Dropping the nap.

[goldingoddess]

I think Rowan is ready to drop his nap. It has gotten very very hard to put him to sleep and for a few weeks now I've been planning my day around being in the car around noon so that he will fall asleep, and even that doesn't always work. The reason I'm having trouble believing this is because he is only 19 months and I was sure that most kids napped until they were 3.

Is he in the normal range age-wise?

Do some children drop their nap and then go back to napping?

Should I change his bedtime to earlier? We do 7:30 pretty consistently and he
wakes between 5:30 and 7:30 in the morning.

Do children that drop naps need quiet time and does that develop naturally or do
most mommas schedule it?

Thanks-in-advance,
Julia

[Cujobunny]

From what I have heard, some kids drop naps early. Both my kids went through phases for a couple weeks at about that age where they didn't nap, then they went back to napping but they needed something different to get them to sleep (I went from breastfeeding them down to nap to walking them in the stroller since bf wasn't putting them to sleep). Nightime routine didn't change though - they still bf to sleep at night for quite some time.

Is he overly cranky on the days he doesn't nap? If not, maybe he doesn't need it. If so, maybe he still does but just needs a change in nap routine.

[mosesface]

Dd dropped her nap completely at 20 months. If she falls asleep in the car, even just for ten minutes, she won't go to bed till after 10 (and I'm ready for bed at 9) but still wakes at the same time in the morning. So we avoid the car in the late afternoon.

She sleeps consistently from 7:30p to 7:15a and is cheerful and rested. We do have "quiet time" around 3 each day, which is good for both of us. We read and listen to music or play quietly in her room.

I should add that dd has never been much of a daytime sleeper. Even as a tiny baby, she never napped longer than 45 minutes at a time and she went to just one nap around a year. She has always slept well at night and nghtweaned at 18 months.

[spmamma]

DD dropped her nap for about two weeks not too long ago (she's 2.5). We're napping again, but I wouldn't be surprised if she drops it altogether in the coming months. Like PP have said, she's just one of those kids who have never needed long naps during the day.