2.5 years old refusing naps

[sophiajanexx]

My 2.5 year old girl has starting refusing naps at home and nursery. I don’t mind if she were to drop the naps but the days when she doesn’t nap, she is literally waking up 4-5x crying in the night, restless and agitated. When she naps she sleeps through 11/12 hours no issue. We’re going out of our minds because we have to take her out of nursery early just so she naps so that we all get sleep. Our work is suffering and we’re miserable and tired. Any tips ?!

My daughter wouldn't nap at home or nursery at about the same age but it didn't have any impact on how she slept at night. At nursery, she and another child who also refused naps were put in a room of their own so they didn't disturb the other children and they had a quiet hour. Could you talk to nursery about something similar for your DD? At the weekend, I lay down with her when it was obvious she needed a nap as she refused to sleep otherwise. It was worth an hour of me lying down for everyone to have a better weekend. The consolation I can give you is this phase was short and she quickly adapted to functioning fine with sleeping only at night.

In your situation, I would have tried two things. First, shortening her night-time sleep by an hour by putting her to bed later. This may increase her need for sleep during the day so you could reintroduce naps. You could also try a pillow spray to encourage restful sleep - This Works do a good one. Second, I would help her with ways to soothe herself back to sleep. She is old enough at 2.5 to understand you talking to her about that - singing, looking at a book, cuddling a teddy? A win would be reducing the number of times she wakes up to 1 or 2 to get to zero.