When did your LO drop their nap ? (Sorry sure it's been done 100's of times before)

[pippylongstockings]

Hi, just trying to gauge really - my DS2 is 2.10 and for the last 4 days just will not sleep after lunch. I put him up as usual at 1pm read a story/lights out but he just lies there chatting to himself until I give in and after 45 min just get him up again.
The trouble is by 3pm he's totally knackered and I have to keep him amused not an easy task (when also then dealing with a 4yo back from school and also knackered ) until 6.30 pm when I shuttle them both off to bed.

My DS1 who is 5 in Jan will still nap at the weekend so I am suprised that DS2 seems to want to give up his naps yet.

When did your afternoons of peace dissapear and how did you cope ?

[shazbean]

Hi pippy, my DD is 2.3 and we have had this problem for the last couple of weeks. She would only nap for 30 mins but enough to get through dinner/evening - now not at all. She is slowly getting used to not sleeping in the day but we have had lots of tantrums and tears just through sheer exhaustion. It's improving.. we have brought dinner time forward a little as she seems to perk up a bit if she has eaten. If she is really tired we have a rest on the couch with some CBeebies or a DVD. Poor DH is at home with her as I work FT, it has been hard not to have a wee rest during the day but he is also slowly adjusting!

[Fabster]

DS2 is 4.4 and dropped it 2 weeks ago.

[bubblagirl]

my ds gave up naps at 12mths we do quiet time lay on sofa with dvd rather than nap and quiet play from 5 bed at 6-630 he is 4 now and just started school still doesn't need to nap but needs to go to bed earlier than others his age

[CarrieBo]

Dd gave up napping regularly before she was 2. Those days where they're not tired enough to sleep until about 3pm are awful aren't they? You don't want them to sleep that late, but have no idea how any of you are going to survive until bedtime!
Every day I put dd to bed after lunch, and she has some quiet time in her room doing jigsaws and reading, giving both of us a break. I watch tv and go on MN! Sometimes I lie on my bed reading so I can hear what dd is up to, one day I woke up to find her asleep on the landing across my bedroom door! I really notice the diference in her behaviour and general demeanour if she hasn't had this 'down time'. About once every three weeks (like today!) she's tired enough and actually falls asleep.
The won't-sleep-but-can't-make-it-til-bedtime phase is awful, but does end.
I'm SO of people whose kids still nap at age 3 and 4!

[Clare123]

Mine is 2.3, and has just dropped his nap. If he sleeps during the day, he won't sleep at night. i prefer to have my evenings :-)

[alwayslookingforanswers]

DS1 - 18 months - was only having about 1hr a day by that point and then just refused to go down

DS2 - nearly 3yrs old - would still sleep for 2hrs+ in the afternoon - used to have to wake him up to do the school run

DS3 - stopped a couple of months ago so I guess he must have been about ermm

[shazbean]

Totally agree CarrieBo, hopefully we are getting to the other side

[Bramshott]

I think it really depends how they sleep at night - both of my DDs stopped their nap at about 2, but they sleep well at night and don't get up until 7.30. If they were getting up at 5.30 then they would need more sleep.

I think once they have decided to drop it, there's not much you can do! It does make your days much more flexible once you can go out and not worry about being home for nap time.

If he will lie in bed and chat to himself, why not put him down anyway and call it a "rest"?

[Arianrhod]

I have a bit of a different angle on this. My DD (2.10) would sleep for 2 hours + after lunch, but then I found from about the age of 2.6 that it would have a knock-on effect with her sleeping at night. Her bedtime is 7-7:30, and I was finding with her napping after lunch, she'd go to bed ok but would lie awake (quite happily, I should add) until about 9:30pm at which point she would fall asleep. But then having to get her up at 7:00am(ish) to get ready for nursery, and the poor wee thing was really tired all the time.

So I decided to stop the afternoon nap. It sort of worked, in that she generally goes straight to sleep when I put her to bed at night now - however, she is generally really tired by the end of the day. Something of an in-between situation here, but I figured getting 12 hours straight sleep at night was better for her rather than 2 hours in the day and 2 hours missed at night. shrug

Now it's just a case of trying to keep her happy at the end of the day until bedtime ... but that's another story entirely!

YMMV, of course ...

[FreeTheGuidoOne]

Around 13 months. After that if she slept at all during the day she was still up at 11pm.

She sleeps 8.30pm until 8.30am.

[Fabster]

Until he dropped his nap two weeks ago mine would wake up in the night if he hadn't slept in the day.

[Elizap]

my dd, 2.4 still naps after lunch but I have cut it back to an hour, sometimes an hour and 15 mins as I found that if she slept more than that she wasn't tired at bedtime and was becoming more and more difficult to get her to sleep before 9.30pm or later! She still cant quite make it through the day without any nap at all and she sleeps from 8.30 till 7.30 at night so will stick to it for the time being

[pippylongstockings]

Gosh, I am suprised at how many give up their nap before 3 years old. I guess as my eldest has always been such a napper I presumed for most it was around the age of 4 that they gave up their nap.

Yesterday, I put DS2 down at 1.00pm he eventually fell asleep at around 2.15pm, (just as I was about to go and get him out of bed) and so I had to wake him at 3pm to go and do the school run. They were both in bed by 6.45pm and slept till 6.30am which is normal wake up time in our house.

But he is so knackered, he looks terrible and dark under the eyes and is in such a shouty grump. Come back naps !!

[Triggles]

DS is 3 and he still takes naps. On some days, he will just play in his room for a bit, but that's quiet time for him and he seems to enjoy it, so we will continue it for awhile longer.

[Babyisaac]

DS is 22 months and gave up his nap a couple of months ago. He has never particularly wanted to sleep in the day, even as a little baby but it was out of necessity rather than want.

Then the daytime nap became a huge problem for everyone. The foul mood afterwards that lasted until bedtime was getting beyond a joke and when he started to have days without the nap we would encourage. Now the nap has totally gone and life is much happier in the afternoon. He does go through a tired phase between 4-5pm but if we can get him through this with quiet time/rest he comes out the other end and is fine. He sleeps 12 hours at night.

[Rindercella]

I wish DD (2.2) would nap! She hasn't had a consistent nap for months now. Should she fall asleep during the day she is a total nightmare to get to bed in the evening - it will literally be 10pm or later before she will go to sleep if she has had even a half hour nap in the afternoon

Still, she sleeps 12 - 13 hours every night and has done since she was about 8 months old, so I can't complain too much

[PoppyIsApain]

My ds is 17 months old and goes down at 2pm and wakes at about 4pm for his play time and dinner. It is a new routine im trying out as he stopped going down at 12 like he had before.

[feedthegoat]

Ds dropped his nap completely by 2.2. We had a tricky few weeks where we was tired out by about 3pm but he was always full of beans again after tea.

If he ever fell asleep on a long journey in the day he would be wide awake until about 10.30 even 11pm.