falling asleep after more than 2 hours! They only slept 30 min even though they were very active in the morning, with lots of outside time. DD1 woke up fine but DD2 woke up in a really bad mood. She SCREAMED full force for a full HOUR after she woke up, during which we're trying to get to my good friend's bday party for her daughter. We got to the party more than an hour late. DD2 screamed full-force the entire way in the car and I had to wait in the car for her to stop screaming before we could go inside. Ugh. I'm starting to think it's a d*mned if they do d*mned if they don't type of situation when it comes to naps:)

[ahrimie]

Ugh. I'm starting to think it's a d*mned if they do d*mned if they don't type of situation when it comes to naps:)

:yeahthat:

[Jo..]

I still have nappers at 3 and 5. The three year old naps for 2-3 hrs per day. The 5 year old fights it, but does better with a short nap (1-2 hours).

If my kids are fighting a nap, we ALL snuggle in the big bed together. If they are still fighting it, I take them for a drive (usually 10-20 minutes). They fall asleep, and I carry them to the bed for the rest of their naps.

The down side of this is that they go to bed late and wake up early. If they both nap, I can expect them to sleep from 9:30 PM-6:30 Am. Nine hours.

If my 5 year old skips a nap (frequently), he gets grouchy and crazy in the afternoon, but falls asleep early (by 7- 8pm) and sleeps all night. 10-11 hours.

[Tinochka]

My elder one is 3,5 years old. He started to fight naps half year ago, but we were selling our house and dealing with a grumpy kid was not my option... When we moved he stopped fighting, in fact, he was willing to go for a nap. Recently he started to fight again, I am more than fine dropping his nap, but I know for sure that evenings are going to be tough on me... I ordered a Tot clock, hoping to have quite time for 2 hours, then he can come out.
I think that my 2nd will drop his nap earlier, but I will not give up on trying, because I had chances to see them on days without naps... Add to that fact that I am dealing with them alone most of the week, because of the DH' travels.
My new neighbors' kids do not nap, but they go to bed early and they have 2 adults to put them to bed every night. As I understood, they wake up during night time quite often. They dropped naps because kids tend to stay awake till 10 p.m. and wake up for a day at 5:30, 6:00 a.m...
No judgement, whatever is working FOR YOU. I noticed with mine, if they did not have nap, then they will be difficult to handle during evenings, then they tend to wake up crying (I think overtired)