When do toddlers usually stop needing a daytime nap?

[ThatJadeHam]

Hi. My toddler still needing a nap in the day for at least 1.5 hours. Worried now as he approaches 2.5, when will I ease him off it. It certainly eliminates crankiness and does him good but I know I'll have to figure out how to stop it soon.

As far as I'm aware, you don't stop it. They naturally move into a rhythm themselves of not needing one every day. But still will sometimes.

This could be 2.5, 3 or even older.

One of mine napped until he was 4, the other stopped at 2.

So long as it's not disrupting night time sleep you can let the day time nap drop naturally.

If they are still going to bed fine in the evening then you leave well alone! My oldest napped until 3.5 years old. Meant he missed afternoon school nursery as he still needed a lunchtime nap. My daughter stopped napping at 17 months 😢

I can't remember exactly, but I think the naps stopped at home sometime before third birthday - it wasn't gradual, he went from 90min nap after lunch every day to refusing to nap and that was it, no more naps! He kept napping occasionally at nursery for a few more weeks and then that stopped too. It obviously varies by child but very few kids in the preschool room at nursery had a nap beyond the first few weeks (when the youngest had just turned 3 - they were taken to toddler room for nap if they wanted).

My eldest dropped his at maybe 2.5 going on 3. However he still has one now at 4 when he's had a very busy day. My daughter is 2 and she still has a long nap. We judge it based on how grumpy they are. If your little one has a phase in the day where they aren't so much fun to be around that's probably a clue they need a nap.

Why would you want to stop it? This hour around lunch time where I can actually get stuff done is a godsend. Just wait until they drop it naturally, you know it’s time if they either keep refusing to go down or if it starts to disturb the evening routine.

My eldest didn't stop napping untill he was 4.5.

He stopped the daily naps at 3 in nursery but still napped twice a week ( on his half day on Wednesday and at the weekend). It didn't stop him sleeping at night quite the opossite, if he did go too long without a nap he would get hugely over tired, scream hysterically at bedtime and wake up multiple times during the night.

My now 3 and a half year dropped his daily nap just after 3 but still naps a couple times a week.

I would follow their lead. As long as its not impacting nighttime sleep let them at it.

DC1 was 2y6m, DC2 was 4y3m (!!), DC3 was just 3.

DD napped until she started reception (at weekends she would still nap, but she had nowhere to sleep at school so she had to stop there). In many countries dcs still nap at school age and they have mats there and a scheduled time for it in school.
She would nap in the buggy as we were out and about every day. Lots of dcs still need to nap but the parents stop using the buggy so the dcs have nowhere to sleep, you see them hunched over their scooters trying to nod off while standing up.

Dd1 wasn’t napping at 2, dd2 still napped after school aged 5 … all different!

Mine didn’t drop their nap until they started school.

My eldest dropped hers about 18 months. However she wld sleep at nursery and it drove me mental. Sometimes she wld sleep over 2hrs there! I had many conversations about them not allowing her to sleep more than an hour as it messed up bedtime routine as she wasn’t tiered.

My second child was older probably about 2. I had to stop the naps as they were getting later and later in the day and too close to bedtime. Sometimes she wouldn’t go down until 9/10pm if she had a nap.

Eldest only dropped the nap at 4y3m because he couldn’t have it at school. He still takes the opportunity for a daytime nap whenever he can.

Middle is 3 next month and seems to be in the process of dropping hers. Naps on nursery days but, over the last month or so, has mainly not napped at home. Bedtime is definitely easier on the no-nap days!

Mine hasn't dropped it yet (almost 2) but I just wanted to say I still napped until closer to 5!

DS had dropped his nap by the end of the summer after he'd turned two -- he was two in April and had stopped napping by September.

DD was 2.5 when she completely finished with day time napping apart from the occasional danger nap on the way home after a busy day. DS was 3, partly because he was at nursery and hadn’t moved up to the preschool room and was more than happy to take a nap alongside the rest of his nursery buddies at lunchtime 😆

Mine could just about manage to get through the day without a nap without having a meltdown by around 3. If we were in the car, they would still take one, but I stopped deliberately putting them down for a nap. However, they went on getting a nap at preschool til age 6, because that's how it's done in the country where we live. Up til about age 4 they removed outer clothing and got into little beds for an hour or so. By age 5/6 I don't think they all actually slept -just lay on yoga mats with their clothes on, more like a 20 minute shivasana.

It is really depends on the children. I have 3 kids and they all stopped napping at different times. My youngest (now 10) might still have a nap with me at the weekend at times! My eldest napped until he went to primary school and my middle child until she was 4 then she wasn’t having any of it and managed to get through the day without issues but I couldn’t delay bed time otherwise that would be a problem! But to be fair she is still like this.
think you have to see how they behave and adjust

What's the problem with him napping?

Unless it's impacting his overnight sleep/bedtime you don't need to wean him off. He'll grow out of it naturally.

My daughter started the dropping nap process around 2.5 when others in her nursery room dropped naps but she continued to have occasional naps for a year. It started with missing the odd nap. Then she didn't nap on 2 of 3 days at home, then she stopped napping at nursery but went back to napping at home. She then dropped to once a week. She stopped doing proper naps around 3 although had a short nap once a week on the windy drive to swimming until she started school at 4.

We adjusted her bedtime routine depending on if she had had a nap based on how she was. Going up 5-10 minutes later, doing a jigsaw and then an extra story and being slower to get ready meant we could keep the appearance of the usual routine but get her into bed about half an hour later than usual and accept it would be a bit slower for her to go to sleep. All in all she when to bed about half an hour later and asleep about 45 minutes later than usual

Completely varies. Eldest daughter napped until 3yrs old. Youngest daughter only napped until 18 months.

My daughter began dropping hers around 2.5 but still has one occasionally if she's unwell, now she's very nearly 3. I had to stop my son's nap a few months before he turned 3 so he could start nursery school.

Our DGS napped resolutely until he went to school at four and a half and had to stop. Now, at 6, he's still no good for anything after 3pm.