Should a two and a half year old take a daytime nap?

[applesaretheonlyfruit]

Hi,

My dd has just moved to a big bed, and I have stopped the daytime nap. She wakes at 6.30/7am and goes to bed at 6.30pm. Is this too long without a nap??

Previously she napped from 2pm to 5pm and consequently was up until 9pm! So we had to stop that before it became a routine. The trouble is, once she is asleep, if I woke her after 1 or 1.5 hours, she is very, very grumpy and horrible all afternoon.

At the moment, without the nap, she is asleep at night within 2 minutes. What does everyone else do?
Apples

That sounds fine - I would carry on as you are

DS is 18 months old and has one nap but if he ever has an extra nap it is impossible to get him to sleep at night until 10 or 11 at night. So I think they let you know when they are ready to drop a nap and it sounds like your DD has.

That sounds right to me
nighttime sleep much more important
my eldest napped til 2.5 but youngest stopped at 18 months iirc

There is no 'should' about it. Whatever works for you and your dd

Whats the problem, if that works for you and your child then fine. The fact that all my 4 children had an afternoon nap for nearly 4 years is what worked for us, they went to bed by 6.30/7 and slept for 12 hours.
You may find that they fall asleep in their dinner after a day at playgroup and may need a nap again and a slightly later bedtime as they get older.Just see how it goes, i've always found you can manipulate bedtimes quite easily by moving dinner earlier before they get tired and having a snack before bedtime.

We had the same probem with my son at the same age. Would quite happily have sleep in the afternoon, wake up grumpy then not go back to sleep until 9pm.
If your DD copes without a sleep then go with the flow. Initially we found that he needed a afternoon nap every few days as the tiredness built up then he went nap free.
Now at 3 only falls asleep if out in the car.

All mine dropped naps early, ds2 stopped napping during the day when he was around 1.

You might find she goes back to a short nap a couple of times a week, or knocks it on the head completely. My 2 DSs have always been long sleepers - even my near 4 year old would happily sleep for 2 hours every afternoon still, but I restrict him to twice a week DS2 is 2 and would have 3-4 hours if I let him, but he goes down at 1/2 and wakes by (or is woken by!) 3/4pm. They both will still sleep for 12hours at night. Take after their mum

whatever works for you!

If he wants it, yes, if he doesn't, no. Ds dropped his nap early, dd did not. She still needs more sleep than him.

Whatever works for you - ds had a nap every day til he started school, dd (2.3) copes very well without a nap and has done for about six months.

A none question surely? She naps in the day then is up late. She doesn't nap in the day and goes to bed easily.

My boys napped until they were 4 in the day and my almost 5 year old has napped in the afternoon twice this past week. Every child is different.

Thanks for your replies. I think will go with what currently works. I was just checking that my toddler is not the only one in the country not having a daytime nap, and consequently I might be responsible for melting her brain.. As Danthe4th suggested, I might reintroduce a nap when she starts nursery for a bit as it might be a bit overwhelming.

When DS stopped napping regularly - a few months ago? - we introduced Quiet Time (fabulous concept!) We bought him a clock that you can program for a set length of time; clock turns blue at the start of the time (1.5 hours in our case) and then yellow at the end of QT. You talk to your toddler about staying in their room for QT... DS always does, now, and he's 2.10. About two times out of three he doesn't nap, which is fine, he knows just to play in his room, but if he really needs the sleep, he will go down for a little rest. As I'm pregnant, and DH works about 12 hours a day, I just really still needed the break at lunchtime, tbh, even if DS thinks he doesn't need the nap!

My DD dropped her daytime nap at age 2.5 but we'd cut it down to 30 mins from around age 2 (ie we woke her up before she got into a very deep sleep to avoid the grumpy problem) - if she can stay awake until 6.30pm and not be in a foul mood then I think its fine.

My DS napped for 15 mins in his buggy each day on walk home from nursery from age 2.5- around 3 and it didn't seem to affect his bedtime - because it was such a short nap he was easy to wake and not moody. By around age 3 it was affecting his bedtime so he had to walk home from nursery!

BTW if my DS slept now from 2-5pm (he's 3.5) he'd still be up at midnight!

DD is 2.3 and is pretty much dropping her nap now. She'll sleep in the car but at nursery they are now having trouble getting her to sleep and she never sleeps at home with me. In the evening she sleeps from about 8.30/9.00 - 7 so I have the worst of both worlds!

My son slept dead on 12-2 till 3 yrs old and thank god! Even at 4yrs old he could do with it. I think its very healthy and always woke him after 2 hours unless he was exhausted.

He then went to bed at 7pm - 7am without fail and its paid off now.

The only trouble of knocking it too young you'll find that by 5pm they can be impossible and the poor little mites get in right moods. Personally I put alot of child problems with lack of sleep which then has a knock on effect on night time sleep patterns and feeding battles.

I think a child benefits from structured naps even for 1 hour and am sure that it helps with development. At middles in nursery they did make them sleep for at least an hour.

I think its a benefit for both of you as I loved those 2 hrs of bliss.