Two year old nap battles

[hollylouise1994]

DC1 is a great night time sleeper but has started to really resist having an afternoon nap. He is clearly tired but it’s becoming such a battle that I’m wondering if it’s worth it.

When did you drop naps? And would it really harm him if he just didn’t have a nap anymore? Thanks

DS was 2.5 when he dropped his nap, it almost happened overnight.

@CoffeeandKitKat did you consciously decide or was it just too much effort? How do I know if he is ready to drop a nap?

He basically just stopped one day. The transition did take a while as sometimes he'd fall asleep in the car but he did start to sleep much better overnight so I just did very short car journeys or stayed in during the afternoons to avoid car naps.

I wasn't ready to see the nap go, he was always a good, 2 hour napper but he just started going to bed earlier, about 2 hours earlier, instead so got a longer evening.

He's 4.5 now and naps are a distant memory!

I suppose resisting his nap, taking longer to go to sleep at bedtime, waking early or in the night might be indicators your dc is ready to drop the nap. Each child is different though.

Mine is 2.5 and still needs her nap. It’s actually really annoying because I find we either have to go out really early in the morning and be done by lunch time or we have to wait until she’s had lunch and get her to sleep first or she will be too over excited by whatever we’re doing and not nap but be a total mardarse lol. I can’t wait for her just to drop the nap. I’m not pushing it though. We’ll drop it when she stops sleeping overnight or refuses to go to sleep. I’ll be honest though she won’t nap in her bed for us our only option for about a year now has been to drive her out

@Jannt86 this sounds like us! Although tbh we have seen an interesting shift lately where the car is no longer a guarantee for a nap so maybe that is actually a sign - very helpful thank you!