Do I need to stop child napping?

[Lozzypop21]

Hi,

my son is 3yrs 8mnths and still naps everyday for around 2hours. If he doesn’t nap he’s quite emotional and plays up. A lot of people have been saying that he needs to stop napping at his age but I don’t know why! He still sleeps at night and to be honest I love his nap as it resets us both. When did your kids stop napping and should I stop it just because of his age?

If it works for you and him, I'd go with it. It does make full days out simpler if you don't have to accommodate a nap, but that's a minority of days – definitely not worth an overtired child the rest of the time.

If he sleeps through and it work well for both of you definitely don’t make him stop, especially if he’s suffering without it. Some people just need more sleep than others.

One of my oldest kids still napped right up until about halfway through P2, she’d come home and take half an hour after school finished. It’s never caused her any issues and she’s still the best sleeper in the family at 18yo 😂

My eldest napped daily until about age 4.5! He’s 5 now and still has an occasional nap. He’s often very emotional by the end of the day and I find myself thinking “you would have been in a better mood with a little catnap”.
Middle child is 3 and has between 1.5-2 hours nap daily. He rarely naps at nursery and is exhausted on those days so he definitely still needs it!
If he needs it, still sleeps at night etc I’d carry on as you are. Enjoy your middle of the day peace and quiet!!

Mine will be 4 next month and still naps when at home. He doesn’t at nursery 3x a week but often nods off on the way home so he still needs it most days. He sleeps 8-7 at night. He’s very ‘on’ all the time and does seem to need that little rest in the day to recharge. Often he stops what he’s doing and goes and tucks himself in bed when we’re at home and will snooze for a hour and a half to two hours.

I’ve never tried to curb it. If we are out and doing a lot of walking or travelling somewhere, he will still kip in a buggy, or more recently, just stretched out on the seats during a long train journey and I put a little blanket over him.

He can go a day without but I think he finds it comforting. It’s great for me too 😆 on the days he doesn’t do it it makes no difference to his night time sleep.

He'll give up the nap himself when he's ready.

As long as he still sleeps at night I’d definitely let him nap! I stopped my daughter napping at 2.5 because she stopped being tired at bedtime. But she still would have liked a nap if I’d let her and to be honest lots of days I did let her until about 4. I used to quite like snuggling into bed with her for a couple of hours! 🤣

Of course not! If he settles well in the evening and sleeps all night, a nap can only be a good thing (for both of you!)

My sons loved a nap at that age (especially in a car) but their sister stopped at 15 months.

If your son settles at night then I’d keep the nap. Lots of the people commenting are jealous of the nap and that he sleeps at night. IME it is older than normal but it sounds like he needs it 🤷‍♀️ so maybe don’t tell judgy people in future.

My youngest used to come home from pre school and nap and when she started school they finished at lunchtime for a few months she'd have a half an hour after lunch. I saw no need to stop.them or keep her up, it didn't affect bed time either.

Do what works for your son it isn’t anybodies bussiness really.

If he naps well and needs it and also goes to bed at the right time then no need to worry. It’s when bedtime becomes a struggle that you may need to drop the nap.

My DS is still very young but I myself was still napping until around the age of 6. I'm not from the UK an this was the norm. Preschool had us all take a 30 - 60 minute nap until that age too. But we also went to bed a lot later than British kids, I remember going to bed around 9.

I still randomly sometimes napped after school around the age of 8-9 if I was particularly tired. But again, I was going to bed around 9pm.

I was surprised when I had my DS and everyone here tells me he'll stop napping when he is 2. That's a very strange concept to me. But also, every child is different.

DC should be full time at school. What do people do if they work!? Dc mature at different times and some dc are more tired out than others. My DDs did a club and dancing in YR because they were active. You cannot really stop a dc sleeping though.

My kids napped most days until the started school (and then quite often had a nap after school!).

If it works for your family, don’t worry about what others say.