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Original poster

How old was your child when they dropped their last nap?

37 replies

Luckytattie · 24/10/2021 21:12

My DS was 2 in August and at the moment it seems like he could maybe drop his nap. I think there's been a few days at nursery he hasn't napped which isn't like him and he has seemed exhausted when he's home although gets a second wind and wakes up again...
Today we drove around for a while absolutely sure he was needing a nap but actually maybe he didn't.

Not sure!

So tell me when your toddler gave up their last nap. Google says between 3 and 5 but that seems late to me?!

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gettingolderbutcooler · 24/10/2021 21:16

About 3.

swapcicles · 24/10/2021 21:17

4 and a half, as she got older it wasn't a daily thing but it was only school that broke the habit, in reception she'd often be found napping hidden away in the home corner or dozing in the arms of the TA !

Marcipex · 24/10/2021 21:17

Certainly over three; maybe three and a half, but he was very active in between.

Rtmhwales · 24/10/2021 21:17

The same month he turned 3 unfortunately. Now he sleeps a bit longer in the morning but it's not quite the same break.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 24/10/2021 21:17

About 3… between 3-3.5 she prob napped three times a wk and then it slowly went.

BlodwynBludd · 24/10/2021 21:18

2 and a half.

Ilikecheeseontoast · 24/10/2021 21:19

The same month they turned 3. Would’ve gone on for longer but bedtime was starting to become a battle.

EnglishRose1320 · 24/10/2021 21:20

My first dropped them super early, 9 months if he didn't go out in the car, you could get a few daytime naps if you went for a very long drive.

My second would probably happily still nap now! He had to give up his nap when he started school. Although for the first term he had Wednesdays off because he just got too tired to manage.

To be fair, my children are polar opposites with most things.

Franca123 · 24/10/2021 21:20

Mine is 2 and a half. He still naps most days but can cope badly without it. Even when he says he doesn't want it and doesn't seem tired, I put him in his cot. He always sleeps or at least has loads of quiet time alone in his cot.

Fabuleuse · 24/10/2021 21:21

DS1 was a long transition of sometimes a nap sometimes not a nap between 2.5-3.
DS2 was around 3rd birthday and more abrupt, encouraged by us as his night time asleep time was getting quite short.

SylvanasWindrunner · 24/10/2021 21:21

Just before she turned 2. Gutted! She only needs about 11 hours overnight and no daytime sleep now. I miss those two-hour naps in the day!

AnneLovesGilbert · 24/10/2021 21:21

DD is 2.5 and very rarely doesn’t have one. Normally she naps an hour a day and I can’t see that changing soon. When she went from two to one she alternated for months till finally the second dropped completely.

ChocolateRiver · 24/10/2021 21:22

They both stopped having a consistent daily nap at around 2.5. But both would have naps a few times a week up to about 3.5. They rarely napped after this unless we’d been out for the day then they sometimes fell asleep in the car on the way home.

HollyBollyBooBoo · 24/10/2021 21:22

22 months - just about killed me, they were loooong days!

HumpHumpWhale · 24/10/2021 21:25

2 to 2.5. While I was pregnant with his sister. I was gutted! DD was about the same age.

Ralph871 · 24/10/2021 21:26

DS1 dropped his nap just after he turned 2, it was hard going for a while but because he still slept 12 hours overnight I felt I couldn't really complain too much.

Original poster
Luckytattie · 24/10/2021 21:26

Ok so quite a lot of over 3s and for those younger still occasional naps

I can imagine the hell of not having a 2 yr old nap
I was thinking today maybe we were selfish to have him napy today but then he did actually sleep 2 hours...so he must've needed it.
I thought it odd he didn't have a nap at nursery on Friday and then on the Wednesday he had only napped 15mins there too. But did nap at my parents in-between those days on the Thursday and has napped with us.

OP posts:
CeeceeBloomingdale · 24/10/2021 21:26

DD1 was 18 months. I should have stopped when she was ready at 12 months but felt I needed the alone time so would walk her about for 1.5 hours to achieve 10 minutes of sleep. DD2 also stopped wanting to nap at 12m so I chose my battles and allowed her. I was devastated that most of my friends could get their 3 years olds to nap for 2 hours at a time. I remember my friend who had a baby on the same day as I did expressing sadness that at 3.5 years her DD would only nap every other day. I wished!

MarshaBradyo · 24/10/2021 21:27

Around two but hard to remember

I know she has loads of energy, nearly 4 now

WakeUpLockie · 24/10/2021 21:29

DS1 was bang on 2, DS2 is almost 4 and still sometimes naps.

Amammai · 24/10/2021 21:30

Starting regularly dropping the nap around two. Went through phases over the next few months of napping/not napping. The best was napping at home three days a week but not at childcare. That worked well. At 2.5 we stopped encouraging them as he was a nightmare to get to sleep at night. Since then he’s only had very occasional danger nap in the car.

IDontDrinkTea · 24/10/2021 21:31

18 months. Won’t nap for love nor money since and generally only sleeps 11 hours at night too. She’s just not that bothered about sleeping

passionfruitpizza · 24/10/2021 21:32

18 months. On the plus side his bedtime was 430pm for a while.

Ozanj · 24/10/2021 21:34

Every child is different and you should go by what they need rather than some arbitary milestone. I know many kids that still nap once a day until 7/8 and still manage to get their 12-14 hours at night.

TheBestSpoon · 24/10/2021 21:35

DS has finally dropped his at 2y9m, but it's been getting more intermittent since his second birthday. And if we let him have a nap longer than an hour, bedtime has been a nightmare for a while. The final straw was when he started taking over an hour to go to sleep and waking up early on a regular basis after any nap. We had a few days of overtired tears before bedtime, but overall he was ready.