when did your dc stop napping?

[ilovetochat]

and did they then sleep longer/better at night?
dd is 2.2 and still naps 2 hours a day, she started to drop it at xmas then just picked it up again. now when i put her down she talks/sings for ages before dropping off but then sleeps 1.5 to 2 hours so imo must be tired.
but at night she sleeps 9 hours max.
if/when she stops napping will she sleep longer and without waking up?

Don't know! I stopped my DS napping when he was 2 - simply because he wouldn't stay in his bed at bedtime, kept wandering around upstairs! As soon as he stopped his nap - although he was grumpy for a bit - he went to bed easier and slept for 10/11 hours. I guess they're all different and need different sleep.

ilovetochat yes give up the naps and she will certainly sleep longer at night!

Perhaps try going down to a nap every 3rd of 4th day if she is too crabby.

My youngest gave them up at just 2, one of the others was nearer 4, it's a very individual thing.

I stopped DD at 2.8 - for a few months she would 'rest' for 2 ish hours (and slept for some portion of it). I put her to bed at 7ish but she wasn't actually going to sleep until 9ish and then up at 5:30/6ish.

I pulled the plug on her naps and she goes to sleep within half an hour of going to bed and wakes at 6:30ish. She would absolutely still ap in the day so i have to work hard at not letting that happen unless she literally falls asleep in the car/buggy in which case she gets 20 minutes max and that seems to be ok.

shortly after turning 2, both dds. Can't remember if they slept more at night

I tried to stop my DS2 napping at around three (well I'd tried before but it didn't work as he was in the car too much at the wrong time of day) because he was waking too early. We did quite well but he was often very grouchy from as early as five, and he did need a top up nap once or twice a week.

Just as I thought I was rid of the pushchair for ever, he has been a bit off colour and very tired, so has needed naps this week at 3.4. As he's bit a bit poorly I've let him sleep but I have put in the pushchair for the school run so he's woken up by excitement and noise after about an hour.

Thinking about it, yes DS slept long without naps. Are you like me, the only mum that is looking forward to the teenage years, so you get a lie in?!

i would love our evenings back, dd is currently sleeping 10pm till 7 am so we get no time for ourselves. my only break is now during her nap, she fell asleep at 2.30 having her milk, during her naps i do all the housework, order the shopping, MN and any phonecalls/paperwork but i would happily swap this time if she would go to bed early.

dd(16) years not months! is napping upstairs atm! So they don't stop in their teenage years and then you need the lie in as you are awake all night wondering where they are, what they're doing and why they won't answer their phones!

My son is 4 and naps for 1 3/4 - 2 hours every afternoon.

If he doesn't he has a broken night.

He sleeps 7.15pm - 6.45/7am.

in the past week alone 3 people have said to me dd is too old to nap and i have to break the habit but from your responses it seems many dc still nap at 2.2 and she is obvioulsy tired as she fell asleep on her chair drinking milk so i think i will let her nap when tired but not force her if she is wide awake.
dd will be at fulltime school when 4.2 FabBakerGirl so it will be funny if she naps then

DD is 3.1 and hasn't napped reliably since around a year old and even then she was hit and miss. She will occasionally fall asleep in the car if we're out in the afternoon and when that happens I really don't know what to do with myself I'm so unused to it . She used to sleep very well at night - usually an unbroken 12 hours or so but for the last 6 months or so she will only sleep on average for 9-10 hours a night (sometimes waking and trying get into our bed) so I wouldn't count on dropping the naps making your DD sleep longer though hopefully it will. I would imagine she'd be ready for bed sooner than 10pm though.

My almost 5 year old still naps. For 1-2 hours usually. He sleeps from 7.30pm to 7am usually.

butterball, when does he have time to nap around school?
i run dds bath at 7.30, in bath by 7.45 till 8.15, in pjs by 8.30 then stories and milk, in bed by 9pm but talks till 10??

He doesn't go to school. I deferred him as I figured someone that still napped half the afternoon wasn't ready for school.

Then decided to HE him anyway so he can nap until he's 12 if he likes.

DD stopped napping at 13 months. Sleeps 10 hours a night on a good night. Zzzzz...

im in my 30s and would still quite happily nap every day

I am so jealous of butterball and fabbakergirl! Neither of mine have ever slept that much, sob.

ilovetochat - you say she fell asleep on her milk at 2.30pm. When did she wake from her nap? Perhaps she is waking around 3.30pm or even 4pm - if so, no wonder she isn't ready to sleep until 10pm.

What time would you like her to go to sleep? If you think she needs 5 hours of awake time to be ready to sleep then why don't you either put her down to nap earlier in the day or wake her up by 5 hours before your ideal bedtime for her?

My DD is only 15 months so this is not really relevant to you but her bedtime is 7pm. She needs 4 hours to be sleepy so we always wake her up from her nap by 3pm. The best time for her to nap is around 1.30pm.

Otherwise you try cutting out her nap and giving her quiet time with a book or TV?

I think she's not ready for bed until 10pm because she naps so late?

she used to nap at about 1 for 2 hours but as she has got older i suppose she can last longer from 7am before she needs to sleep so now its normally 2-2.30 before she naps so its sbout 7 hours from waking to napping. obviously we cant then wait another 7 hours till bedtime. i think the nap will get later but shorter and eventually be dropped.

ds3, 3.6 has a nap at school in the sleep room with all the children in his age group. They all sleep for about an hour (they really do all fall asleep, and there are nearly 100 of them).

ds2, nearly 5, can't sleep at school, but still likes to nap at home. He's a bad night sleep though, always waking up crying and wandering around, so I think he's more tired than he should be during the day.