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Parenting

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Original poster

So when your toddler starts giving up nap time...

20 replies

robino · 05/02/2009 14:08

What do you do?!

Do you have time where they go up to bed anyway and read/ play quietly/loll about on their own?

Do you have, say, 30 mins quiet time where they sit and watch tv/ read/ draw while you're in the room?

Do nothing and get progressively more ragged as the day goes on (although you might not get ragged but I know I will)?

DD1 (just turned 2) has missed 3 naps in the last week (she usually does 12-2). I'm hoping it's just a blip because I really appreciate just a little bit of time to myself during the day - and for the last 6 months it has regularly only been a very little bit of time to myself because DD2 doesn't seem to think that daytime naps are really her thing...

Any ideas appreciated...

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

naturalblonde · 05/02/2009 15:22

Not sure but will watch with interest as my dd is at the sane stage. Although she is napping at the moment, but I will suffer later when she refuses to go to bed.

JackBauer · 05/02/2009 15:27

I think the answer you need is
Cbeebies 2.30 In the night garden
Nick Jr 3pm Peppa pig.

Is the only way I stay sane with DD1. She sits quietly on the sofa and watches tv having a cuddle with her toys and I do my thing.
Then at half 3 DD2 wake sup and it's all go again.

If I dont let her have downtime she is a little brat for the rest of the day. I think they just need to turn their brains off for a bit.

ThePgHedgeWitchIsCrankyBeware · 05/02/2009 18:44

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bodiddly · 05/02/2009 19:01

I make mine go to bed for a while ... I leave some books next to him and he makes out he is going to have a sleep but comes down about 40 mins to an hour later more often than not. Other days he watches a bit of tv.

nappyzonehasastroppytoddler · 05/02/2009 19:05

My ds is becommig harder to go to bed at night and wakign earlier so at 27 motnhs i am reducing his sleep voluntarily - he is down to an hr now though would have 2 if i left him to it. I am dredding the long days but hoping summer will be here when it gets permanent so we can pass the time more happily. I have discovered cbeebies at 2.30 also and i think its onat 11am also if you get desperate. When you relaise cbeebies repeats itself is when yu relaise they watch perhaps too much tv

Swedes · 05/02/2009 19:08

DD has given up her nap just this past week. She is 3 years and 2 months. DS3 (18 months) goes to his cot immediately after lunch so it's a great shame DD no longer needs it. I stopped it because she slept so well in the afternoons that she started to not need to go to bed very early at night (often still wide awake and chatty at 10pm). She normally draws at the kitchen table and then watches a bit of telly. The days now feel very looooooooong.

Original poster

robino · 05/02/2009 19:12

Thanks! Trouble is she currently watches Cbeebies at DD2's 9 and 4 feeds so that DD2 (she that thinks naps are for wimps and has done since birth) will have a cat nap on my lap - ah well, a little more won't hurt, eh? Well, less than her mother going bonkers...

I get the feeling my days are going to feel very long...

OP posts:

nannyL · 05/02/2009 19:50

when my 3 year old gave up his nap (about a year ago now) for the next 6 months i put him in his room, lights on low with some books for him to read for 30mins quietly by himself, and then i would go and read them too him afterwards

Blondeshavemorefun · 06/02/2009 15:43

luckily my 3.3 still sleeps 1/2hrs a day as does his ls 7mths

both sleep after lunch and still sleep 12hrs at night, though recently he has said to mb that he doesnt want a sleep, yet to me, he ask for bed - mb is very at me

i enjoy the 2hr beak - my days are manic when they are awake and when IF he gives up his sleep,then he can still have quiet time in room playing with toys/reading books or watch tv for an hour

nannies dont get lunchbreaks and this is MY time -and tbh mums need THEIR time as well so a quiet time is essential

thatsnotmymonster · 06/02/2009 15:53

I think it may just be a blip. Try to keep it going if you can- even just every other day. Though I would say to her she has to stay in bed and look at books anyway.

My 3.10yo (4 in March) is only just dropping his. He naps some days and not others. If he didn't share a room with his 2 little sisters he would have to go and read etc. As it is he is playing Mario Kart wii and burping whilst sitting beside me on the sofa

My neice who is nearly 3 has just started refusing her nap but she has to do quiet time too.

At 2 I would definitely persevere with the sleep though, mine have had spells of not wanting to but they did still need it.

ProfYaffle · 06/02/2009 16:05

They're all different, some children are ready to drop their nap quite early. My dd1 dropped hers at 25 months. I was finding it took her longer and longer to fall asleep for her nap which was pushing it later into the afternoon and interfering with her nighttime sleep. We stopped and she was fine.

dd2 is just coming up to 24 months and she had a blip a couple of months ago when she stopped napping but she's now taken it up again with enthusiasm! I'm finding now though that she can cope without one every now and then. I'm actually looking forward to escaping nap time tyranny.

iwantitnow · 06/02/2009 16:53

How about trying to put her down for her nap at 1pm instead.

peachface · 06/02/2009 16:59

My ds1 dropped daytime napping completely at 16mths but my ds2 who is now 18mths has only just dropped from a 3hr daytime nap to a 2hr daytime nap so isn't showing signs of stopping yet! I recall lots of being run ragged by ds1 when he'd dropped his daily nap BUT it does mean they are tired earlier in the evening so as long as you can cope with them struggling a bit at teatime, you have a longer evening to yourself once they're asleep and can then hopefully catch up on your own peace and quiet at that point! I agree with the quiet CBeebies downtime mid-afternoon, if you can manage it - just gives a child a rest and you too (I used to pop ds1 in his highchair with a snack while he watched a bit of tv so I could just sit quietly too for a little while and try and recover my brain function!).

Blondeshavemorefun · 06/02/2009 17:22

some children can cope with no afternoon sleep at 2 others cant till they are nearly 4

thou sure my 4.5 when she started school would have liked a snooze at 3pm when i picked her up

if they dont want to sleep or you want to cut down their sleep as not sleeping at nights/going to bed later, so a bit of tv/quiet time does wonders for the mums sanity

Acinonyx · 06/02/2009 17:54

We have quiet time, maybe with some TV or stories, if we're at home but not if we're out. (I think then the car becomes quiet time). Dd dropped her nap gradually. Between 2-2.5 she would nap roughly every third day (she's 3.5 now).

HLaurens · 06/02/2009 20:41

Am in exactly the same position with DD1, currently 2.8. Some days, like today, she really needs a sleep, others she is clearly not tired. If she sleeps, it does not interfere with her bed time.

I disagree with her getting to watch tv if she doesn't sleep, as I know that this will lead to her NEVER sleeping, as she would rather watch Balamory than have a nap even if she is exhausted. She would never fall asleep infront of the tv.

So I am putting her in her room at the same time every day even if she isn't tired (when DD2 has a nap) and if she doesn't want to sleep she just chats to herself and potters around for 45mins or so. If this continues, I can cope. I need a break from her!!!

nappyzonehasastroppytoddler · 07/02/2009 12:44

Im with you on that profyaffle - its so tying now - we rush back so he has his peaceful sleep then he doesnt want it or plays up - we have been down to an hr this week and he did sleep in a bit this am to 7.30 - have also pushed his nap to 1pm which seems to be making him mroe willing.

ProfYaffle · 07/02/2009 16:05

Glad it's not just me, people seem to think I'm mad when I say that

I'm cutting dd2's nap down to an hour too but the trouble is if she's in her cot she goes into a really deep sleep and I can't wake her up. I can bring her downstairs and change her nappy but she still won't wake up! She ends up having 2hrs and then won't go to sleep at night til about 10pm. I'm now trying to get her to have her naps in the pram as she's easier to wake up.

I really can't wait til all this titting about is behind us.

nickytwotimes · 07/02/2009 16:09

DS dropped his nap suddenly at the age of 2, having loved his nap until then.

WE had a few months where he was a bit fretful from 4pm on, but has been fine since.

He won't tolerate being left alone for even 10 minutes, so I'm afraid I had to go without my hour long break.

In the spring/summer, I was taking him for a push, just so he would chill. Ove rthe winter, I have resorted to CBeebies - he will sit slightly still for 20 minutes and this seems to top up his energy levels enough to see him through to bed time without tears.

GColdtimer · 07/02/2009 16:33

DD lies on the sofa with some milk and a blanket and normally watches tv for about 45 minutes. If she is really tired, so will have a nap. I either run around getting jobs done, or like today (because DH was watching the rugby in the living room) we went to bed and I had a snooze whilst she watched Maisie.

DD definetely needs that downtime though, otherwise she is a nightmare.

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