Dropping the Nap

[Sullwah]

When did your DC drop their nap?

My DTs are just 3 and still nap for 1.5 to 2 hours a day.

Obviously I am in no rush to put a stop to this! But it seems that all the kids in their nursery no longer nap.

Are they unusual? Do DC drop the nap themselves - or am I supposed to wean them off it?

My DCs both dropped their nap at 14-16months. It was their idea! They just stopped sleeping when I put them down and squawked until I went to get them up. It was better for my ears and my sanity to give in and let them stay up.

How long do they sleep at night?

At the moment they sleep for 12 hours a night (7pm to 7am) - it was less in summer as the light woke them earlier.

On the one hand I feel lucky - but on the other just curious when they will feel that they dont want one anymore. They survive perfectly well on holiday when they dont always get a nap - but are always more than willing to have a nap at home.

It's very tempting to enjoy it while it lasts, but my only concern would be that they need plenty of time to get used to not napping before they go to school, so I would start weaning them off it a good 6-9 months before they are due to start.

You've got ages before they start school, so there's no rush. Trust your instincts and gradually cut down the nap if they are not tired enough at bedtime or start waking too early (a horrible habit to break).

You can review it when you get closer to starting school - depending on whether they will be part-time or not at first. Sometimes they just drop it all of a sudden by themselves.

If you get to the point when they are napping later and later or falling asleep in their tea, then consider dropping the nap and bringing bedtime forward for a while, they may sleep 6pm to 7/8am for example.

Posted about this a few months ago.My dd who is 3 started school nursery in September(two and a half days a week) and stopped napping- and became a right pain. About a month ago she was looking tired and the naps are now back , she goes willingly one afternoon a week for two hours. She sleeps 7.30pm to 8.00am at night.Shes back to being my lovely girl again !She will be four next month and I think we will drop the naps when shes ready and not so tired.

My DTs are almost 3 and a half, and at 3 were still napping regularly most days for 1.5-2 hours a day, as well as sleeping 12 hours at night. Over the last 6 months they have gradually dropped the nap, although will still occasionally have 2 hours to catch up if fatigue gets the better of them (usually at the weekend). I did find that a couple of months ago, when they were still napping most days, that they did start getting up quite early in the morning and that's when I starting limiting it a bit.

I think they're 'supposed' to drop the nap when it starts interfering with bedtime. Until then they almost certainly need to keep napping for optimum growth / brain development, blah blah blah.

Many sleep books say age 3-6 years. But many are written by Americans and as far as I can tell, they assume it's relatively unusual for children much younger than 3 to give up napping, so I think there must be some cultural differences with here.

DS is 25 months, we have had to drop his nap as far as possible because he will still be awake at 10pm every night with a decent nap.

Had to do the same with DD about this age - she would happily have a nap but still be partying at gone 10pm.

Some days he has no nap, and goes to sleep for the night about 8pm DOOSH out light a light. Some days he is too tired so I wake him after about 40 mins which feels very mean but is for the greater good - often still 9pm before he is asleep though (he shares bedroom with DD 3.10 so they wind each other up terribly some days )

I still need to get bedtime for them both a bit earlier - I need some of my evening back - but DD only has about 10-10.5hrs regardless. It's not enough for her, she is grumpy and tired 99% of the time, but she just won't stay in bed any longer than that.