Is 2 years of age too soon to drop the nap?

[VJsmom]

DS was 2 in may. has always been a fab sleeper until February this year when for reasons unknown he took a major dislike to his cot. This resulted in brig in the toddler bed in which seemed.to help.
However, I'm finding now that unless he.doesnt have a nap.in the day he is.not.tired and won't go to sleep at bedtime (7-7:30) now I don't know if this is behavourial or just him.not being tired. When he has not napped in the day he.goes.to sleep fine.
Any advice???

[Artandco]

Imo it's too early, my 4 year old can't cope without a nap at least 1/2 the week still.

It also means you get a miserable afternoon as they get more and more tired

[paxtecum]

My DS dropped his nap at 18 months, but had to have dinner at 16.00pm or would fall asleep.
After eating dinner he would be full of energy again.
Bedtime was 7pm and he'd sleep through till 7.00am.

[paxtecum]

Of course, a late afternoon car journey would result in him napping in the car.

[SliceOfLime]

Too soon?! Mine was on half hour nap max at 18 months and dropped completely before 2, otherwise she was up til all hours. They're all different, just experiment a bit. When DD was on her half hour nap it had to be before 3 or disaster for the evening. Some kids just need less sleep than others.

[ChannelingFlop]

Totally depends on the child. dD dropped her nap at 2 and 3 months. Fine since- just stopped napping. She had also started to be awful at bedtime and it was taking until 8.45 some nights to get her to sleep. After dropping naps she's sleeping much better.
If she's ill or been extra busy she will sometimes have a nap but I wouldn't say 2 was always too young to stop napping

[StandoutMop]

Dd1 dropped her nap just before 2. She still slept sometimes at nursery (went twice a week) but only for 20minutes or so. They gave up too after a few months as she would wake all the other nappers.

She was never a big napper anyway, 1 hour would be epically long for her, 40 minutes about usual, so obviously didn't need a lot of daytime sleep. 8 now and still doesn't need much sleep tbh.

If your ds can cope fine, isn't too cranky or asleep face down in his tea, then no, its not too soon.

[monkeynumberthree]

Definitely not too soon, it entirely depends on the child. My DDs dropped their naps at 19 months, 10 months and 15 months (apart from long car journeys). They simply didn't want to nap in the afternoon any more, they went to sleep brilliantly at 7.30pm and slept through until 8am (or later at weekends!) - as my fantastic health visitor said: what's the problem?! On the rare occasions DD3 has a nap now (aged 2) it's a nightmare trying to get her to sleep at bedtime.
I found having an hour or so of quiet time mid afternoon - milk, a cuddle and reading a few books together on the sofa etc, helped to bridge the gap when they wanted to drop their nap but couldn't quite make it all the way through to bedtime without running out of energy.
Having said all that, from what I've noticed with friends children, boys tend to drop their naps a bit later than girls. It really is dependant on the child, but please don't worry about it being too early.

[Fanjango]

Definitely depends on the child. My eldest dropped his naps at 18 months and didn't sleep till 7pm
Dd1 didn't drop her nap till she was over 4 and to this day can sometimes be found asleep if left till after 8:30 pm, and she's 10

[LongDayAlready]

All 3 of mine (2 DDs, 1 DS) dropped naps before they were 2. It was a complete no brainer for me when they couldn't sleep at night and worse, woke full of beans in the wee small hours (although DS still does that)......

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

Mine is 18 months and only has about half an hour (and doesn't sleep through) so I can't see her napping past 2.

[VJsmom]

Thank you all so much for your advice. He's still awake now from only having half and hr earlier and showing no signs despite a big dinner and nine ounces!

If he gets cranky I suppose I'll just have to deal with it and try and distract him.

Thank you all again for the advice much appreciated
x

[Happyyellowcar]

Maybe a nap every few days would be a good compromise? My DS2 dropped his formal nap by 2 but occasionally naps on the sofa / bed every now and again and he is over 3. He also has the odd catnap in the car which seems to help. dS1 was nearly 4 before he dropped his nap however!

[LastGleaming]

2yo dd dropped her nap at 10months! She's still awake now and will complain she's not tired when I put her to bed soon Doesn't get cranky in the afternoon at all, well no more than usual In comparison my first napped until he was three year old. Really depends on the child.

[KW89]

My almost 22 month old is in the middle of dropping his nap now. He was having about an hour and a half at around 1 o'clock, but I was finding that he was taking increasingly longer to fall asleep, he just wasn't tired. I just go with him now, he tends to go 3 or 4 days without one, then need one and fall asleep really quickly on the days that he needs it! The days that he does have a nap he will sometimes put up a fight at bedtime (7.30), whereas normally he goes down no problem, so hoping nap will be dropped completely soon!

[fakenamefornow]

Two of mine dropped the nap at around the second birthday and one was still napping past three. They were fine to go all day without a nap, they are 7, 8 and 9 now and the 8yo (the napper) still needs more sleep that the others.