How to transition from 1 to 0 naps?

[teaandkittehs]

Hi all, I gather this can look very different for different kids so am just looking for advice or your experiences on how you dealt with it. We've got signs creeping in such as taking up to an hour to go to sleep once in her cot at night (luckily at present she just talks loudly to herself) and taking 25 minutes to get to sleep for her nap, and sometimes waking for a couple of hours at night and talking to herself for the duration. I'm not sure how we will approach this, we've always cut her nap shorter and shorter when he's nights have got bad enough and it's definitely helped, but she's down to an hour now, I'm not sure how short we can realistically cut her nap, maybe down to 30 minutes? She's also not ever refused her nap yet, but is taking longer to get to sleep, so she is clearly able to stay awake longer now. I dread the unreliability of her potentially only napping some days and refusing it on others, and also the thought of her refusing a nap but then falling asleep in the car accidentally at 4pm and then being awake until 11pm as a result is quite terrifying! General stories and advice welcomed. She's approaching 2 years 5 months.

Bedtime need to be length of nap time plus 30 mins earlier. Do everything you for the first two weeks to avoid accidentL danger naps! It will take a couple of weeks to adjust to the new routine.

The earlier nights will be welcome and so needed! She's so busy that I dread full days. . . . And she's sensitive to sleep so danger naps will be a real issue with her, I just know a sneaky ten mins late in the day will gear her up for hours of awake time! Ah gaaad I'm dreading this transition. It's sneaking closer though and no way out of it.

You could try cutting it down to 45 mins initially to see if it helps overnight. Try for at least a week before deciding if it's helped or not. If not, then just go cold turkey with an earlier bedtime (6/6.30 I'd fine if needed). Again, try it for a week to see if it helps overnight. She'll probably be fine for most of the day, but the last hour or so before bedtime could be a bit tough for a while. Good luck!

Also would definitely recommend "down time" if you do drop the nap. At the time she would usually nap, do something quiet instead such as drawing, reading books or even some TV time, to give you both a chance to rest.

Don’t cut it unless she’s ready. My 3.5 year old is currently napping.
he will prob go to sleep about 9pm-7am tonight now

If you need to go out in the car (we had a 45 min ish nursery commute about this time) then buy a couple of those really obnoxious flashy loud toys that they sell at pantomimes/carnivals. They were great for keeping her awake in the car

I found there was a period when my DC would have a nap every other day. So they would power through the first day with no nap but then be too tired to do that two days in a row.

I didn’t intentionally cut my DD’s nap. In the end we went on holiday with my sister and niece (year older) when she was 3 and as we were out and about all day having fun, she didn’t have her usual nap. That seemed to break the nap routine and she didn’t need it after that other than the odd occasion when she was feeling unwell/extra tired.

My DH was a bit disappointed when we got back as it was nice to have the hour break during the day!

For my daughter we just had to power her through her usual nap time with snacks (soo many snacks) and calm relaxing time then a slightly earlier bed time. Only took a few days before she was grand

Dd stopped napping at around 2.5 when dd2 was born. Didn’t prep or anything. She just started really fighting her naps so we just didn’t put her down. Slightly earlier bedtime for a while but that was it. She’ll still have a car nap now and again at almost 3y/o if she’s had a busy day/we’ve been travelling which can affect bedtime if it’s past midday. We just push bedtime back 30 mins on these days. Sometimes it’s still a pain, sometimes it’s fine!
I’d cut down to 45 mins and how that goes. Mine wouldn’t have stopped as early if dd2 didn’t arrive I don’t think. She just didn’t want to miss out knowing that we were downstairs with baby so the battles began.

We dealt with it by having a really early bedtime for a while! Maybe a little rest time when they would usually sleep in the day. When my lo was approaching danger nap territory ie looking to fall asleep at 5:30, we would throw her in the bath or take her out for a bit of fresh air in the garden or local park (no car journeys!)

We cut it down to 30 mins and then eventually only did naps some days of the week - usually nursery days!

A lot of kids that age in my work have dropped naps. Try your child without one and see what happens.

If she's happy awake in her bed I would carry on putting her down, but get her up an hour after you put her in, not an hour after she fell asleep. This means she can sleep or not sleep as she needs, but you'll still have the reliability of 'nap time'. It also paves the way for 'quiet time' to replace nap time.

We went from 2 hour naps to 1.5 hr to 1hr, then 45mins then 30mins MAX (or it ruined evening sleep) then she just stopped going down for day time naps.

Our DD is the same age as yours. Personally I'd start with 45min nap for about three days, see how bedtime is, if it's still bad drop to 30mins.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, I'm thinking the approach taken by MsCactus will probably suit her best as we've always cut naps shorter to deal with sleep need changes in the past. We are not really having any 'problems' so to speak at present as she still naps and is still happy enough chatting in her cot for a while in the evening when we put her to bed, but it will probably not be long before she starts to get frustrated as she can stay awake longer and longer, so I'll act then. It's so clearly on the horizon and could change any day/week but we are not quite there yet! I'm just trying to prepare for it. Still terrified of danger naps, I suspect she will be the type to be up until 11pm if she gets a sneaky late accidental nap in the car but we will just have to do our best to keep her awake or suck it up for a while! I really appreciate all the input. I think the literature that says they all need to keep napping until at least 3 is wrong as I don't know ANYONE who's child consistently napped after about 2.5!

Gradually reduce the length of the 1 nap and start dinner and bedtime slightly earlier. Avoid danger naps around 5pm! Had to watch mine like a hawk to keep awake initially. It sorta itself out within a few weeks 👌🏻

She's skipped her nap twice within a week, both times after having a wake in the night and sleeping in later to compensate. I think this is really happening now. . . . My husband is off to a festival for 3 nights this weekend so I'm desperate for her to keep napping while he's gone! Ah gaaad. My stepson is 13 and ND and just started home schooling too so I'm having to do a lot more with the toddler as more responsibility is falling on me now, as my job is very quiet in the summer so i do more childcare then as my husbands job is busiest in summer. But with him trying to work part time, home schooling his son, and me still having some work duties over the summer, this is going to be a bloody tough time! I'm going to try to make sure she doesn't sleep in no matter how bad her night is while he's gone. I'm aware the bad nights might that are sometimes occurring might be because she doesn't need as much daw sleep now so I'll try reducing her nap maybe down to 30 mins to try to keep it a bit longer. Am a bit scared by this. . . .

OK so we dropped the nap as she was napping later and shorter and taking ages to go to sleep add having some disturbed nights. Since we dropped it, she initially slept well but is now having disturbed nights again, separation anxiety when she can't find her teddy, some nightmares which she was having already, and some split nights. Hoping it's just developmental and will pass as if she starts napping again, bedtime will be 9pm and she will only sleep about 9 - 10 hours at night! Bit stuck at present. . . .