Not yet 2YO refusing day nap

[Endofmytetherfinally]

Posting here vs sleep in the hope of more traffic. My nearly 2YO has been down to one lunch nap for almost a year but has refused it point blank the last 3 days.

She always goes down at the same time. Same routine. Home and at nursery. She gets cranky around 3 because she's clearly overtired and is trying to sleep past her usual wake up at 7am though I don't want to get into that habit.

Any advice?

is she cutting molars? Does she like to ride in the pushchair? Take her for a walk for some fresh air and hope she nods off and leave her in it when you get him. If teething there will be less pressure in her mouth not laying down for a nap.

That was my dd, Bar the occasional sleep in the car, she dropped naps at 20 months. She did sleep a solid 12 hours every night though and occasionally more.
If you need her not to sleep later than 7, can you put her to bed earlier?

Not really. She's in bed at 7 so we're lucky to get 12 hours. Occasionally she wakes at 6 which is fine.. She's been waking a few times in the night but is quick to settle so I don't think it's molars as she isn't in pain. Maybe just night terrors?

I don't mind her not sleeping in the day if she wasnt really cranky by 3 but I think she needs it still. We've started toilet training a few weeks ago. She's doing really well but it's obviously a change. We're also due no 2 in 10 weeks so I am expecting her to feel unsettled.

No chance of sleeping in the pushchair. She's never slept in it since about 6 months. Same with the car. We just did a 3 hour trip over lunch and she refused in both directions. She's super stimulated by her surroundings which is why I understand her not always sleeping at nursery. We also can't tire her out more. She has hours outside every day and never sits still.

When mine were ready but not ready to drop naps we did quiet time instead.

After lunch I'd put on a film and we'd snuggle up to watch. Sometimes they'd fall asleep and sometimes they wouldn't. They did have a rest though and reset themselves a bit.

So day 4 no nap. Day 5 and 6 she did at her grandparents and nursery but no nap on day 7 at home. Any other tips?

We have tried getting her to lie down and rest but she's just not that kind of kid. She'll watch TV for a bit but not long enough to rest.

We had around 3 months of nap/no nap before DD dropped them completely. She had her last nap at age 23 months.

It was not a great time, as you mention, they are cranky with no nap. We didn't watch TV but I would go and lie on the bed with her on the weekends and have a chat or a cuddle for 30 minutes so she could recharge. Nursery was more about her going to the quiet corner for some downtime.

I feel bad but I was so hopeful she'd nap till 3 or at least for the first 3 months of the new baby's life to give me some rest.

And yes I know the chances of coordinating 2 kids sleeps are almost zero..

Do you have a light that puts patterns onto the ceiling or anything for her room? (Not sure what they are called) we got one when ours was refusing to settle in bed for a period and he liked watching it then would fall asleep watching the moons/stars/colours more often than not.. still naps some of the time at 3.5. I also found following the exact same routine as at bed time for naps helped

So I stopped having bath as part of bed routine (just did it ad hoc sometimes earlier in the day) and did a - teeth, wee, book, song sleep routine to keep it pretty short but the same for both nap and sleep.. that did seem to help too as we had all sorts we did pretty regular at home for bed settling, once that was shortened I copied it for naps.. worth trying maybe?

And failing that you may have an early nap quitter, thoughts with you!

My daughter dropped her last nap, which was 90 mins at 18 months. My son stopped napping at 4 even longer if you count falling asleep on long car journeys. Maybe have lots of short rests? If she is having a night terror, there is no settling until it passes, they scream/pull away if you touch them. My daughter had them till she was 6yrs old

Weirdly its roughly coinciding with getting her a gro clock. I wonder if the blue light is more stimulating than the red one in her old euky bear vaporiser / night light. Or maybe it's just darker / colder??

Tried the old night light but no improvement.. its really killing me. Will take any other tips.

We're now also getting a lot of bedtime refusal. Assuming it's separation anxiety but anyone with older kids who've been through it willing to give an indication of how long it might last or what we can do to make it easier on her?

Ours was like this around this age. It coincides with a house move, so lots going on. When she really needed it, she sometimes dozed off in the pushchair (though usually around 4 or 5pm!). Dropped nap completely around 24 and didn't seem to need it anymore. It was painful! Some of her friends still nap now at three and a half!

I'll be honest, the transition time where they won't nap but seem like they need one goes for eeeeever.

She wasn't one for quiet time in the afternoons either, really, though she does like a film now. Lots of fresh air and exercise was more important for her - more than most other kids her age.

She didn't really do "early" bedtimes either. I did usually let her sleep till whenever she woke up in the morning, though, if I could, as I figured her body was working out what she needed. Sometimes that was 6am, sometimes 8.30 (with a 7ish bedtime). Now at 3.5 she goes to sleep around 8.15 and wakes around 6.30-7.

We had audiobooks for the car and bedtime. These still help her chill out more than most other things. She goes to sleep to an audiobook or some calm music usually. She just needs a lot of help to switch her brain off! Her dad's the same.

Good luck!

Thank you. Appreciate the reply.

@Endofmytetherfinally mine started refusing to nap at 19mo, 1 month ago. Only way he will go to sleep is with motion, so I aim to get out in the morning to tired him out and then he sleeps on the drive home at lunch time. Anyway you could do something similar?