2yr old dropped nap but can't hack it

[lamby12]

My 2 yo has recently stopped napping (she's 2 & a quarter to be precise). She previously was a mega napper and would have one solid 2-2.5 hr nap after lunch daily.

I don't mind too much that she's dropped the nap as she is now sleeping much longer in a morning. She was waking at 5am but now she's doing a solid 7-7 overnight which is brill.

The problem is she can't really hack the full day. She is not a sit down child, on the go all the time and a bit wild. I've been doing tv time on the sofa under a blanket when it became apparent she was no longer napping, but after 5 mins of sitting she's climbing all over everything in the living room practically swinging from the ceiling. She's going through a phase where threats of anything won't work... selective hearing too.

Anyway I tried to put her down for a nap today, first time in a couple of weeks and she erupted into full on temper tantrum, worst I've ever seen, after a good while we ended up downstairs with TV because she was getting so worked up it was worrying.

By tea time she is so tired she's not eating her tea, bath time is terrible. She's in a state by the end of the day. I should say she goes to nursery 3 days and she is apparently still napping there as they all nap together.

For those that have been through this age, will she go back to having the nap or will she soon get to being able to hack the full day?

Mine droped his nap at a similar age about a year ago and it did take a while before he could manage the whole day without a tired induced tantrum. I realised he was ok for a couple of days but then needed the extra sleep so he'd often have a sofa nap every 3-4 days, he usually one nap per week now. Quiet time has never worked for us but I often just stick Cbeebies on for a bit to give me a break (I was pregnant for most of last year and now have a 4 mo so I need the respite!)

You may need to bring bedtime even earlier and for now she may need a catch up nap every few days.

Mine did this so I used to take him out for a drive after lunch so he could sleep, is that possible for you? He would be the same by the end of the day, not eating tea because he was so tired. He did very briefly go back to napping in bed but it didn’t last. After 2 and a half he was ok without the nap.

When DS stopped his nap he went to bed much earlier. He was asleep for about 6pm for a while, he ate his tea at 4.30pm and some nights was too tired for a bath. He would sleep until 6am-ish.

It didn't last too long and like your daughter had been a good post lunch napper. I'd didn't mind the earlier bedtime as I got a good evening and could still go to bed at a reasonable time.

We're just in the car and she's asleep! The afternoon descended because she wouldn't just sit and watch the, she was jumping off the sofa onto the window ledge?! And wouldn't stop. Long story short I very much lost my temper (I now have extreme mum guilt for crazy yelling) and bundled her in the car for a desperate drive. Anyway she fell asleep after half an hour and is now snoring away. I'll have to wake her up soon but she really needs the rest so I will now be scheduling an afternoon drive until she can either hack the day or have some downtime watching tv.
I haven't done this since she's a baby.
Currently sitting in the car on the driveway in the rain...

@ValpolicellaPrimitivo that's interesting, I'm definitely guilty of tea time too late sometimes. And I thought anything before 7pm felt too early a bedtime but I'm basing this on nothing really other than my mums comments when we've started the bedtime routine (bath etc) shortly after 6 and she says 'gosh that's early?!'

So I will not feel worried about getting her to bed too early.

It doesn't sound too be like she's ready to drop it, but that you may need to change how you do it, and limit its length.

The car is a good option, or a buggy or sling walk, but she sounds like she's no longer exhausted enough that you can just put her down for a nap (saying that, I've never been able to put my children down for a nap, it's a myth as far as I'm concerned) and have to actively induce sleep.

With my first, we had to start limiting the length of a nap to an hour and a half, then an hour, and then as she started to drop it, she'd miss the occasional day, then it would be missing a few naps a week, and then would need to mail only every few days etc.

@Babyboomtastic you're right, her behaviour is screaming that she still needs the nap (literally...) but fighting it. I think the car nap today has shown she can still go when tired perhaps just not in the cot in the day any more. She doesn't tend to ever fall asleep in the buggy.

She used to in the sling but I haven't used the sling for a good year and a half, not sure I could carry a nearly 2.5 year old for a sling walk but I'm impressed with anyone who can!