Another "help my 2 year old stopped napping" thread

[slgt]

Grrr...25 months, and DD has not napped in over a week. Well, that's not 100% true - she fell asleep for 40 minutes in the car yesterday. We're not sure what to do - or if there is anything to be done.

She is EXHAUSTED by 3pm, but WILL NOT NAP. There is nothing we can do, aside from driving (not a real option) to get her to nap. She still goes to bed around 7, and sleeps for 10-11 hours, but she had been sleeping that much AND taking a 1.5-2.5 hour nap. All at once, one day, gone.

Is this a phase? Will she go back to napping? Has your child stopped and then started again?

This is actually the second time she has dropped the nap; the first time, about 2 months ago, she would stop for a few days and then nap for a few days.

She has clearly gone through/is going through some sort of spurt - she developed a big stutter for a couple of weeks which then went away, and I guess maybe her speech is getting a little bit clearer (understandable, full sentences have been old news for a while for her). Ummm, what else. She has all her teeth, although her molars may have been moving a bit.

This kid is just so. darn. tired. in the afternoons, and she's a mess in the evenings. What to do!?

[slgt]

Bump.

Really? Everyone else's 2-year-old still naps?

[spmamma]

DD went through this for about two weeks. She started napping again on her own but it's definitely tougher to get her to sleep these days. I wish I had some advice - just keep trying.

[sapphire_chan]

I'd bet the moms who are still going through it don't get a chance to get on the computer.

[hergrace]

My kids were all just over 2 when they gave up napping. I spent 2-3 months trying to get them to go back to napping and then gave up.

We moved bedtime from 6:30 to 5:30 and stayed around the house in the afternoon for 3-4 months so that the kids could fall asleep randomly if they wanted to. It took about 6 months for them to really adjust to not having an afternoon nap. The afternoons and evenings were rough for those months. Now that we are just shy of 3, they have gotten used to it and we have moved bedtime back to 6:15ish. They will still fall asleep in the car if we go for a long drive in the afternoon, but not on a short drive.

[mamadelbosque]

DS1 (now 3) has gone through phases of 'not napping' for up to a week off and on for the past year or so. Right when I'm convinced he's done napping, he'll go back to taking a nap again like nothin ever happend. Today was the first time in a while (a couple months maybe?) that he refused his nap. Good luck!!

[Bea]

My 3-in-May son has cycled through a couple of no nap weeks since he was just over 2.

He always goes back to it. Some days he actually asks to go to bed at around lunchtime, others weeks the suggestion of taking a nap will get a look like I've got two heads.

Any naps that happen later than around 1 to 2pm are curtailed around the 40 minute mark otherwise he can't get to sleep at bedtime.

[Drummer's Wife]

My four kids all stopped napping on a regular basis right around their 2nd birthday. They also slept 11-12 hrs at night. They were each cranky in the afternoons during the transition period, but it didn't last too long.

[Snowflower]

My DD is 2.5 and dropped naps around 2. The Only way to get her to sleep was car, at a park w lots of trees for shade, and still only maybe. It was ridiculous. So we did without and it's all good. She goes to bed, no problem what so ever at 7:00, sometimes earlier. gets 12-13 hrs each night.
She'll still fall asleep in the car when we're out and about, but I wake her up when we are there.
It took her a minute to adjust to the long day, but not long. I'd say, each day is kinda different. Depending on the events of the day, amount of energy expended, etc... I mean, if they are tired enough they'll go to sleep, generally speaking that is. My DD has had a big day and layed
down on her fluffy rug and just crashed out for awhile. Nap/No nap...whatever. I don't fight that fight.