S/O: When did your DC stop napping

[123LuckyMom]

DS is 3.5 and still really needs a nap. Some days he skips it, and he's always a cranky mess until bedtime and then resists sleep. He's definitely one of those "sleep-begets-sleep" kids! I know the age range is wide. In my own circle of friends there are kids who stopped napping before they were two (but were with a SAHM and slept until 10am in the morning) and others who are still napping in kindergarten. What was your experience? Is there an age when I should stop his napping and just insist on an earlier bedtime?

[Minnifer]

W/DD, right around 2. She would still occasionally nap w/the nanny during the week (I was WOH f/t) but not consistently, and almost never w/me on the w/es. It SUCKED since that was always my only "free time" (haha) as a single parent. I tried everything in my power to keep it up but it didn't work. It didn't impact her nighttime sleep one way or another - since I nightweaned her at 14 months she's always slept 12 hours straight at night, start time anywhere between 7-8 pm depending on what age she was (she's 4 now). DS is more of a napper than DD ever was so I am praying that he naps for a loooooooong time!

[belovedgandp]

Mind have been varied:

DC1 - skipping before 2, done completely be 2 yr 2 mo, but did sleep 12-13 hours at night
DC2 - daily nap until exactly 3
DC3 - still napping at 2 yr 4 mo, but has missed a few with summer schedule

They always got good total amount of sleep. Oldest could go all day, never fell asleep in the car and then when conk out and sleep crazy amounts at night. I am SAHM so we never had early mornings to cut into that cycle. I think DC2 could have done the same thing, but napped longer because we had to get up for school.

[AnnieW625]

DD1 stopped taking naps at home most weekends when she was 4/1/2 after a pre school classmate told her 4 yr. olds don't nap. She would still nap at daycare though so really she was 5 when she officially gave then up.

DD2 is still napping and is 27 mos. old.

[sntm]

2 and a few months. He was a daycare kid too, and would just look at books during naptime. Sucked for me as I had 3 months of night shifts and wanted to nap with him the afternoon.

[Beth24]

Mine napped until kindergarten and I am hoping DS3 will too! I think you should consider giving up the nap when it takes too much time and energy getting your LO to fall asleep, the nap moves too late in the afternoon and/or starts to make bedtime too late. Even with 2 to 3 hour naps my kids always went to sleep by 8:30 so sticking with the nap schedule worked for us.

[gatorsmom]

Around 2 and 3yo. My mom said I was still taking daily naps at 5yo! I don't believe it. Although considering how much I like to sleep, maybe I was an exceptional child. ;)

[wendibird22]

DD1 is 5 and is mostly done with naps. She sometimes still takes one...maybe 1 every 2 wks, but it's rare. And DD2, 2.5yo, well you know about her from my other thread. Can't wait to see what preschool (full time at daycare center) does with her since they have a mandatory 2hr rest time and I'd imagine that most of the other kids will nap.

[brittone2]

I've found the age between 2 and 3 to be tough with my kids. They need the nap still, yet they end up not being tired at bedtime. All 3 have been willing nappers, quick to fall asleep, but then at bedtime, they are just not tired.

I encouraged DS1 to stop napping a little after 3. We switched to quiet time in his room because I had a newborn. Bedtime was bumped up, and other than maybe 2-3 rocky weeks as he transitioned, it was a good decision.

When DD was 3, I again encouraged giving up the nap. In her case, you could see her behavior deteriorate around 3-4 pm and that went on for quite a while after giving up the nap. She had quiet time but rarely fell asleep. Then for some reason around 3.5 or a little after, she started falling asleep 50% of the the time, if not more. We had moved, she was getting up earlier (sun really came in her windows in the morning even with blinds and curtains), which may have had an impact. In any case, she napped again from 3.5 to sometime between 4 and 4.5 IIRC.

DS1 and DD still do 2 hours of quiet time during DS2's nap.

DS2 naps every day, is usually very willing and quick to fall asleep. Like DS1 and DD, it is tougher to get him to fall asleep before 9pm. This fall we have a schedule that will mess with naptime a bit. On Mondays I suspect he'll nap in the car as we drive home from our HSing co-op, and on Tuesdays he'll have to have a short nap before DD goes to dance class in the early afternoon. This is the first we will have really messed with his nap.

I am looking forward to not having napping kids, because with two older kids, it is nice to be able to go out and do things without being stuck at home for naptime. Right now that breaks up the afternoon in such a way it is tough to get to the pool until later in the afternoon, when thunderstorms start rolling in many afternoons...or I have dinner to start.

I do strongly dislike the transition period! I don't mind plugging away if they skipped the nap and toughing it out a bit, but then if we go anywhere, they zonk in the car at 4-5 pm and then aren't that tired at bedtime. I find the transition period difficult...whiny kid, afternoon crankiness, fear of the car nap screwing with things...

[wencit]

DS1 was done by 2 1/2.

DS2 showed signs of wanting to drop his naps around age 2, but I fought it, and now at newly 3yo, he's kind of an on-again-off-again napper. On the days that he doesn't nap, he's asleep by 6:30PM, but on the days that he naps, he's up until 11PM! I really prefer that he doesn't nap, but with an older child, there are some days that we're in the car during the afternoon, and it's nearly impossible to keep him awake then. Other days, he's just sooooooo cranky by lunch time that he clearly needs a nap.

I really hate the dropping nap adjustment period!

[twowhat?]

Ours started fighting naps around 3. We still put them down for "naps" on the weekends but they just play the whole time. We're JUST now getting to where they aren't so terribly grumpy without a nap. They'll get a little cranky in the evening, and/or they'll sack out in the car for 5 min on the way to dinner, but it's worth it for an earlier bedtime:)

Daycare is the problem. They have a required 2 hr naptime during which the girls almost always fall asleep...and then they don't go to sleep at night until 9 or 9:30 and are difficult to wake in the morning so that I can get them to daycare and get to work. And them going to bed so late really doesn't work well when I have to work in the evenings. The required naptime really annoys me. Sigh.

[okinawama]

DS1 started skipping naps around 2yrs 10 months and then around 3yrs he'd nap once or twice a week, and now at 3yrs 4 months he never naps. When he was at the tail end of dropping the nap, the BT's were far too late for us! I am not interested in seeing my little one's face after 830/9pm, so for us, the earlier BT was welcome, and he still stayed in his room for about an hour each day so I still got a break. Best of both worlds!

[Melbel]

DD2, age 4, still naps. She is a night owl with or without a nap so it works for us. She is asleep now on our flight to the Bahamas. :). DS and DD1 also kept napping until about age 5.

[fauve01]

my dd dropped her nap at 19 months. i tried EVERYTHING to get her to keep the nap, but she just wouldn't. when she got older (around 3) and i could bribe her with M&Ms for her to stay quiet in her room so i got my break, but she didn't understand that at 19 months. it was brutal! bedtime did move earlier though, when she dropped the nap.

She's just never been a kid who needed a lot of sleep!

a + DD 10-03

[joonbug]

My DD started dropping naps at around her 3rd birthday. Now, at 3y 3m, she needs a nap but fights it like there s no tomorrow... Sigh, every few days I plan an outing around 2-3ish pm and she nods off in the car. But actual naps in her bed dont really happen anymore...

[MSWR0319]

DS is 3.5 and still naps for an hour to hour and a half. Some days he doesnt but it's because he's over tired and doing everything he can to stay awake. On days he naps he goes to bed at 8 and at 7 on days he doesn't.