When to give up morning nap?

[fizzpops]

My DD is 16mo and still has 2 naps a day - one at about 8.30/9am to 10 am and one at 1pm to 2pm (ish).

Lots of other babies we know have given up the morning sleep long ago but she seems so grouchy if she doesn't have it.

At nursery (2 days a week) they don't put her down for a nap - they instigated this - unless we tell them she has had a bad night and I am fine with this as she obviously has more to entertain her there and doesn't seem to suffer because of it, apart from being obviously a bit more tired by the end of the day.

For dropping all other feeds and naps etc I have always taken my lead from her and I am just not getting the message she is ready to drop that sleep, but I am starting to wonder if I am working against her natural instincts with her having a different routine at home and at nursery.

Interestingly she still only has the same length of nap in the afternoon when she has missed her morning sleep so she is just missing out on an hour a day.

She has been known to miss a sleep if we are at a family occasion and seem fine but will crash out as soon as all the excitement is over.

I think I have sort of answered my own question. She falls asleep easily in the morning, it doesn't affect her later nap or night time sleep and she seems happier. I am sure she will let me know when she is ready to give up but when is the usual age to stop the morning sleep?

[Owlingate]

My DS seened to have his morning nap way way longer than other children - he used to have 2 hrs in the am and 1 hr in the pm until he was about 19 months. He then stopped going to sleep in the afternoon which made my day really long . So I just stopped putting him down in the morning and put him down earlier in the afternoon - he now has around 2.5 hrs from after lunch. TBH he was a bot grumpy in the morning for a week.

If her napping routine fits in with what you want, leave it, she'll probably drop it herself in the next few months. We still miss putting him back to bed then going back to bed ourselves at the weekend though!

[fizzpops]

Thanks, that is interesting! I know that I'm not the only one - one of my friend's daughter naps till 4.30 in the afternoon. How she gets her to sleep in the evening I don't know but apparently she sleeps through as well.

[MamaVoo]

Hi Fizzpops
My DS has just dropped his morning nap at 20/21 months as he also was struggling to settle for his afternoon nap. Keep the morning nap as long as she needs it - you'll know when she's ready.

[zara1]

I agree with MamaVoo, my little girl dropped her morning nap around 21 months. Keep them as long as you need too