Nap time issues...time for no nap? at 2 years? Help, please!

1071 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by IdentityCrisisMama, Oct 22, 2003

IdentityCrisisMama

Discussion Starter · Oct 18, 2003

My daughter is in the very early stages of going without a nap. She's 25 months and I'm wondering when your children stopped napping. I guess this would particularly pertain to me if your children were 2 hour/day nappers.

What's happening with us is that she still wants to nap 2+ hours/day but then can't keep an acceptable nighttime schedule. I've been going with her on this but everyday she goes to bed later and later and then sleeps later and later and then the nap gets later and later and so on and so on!

Yesterday she went without a nap and didn't seem that bad off; she went bed at 9:30…great for her and woke up an 9:30.

What would you all do if you were in my situation?

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campingmumma

· #2 · Oct 19, 2003

Hi Hannah,
DS here is two and still naps 2-3 hours in the afternoon (starting right after lunch) and then off to bed 7-7:30.

Do you have a reg. bedtime routine? I've always stuck to one - basically change into jammies, story time then bed. I also run my kids ragged around 5-6pm everyday -preferrably outside.

HTH

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mamarsupial

· #3 · Oct 19, 2003

our dd1 used to nap 2 hours in the afternoon but stopped around her second bday. she is 29m now and she doesn't nap often anymore. we had a nap time routine, but it ended up taking 30-60 minutes to get her to sleep...and more often than not she would wake after 30 mins. not really worth the battle. on days she doesn't nap, we still have quiet time...cuddling up together to read a ton of books, take a bath, etc. on days she doesn't nap, we also put her down earlier for bed (she starts the night in her own bed now...although most nights she ends up back in the family bed). every kid is different, but i think 2 is early but not abnormal to give up naps.

ps. as days get shorter, getting your toddler down earlier at night may get easier.

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bananasmom

· #4 · Oct 20, 2003

I'm sort of seeing these same things with my dd, she is 18 months old:

Quote:

What's happening with us is that she still wants to nap 2+ hours/day but then can't keep an acceptable nighttime schedule. I've been going with her on this but everyday she goes to bed later and later and then sleeps later and later and then the nap gets later and later and so on and so on!

Quote:

It became pretty horrible, because if she did nap, she would be so cranky for the rest of the afternoon and getting her to bed was a nightmare that lasted for an hour. I finally gave up and she is usually happy most of the afternoon and then will nurse for about 5 minutes and go to bed around 7-7:30pm (as opposed to 10pm which she did for the first 20 months of her life!).

I think she is, like yours, in the beginning stages. Once or twice a week, she has no nap, goes to bed early (she's a 10 o'clocker) and sleeps all night. The other days, she naps, and generally has troubles sleeping through the night. If I let her nap go beyond 1 1/2-2 hours, getting her to bed becomes later, like 11. If it goes 3 hours or more, she goes to bed later.

Sleep has always been a huge issue with us (we tried all the routines and recommendations), and other than waking because she is gassy, this dropping nap thing is the only thing I can figure is going on.

While I'm glad to get a night's sleep, I am not glad to see the nap go.

I'm due with dd #2 in a couple weeks!

Q for those who have stopped napping - how long did it take your babes to to get onto a schedule of no nap? A couple weeks? A month?

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its_our_family

· #5 · Oct 20, 2003

Man...my son NEVER slept for 2 hour naps! Not even as a newborn! For him an hour is really long.

At 15 months he was taking 2 naps of 45 minutes. Once he hit 16 months he is down to one nap of about 35-55 minutes. He gets up at about 8am and goes to bed between 10 and 11:30 pm.

Man, Tracy doesn't really sleep at all!

But he is starting to have days where he doesn't need that nap. So, I'm sure it won't be long before he drops it completely!

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mamarsupial

· #6 · Oct 20, 2003

dd1 also stopped aroung the time she weaned - around age 2, also when my milk started to dry up during pregnancy. oddly, she didn't nurse down for nap anymore, so i think it was a developmental change more than anything. she does nap some days, but as i posted above, even if she doesn't nap, we have quiet time in the afternoon.

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Jessviola

· #7 · Oct 20, 2003

wow, all your descriptions fit my dd :LOL my dd is 25 months also and we've recently started going without naps. she's never been the type to go to sleep easily and when she woke up from a nap, no matter how long/short, she would be incredibly cranky. dh said he used to be the same way. and then she'd be up ridiculously late. a 2 hour nap didn't result in a bedtime just 2 hours later, because of the energy she got from it, she would go to bed 6-7 hours after waking up from the nap.

first i decided on a cutoff time for naps, meaning, if she wasn't asleep by then, we'd keep her awake until around 9pm so she'd be asleep for the night (waking for nursing of course

) i gradually pushed the cutoff time earlier and now it's around 1pm. if she wakes up unusually early and falls asleep nursing before then, i'll still let her nap, but we have more pleasant days when she doesn't.

dd did well with this right from the start, much better than when we were trying to get her to nap. last night she even fell asleep around 7:30! this used to be a late nap for her, so we're thrilled

. and it allows us a little alone time before we're completely exhausted

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Heavenly

· #8 · Oct 22, 2003

Man I am really lucky! My son never napped well until about 18 months. Now at 33 months (almost 3) he gets up at 8 am, goes down for a nap around 1 pm until 3-4 pm and then goes to bed for the night at 8 pm. He sleeps right through. Of course he was a horrible sleeper for 18 months so maybe this is my payback! He had stopped napping at just over two but then we got him a big boy bed (he was in a crib) he started napping again!

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Heavenly

· #9 · Oct 22, 2003

Wanted to add my 11 month old still naps twice a day - when did yours go down to one a day?

She gets up around 6:30 am, goes back down at 9 am usually until 10:00-10:30 am. Then she goes back down at 1 pm when her brother does (my only sanity saver!) and sleeps for an hour or so. She used to nap longer but I am wondering if she is ready to go down to one long nap instead of two?

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sleepies

· #10 · Oct 22, 2003

my two yr old doesn't take naps anymore ( he is actually 27 months)

my firstborn quit taking naps when he started preK (3years).

my toddler just isn't going to go to sleep when there is fun stuff to do and the sun is out. i can't seem to force him, so i dont. he does sleep from 8pm-8am without waking up very often.....occasionally he gets up at 6am or so.... once in blue moon up at 2am.--but if he gets up after 6am i bring him to my room.

ok. so i guess my answer is... if they do not want a nap, don't force it. but it is nice to have a time where you lay quietly....or relax with a book or something (together).

I MISS HIS NAPS

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IdentityCrisisMama

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 22, 2003

About when my daughter went to one nap, I can't remember. I think it was probably at about 15 months.

I actually don't really need the nap IF (big if) she would start going to bed earlier without a nap.

She goes to bed now at 10:30pm until 9:30am. I can change this and have tried several times but she always migrates back to this schedule. Her nap is around 2:30-4/5 and is in a bad time of day for playgroups and etc. We always seem to be missing activities because she's napping.

I think I'll just keep the naps for now until it gets a little harder to get her down. I do think she still needs them but less and less. This is actually just like going down to one nap and I remember that time being a little difficult for both of us.

Thanks for the reminder about the days getting shorter. It's easy to forget what an impact that has even on us adults.

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