Did your child ever start taking shorter naps and if so, at what age?

[rocketgirl96]

Hi everyone,
My son is 2 years old now and since he's been down to one nap (at about 15 months) he's always taken at least a 1 1/2 hour nap - sometimes more. If he sleeps longer, his night time sleep is better (I think) so I try everything to let his nap last as long as possible. Lately, he's been waking up after about an hour or so and I can't get him to go back to sleep no matter what I do - nursing, rocking, singing, etc....
Do kids normally shorten the length of their nap the older they get? Is this just a natural part of progression?
He seems happy and alert when he wakes up although his behavior has somewhat been worse which I've attributed to his not getting enough sleep but my other friends have said it could also just be the terrible two's kicking in.
Anyway, I'm just interested if any of y'all have experienced nap shortening and at what age.

thanks,
Christine

[Areia]

I think it is natural. My DD will be 3 this summer. She's gone from naps twice a day for 1.5 to 2 hours each to not napping most days. She still does nap once in a while, but only if we've had a super busy couple of days. I do have to make sure though that she gets some quiet play each day. She's not noticably crankier since skipping the naps.

[Norasmomma]

My DD hasn't napped consistently since she was 2, she's 3.5. We moved her bedtime up because she can get to be cranky and awful, she's one of those so tired it makes her ramp up type of kids thus creating danger for herself.