17 MO skipping naps sometimes...

[BaileyB]

My 17 month old normally will sleep from 11-2 everyday. But then there's today when I have tried putting her down for a nap 3 times now and she just won't fall asleep. She has been whiny all morning and doing her normal "i'm getting sleepy and ready for nap things" like just laying on the floor with her blanky and asking for a sippy cup. When I try to rock her she gets silly and just starts to giggle or play with me. My usual response is to pretend I am sleeping while rocking her. Today when I tried that she tried to turn all the way around and start climbing on me. I guess I am ok with her skipping a nap but if she's going to be whiny TAKE A FRICKIN NAP!

Is it normal for toddlers to have some sort of whiny wakeful period phase or to skip naps for whatever reason? I wouldn't think it was so strange if she didn't regularly take 3 hour naps everyday.

[eclipse]

My kids all gave up napping at around 18 months. Sigh.

[shallow]

My son gave up naps at 12 months.  Maybe a rest time would help? Where she just lies down quietly with some soft, familiar music and some books for a period of time. That way, she gets a little rest and possibly falls asleep if she's tired.

[KellyandBean]

Totally normal...for us anyway. My daughter has skipped them at least once every two weeks from age 12 months and now at 27 months takes a nap about every two weeks lol. She may just be one of those kiddos that end up being early to give up the nap. She is tired at nap time but just not exhausted enough. It has been a lot of struggle to even make it this far with naps for us. For a long time i found myself actually doing car rides with her. You may find making sure that your a.m. is super active and temporarily pushing the nap back by a half hour/hour (and then slowly sneaking it back) will help when you get into a rough patch. I wouldn't say she is growing out of naps just yet but once you get to the point where she is skipping her nap 3 days in a row or more you know you can probably say goodbye to your nap soon.