when to stop naps

[JennyinCorfu]

DD2 turned 2 on Saturday. She generally has a nap from 2.30pm - 4pm though it varies and she has missed it completely before. She goes to bed at 7.30pm and sleeps till 7pm.
She is a bad waker-upper though in the night, can be 5 times, for water, hug, sheet putting back over her feet, lots of things. I'm very tired - no proper nights sleep for the last 4 years......(also have DD1 age 4.4).
My problem is the bad mood she wakes up in every day from her nap. God she is such a whinge and nothing seems to be able to cheer her up - she will literally cry and moan for up to 2 hours on waking. Sometimes I wake her (otherwise bedtime would be too late) which I can understand might pee her off, but other times I let her wake naturally, regardless, she just cries and whinges and it really spoils our afternoon and means I have no time for DD1.
I have tried TV, cuddles, 1 on 1 stuff, even chocolate, but she is just miserable. She has recently started nursery each morning and is full of viruses so of course that's not helping.
Is it too early to stop her naps completely?

[vodkaanddietirnbru]

ds gave his up by the age of 2. I prolonged dd's until nearly 3 by taking her out in the car to get her to sleep! I didnt bother trying to prolong ds's though as it was too much effort. Your dd's nap is very late - is she actually tired when going to bed at 7.30pm? You could try making the nap earlier or take it away and see if it improves the night sleep.

[strandednomore]

It's not to early but if she's still going to sleep ok at half seven and basically sleeping until 7am (when she wakes does she go back to sleep fairly easily or does she seem quite awake?) I would say she probably still needs a sleep. Have you tried bringing her nap forward to say 1pm and then waking her at 2pm? Would that give her more time to wake up before picking your 4yr old dd up from school? (in fact if she sleeps until 4pm how're you managing this?). I think it's all fairly experimental at this point and every child is different. Certainly just turned 2 is still fairly early to give up a nap, but lots of children do at this age.

[JennyinCorfu]

Both kids go to nursery 8.45am - 1pm (I'm abroad). It would be good if she fell asleep in the car on the way home from nursery but DD1 is too chatty!
I thought that the odd day when she didn't nap, that her sleep would be better in the night and that bedtime could be earlier, but this didn't seem to be the case!
Thanks for the replies x

[strandednomore]

Ah yes your name should've given it away! Can you drive around a bit more until she falls asleep? That's what I used to do!

[JennyinCorfu]

Good idea! bit boring for dd1 though....

[strandednomore]

I was overseas at the time as well. Used to stop on the beach, buy a drink and a snack for dd1 and we would sit watching the waves and eating. Then would slowly drive home and leave the dd2 in the car with the windows open until it was too hot, when I would wake her up. She didn't usually get more than 30 - 45 mins but it was enough to keep her going until bed time.
Having said all that, I sympathise with you about the waking in the night because dd2 is now 4. 10 and wakes up EVERY night and comes into our bed. I think it's the age for it (sigh).

[HappyHippyChick]

My ds3 has just turned 2 and I have dropped his nap altogether because if he has even 10 mins in the day it is impossible to get him to sleep.

He now goes to sleep around 7 pm and wakes up about 6.30 am. He really doesn't need much sleep, which is a real pain!

[JennyinCorfu]

I might give no naps a go....if she doesn't drop off in the car then just give it up and try for an earlier bedtime x

[Peekabooooo]

I had similar issues and resolved by only letting DD sleep for a maximum of 45 minutes and the latest I would put her for a nap was 2. No problems since.

[IWillOnlyEatBeans]

I don't think there is a definite answer...

DS was around 2.4 when he stopped napping every day, but I still put him down for one nap per week now at 2.7.

At first no naps = really bad sleep at night, but it didn't take long for this to change and no naps now = brilliant, undisturbed sleep from 7pm to 7.30am (and DS has always been hit and miss on the sleeping front).