losing nap questions for older todlers

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when did it happen for yours?

how did it happen? just went to nap later and later in day? or was itthe one nap getting shorter and shorter till not needed?

just wondering what I am to expect

my litle one is nearly two and has longish nap after lunch from 2/3 to 5/6 on a good day

how do i know when to drop? when it gets short? when he no longer wants to go till later but then is too late?

curious and thanks

thanks

With ds1, main signal was being really wide-awake at story time and finding lots of pretexts to have 10 stories a night because he wasn't tired on account of 2-hour afternoon sleep. I'd been really happy to let him carry on as gave me some time with ds2 (born when ds1 exactly 2). Before ds2 was 3, we probably just experimented with some earlier bed-times after no nap and went from there. Sometimes, if we've had a particularly energetic day, ds1 will have "quiet time" in an armchair and sleep for an hours while ds2 is asleep upstairs. You could try it without and see what happens but no need to rush.

got to a stage at about 20mo with all three of them when they didn't want to go to bed til 10pm - which happened quite suddenly. At which point they were prodded, poked, kept busy and not allowed to ride in cars after lunch and amazingly bedtime routine restored to 7pm. With my lot a short nap was worse than no nap at all - but it is an individual thing i think.

My dd2 isn't yet two so has a 1-2 hour nap most days. Usually late morning/early afternoon, e.g. 11.30-1pm ish. I try not to let her sleep much after 2pm as I think it may affect her settling in the evening.

My dd1 who is now 5 had a day time sleep until the age of 3 ish. As she got nearer 3 years, she did still sleep in the day, but it gradually took her longer and longer to settle at bedtime, so we starting to cut down on the day time sleep. Often little ones then go through a period of being very sleepy and or irritable around tea time as it can take a week or two to adjust.

My ds1 dropped his lunchtime nap just before his 2nd birthday. He's always been fine going to bed in the evening, but I just couldn't persuade him to sleep in the day any more - he was taking longer and longer to drop off. He ended up having one every other day for a while, then they slowly phased out completely.

DS2 is currently 21 months and still having a 1/2 hour nap at lunchtime, I am waiting with interest to see when he is ready to drop it!

DS1 had consistently napped from about 1-2.30 every day (I never let him sleep past 2.30!)...until the day after I came home from hospital with DS2 (DS1 was 2.4 at this point)

That day we took him upstairs at naptime as usual, looking forward to some breathing space from the shock of having 2 children, but he refused to stay in bed etc - and that was that at home. He was still having naps at nursery but very soon after was clearly not tired at bedtime so I asked nursery to stop letting him sleep.

That was nearly 8 months ago now and he only naps now if we go out in the car or occasionally, usually at the weekend, he will nap at home (I think he 'catches' up on his sleep over the weekend iyswim) but he is old enough now to recognise when he is tired and will tell me or DH and take himself off to bed.

Ds1 was still napping when he started school. Of course he could no longer nap weekdays, but he napped weekends until Y1.

Dd dropped her nap at 4.5y.

Ds2 is still napping at 2.5y.

With all of them I never let them nap after 3.30 because if they did then they weren't ready for bed at a reasonable time in the evening, which would have a knock-on effect the following day because they wouldn't have had enough sleep that night. If they napped until 4pm or later, no matter how long the had slept, they would be incredibly grumpy.

They both reduced their naps gradually. Showing that they coped fine with an occasional missed or shortened nap.

When ds1 was nearly 2y he rebeled against napping, but Ifelt he still needed to nap. So I would put him to bed and tell him that he didn't need to sleep, just rest and listen to the music. I would put on something soothing, like Chopin piano, and he would always be asleep beore the CD finished.

wow!!! cant thank you enough for such detailed reponses - will read them all properly today and then post back..at the mo have to dash to...put little one to nap! of all things

yopur info is valuable to me you have no idea

you are my life line and thank you!!!

hi, my dd is 2.8yrs and has been gradually going to bed later and later as she just isnt tired at 8pm, some nights not falling asleep until 9.30-10pm. We have decided to slowly reduce her day time naps. Some days she would have anywhere between 1hr to 2.5hrs, so now only giving her max 1hr. We will see how that goes and then if needed reduce it to 1/2hour. Let me know how you get on. xx

I was surprised how quickly ds2, 2.5, gave up his nap. For a couple of weeks even a month ago, he would still have a sleep after a very energetic morning, playing out or swimming; but now it doesn't matter what we've been doing, if I put him down he just kicks the sides of his cot and yells. Now he sleeps from 8 till 8, hooray! And we're not rushing back at lunchtime when we've been at the beach or whatever. Sometimes I miss that quiet time, but his 6 year old brother is off school now anyway and they're having great fun beating each other up playing together. That said, we do have an hour of TV at about 1:30 just to relax and recharge after lunch.

Ds1 dropped his lunchtime nap at about 2.5 years. No warning that it was coming at all. One day he was having 2 hour naps, the next he announced that he wasn't sleepy, and the same on the following days. I never let him sleep beyond 3pm in his napping days as it stuffed up bedtime.

Still has a nap somedays if he's a bit under the weather or has had a very exciting morning. Then he goes into a really deep sleep and I can't wake him. Has the knock on effect of him not wanting to go to sleep until 9pm in the evening (as per today).