Is 18 months too early to stop napping completely?

[18mononap]

My LO started sleeping through the night around 4 or 5 months. Her night sleep honestly has always been good, we did have to wake her to feed in the early weeks but we never really had sleepless nights for very long. Her naps have always been rubbish unless they were a contact nap. I tried absolutely everything apart from CIO, but she would never do longer than half an hour unless held. This actually stopped a few months after she began nursery at 11 months where they only offer one nap, and in the past few weeks to month ish she's napped 1.5 hours every day without being held which has been brilliant.

The past week she's been increasingly harder to get to sleep. She is in bed by 7.40pm (bedtime routine is the same every day). And she wakes between 7am to 7.30am. We used to nap her at 12.30, then she started falling asleep naturally if out and about in her pram at 1pm. Come to today and it's 2pm and she's full of beans, fighting her nap and I'm wondering if I should bother continuing because of she falls asleep too late in the day then bedtime will be later. But if I keep her up then she'll be miserable in the early evening, I'm not keen on an earlier bedtime as that means an earlier wakeup and right now her 7.30am wake up is perfect for our mornings as we both work full time.

Every nap is a fight. We make sure she is tired out, she goes to the park every day if we're not working and runs around and climbs for a good forty minutes to an hour. Clean nappy, milk, teddy and dummy. She will never nap in her cot, I discovered months ago it's best to strap her into her pram and pull the hood down and rock her to sleep. If I put her in her cot she just stands up and runs around and it's an endless battle of laying her back down repeatedly.

I would like to add that nap time has always been a huge rage trigger for me. When she was very young I felt very angry if she didn't nap according to what I thought was the perfect schedule. And sitting on the floor and rocking her pram as she giggles, blows Raspberries and tries to get out just makes me feel like a mug and makes me feel angry. Which is another reason I'd like to drop her nap because it just stresses me out so so much. Her nursery closed unexpectedly in August and she goes back at the end of this month. And I'm wondering if I'll be returning a child that no longer naps?! I'm wondering if because she has such good night sleep she doesn't need day sleep, but it still seems a bit early for me?

Try it and see what happens? It would be unusual but not unheard of. They do shorten their night sleep as they get older so you will have to compromise on a later bedtime or earlier wake up at some point.

Hiya, my DD is 2 and naps on an afternoon usually around 1pm until anywhere between an hour/ 2 hours. (Depending on what time she got up) and goes to bed around 8pm. I think it all depends on your child, what works for them etc. in all fairness, sometimes my child will even fall asleep on a morning around 11am, I just let her sleep. Nap times I usually just give her a bottle, her comfort blanket and put some lullabies on and she’s gone! My Dd has always been okay going to sleep though. Sometimes she’s full of beans and don’t sleep until she goes to bed, in which case I just leave her to it, I would just take each day as it comes and don’t add too much pressure onto yourself! Some children just don’t need the extra nap time.

Consider dropping the nap one day a week and see how she reacts. I know someone who did it at that age and it worked well for them.

My sister's two both dropped their naps completely by around 20 months, so it's not totally unheard of. You just have to go by your baby's needs.

My DS didn't nap past 13 months, or sleep well at night. Every child is wired differently

Both mine dropped at 18 months. One had fought it for several weeks and I just gave up. They still didn't sleep at night. The other had 3hr naps daily until one day said they didn't want a nap, I thought ok, she'll have it tomorrow, but she never went back. Still slept brilliantly each night.
I tried to have a quiet time after lunch for a while, stories, TV etc so they had downtime. If either of them were obviously overtired, I would go for a drive and they might drop off in the car if desperate.

We've dropped the nap at 22 months. Occasionally I'll let her sleep if I have things to do and she falls asleep in the car, but it means a very late bedtime. She's ok without a nap and will sleep 11-12 hours at night.

18 months is early to drop the nap, but of she doesn't need it then she doesn't need it.

What happens if you leave her in her cot? Is she happy enough running about etc.? If so I'd just leave her in her cot with some books/teddies and let her have a play by herself or sleep as she sees fit.

My younger DD dropped her nap quite early (can't remember the exact age but it was WAY earlier than I would have expected). Up, on the go like a Duracell bunny for the entire day, slept like a stone from 7pm til 7am. It was what worked for her and as a teen now she only ever naps if she is unwell. My older DD is nearly 22 and she LOVES a nap! Different strokes for different folks....

My eldest was exactly like this. I used to push her in the pram for anything up to an hour and if it didn't work drive round in the car. She would sleep for about 30/45 mins max then wake up grumpier than before. My youngest was born just before she was 18 months and I just couldn't keep up with it anymore so we stopped naps. She is nearly 10 now and still doesn't need much sleep. Youngest on the other hand needed long naps and still needs more sleep.

This is what I’d do too. Leave her in her cot with some books and teddies and if she sleeps fine, and if she doesn’t, then she’s having some alone time and you also get a break. Obviously not if she’s screaming bloody murder! But lots of kids need some down time, and parents definitely need it!

My kids napped till 3 so I’d have lost my mind if they stopped at 18 months!