Nap Time Ending?

Updated on September 17, 2013
K.H. asks from Tempe, AZ
14 answers

Hi all... When did you know your child was ready to give up his/her nap? My daughter is about 3 1/2 years old and really fights her afternoon nap. She's supposed to go down around 12:30 but yesterday I couldn't get her down until close to 2 pm. She fell asleep and then we had to wake her up at 4:15. At preschool she still naps but doesn't go down as easily as she used to. Night time is a struggle now, too. We try to have her down by 8:30 but she is having none of it. She'll keep coming out of her room until she finally goes down well after 9 pm. I'm wondering if we should stop the nap altogether and that might make bedtime easier? However, when she finally does go down for naps, she's down usually for a good 2 hours which makes me think she still needs them. I know kids this age need 10-12 hours a sleep a day. With naps, she usually gets this, but I'm nervous that if she keeps up with the fighting she'll start losing more sleep. Additionally, we've had some big disruptions with her life with the birth of her baby brother so I know that probably has something to do with it. My little guy is sleeping like a champ (finally!) but now my toddler is giving me fits! Any help would be great! Thanks!

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J.G.

answers from Chicago on

My first two stopped napping around 2. They stopped falling asleep quickly, and if they napped, they'd be up much later at night. So, we dropped napped, and i'd put them to bed 30 minutes earlier at night.

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S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

in the State of MO, naps are required at state-licensed daycares.

Our school district requires a 45 minute "rest time" for the 1st semester of KG.

Sooo with my daycare, I require naptime. In all the years I've been doing this, I've only had a couple of kids fight me over this. The battles have been more with the parents. & with each parent battle it was due to bedtime issues at home.

My method: complete shutdown of my home. Lights off/dim. Sleepy music on (Music Choice: Easy Listening or Soundscapes). & I stay off the phone so they don't hear my voice. I spend naptime on the computer, reading, or cleaning quietly in the kitchen.

I've been using this method for years now, & it works beautifully. In fact, my best friend/family laugh every time they hear the kids battling over who gets to put down their bed 1st or turn off the lights. They will even bring me the remote/remind me to put on the sleepy music! Easy Peasy once you get the kids into the groove!

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S.L.

answers from Dallas on

My 4 1/2 year old gave up weekend naps about 3-3 1/2. Boy was I bummed haha. They still nap at school but sometimes he won't and ends up in the office sitting/playing while classmates nap. He goes down most nights by 8:30 also and is up at 6:30. But most nights its 9 before he actually sleeps. If she is fighting naps let her give them up, she is probably ready. Mine still conks out on occasion for a cat nap after a busy weekend day.

J.O.

answers from Boise on

Say bye-bye to naps, and just go with easier nights. It will take a little adjusting but you will come to love your nights.

S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

My boys both gave up naps when they were two, and by the time they were three they slept from 10:00pm to 8:00am (10 hours a day).

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S.F.

answers from Utica on

My oldest ditched the nap before she even turned 2 1/2. I thought there is no freakin way but lo and behold it happened. Her younger sister wasn't even 2 months by the time I had to accept it. If she ever does nap (shes pushing 4) its once in a blue moon and then its not even a nap she just plain old passes out from a crazy busy day and if that ever happens bedtime is usually very different from the normal routine

Good Luck but I think its pretty safe to say shes done with naps

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

As long as you understand that child care/pre-schools are required to have afternoon naps and you may have to go pick her up from Pre-school and then next year during pre-K at nap time because she won't like laying there for the 1 1/2-2 hours the other kids are napping.

They put the kids down for naps. If they don't lay there and stay quiet they require the kids to go home before naps.

That reason alone was enough for me to enforce the afternoon nap until the kids started kindergarten.

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

I have three kids and they all stopped napping at two, two and a half. We still had quiet time every day, for another year or so, where I would lay down with, and read to them, and then leave them in their beds to look at books or play quietly in bed with stuffed animals for 30 to 45 minutes. Sometimes we both fell asleep (which was nice!)
It's just the circle of life mama, you get one kid trained and the other one heads off in a new, even more challenging direction. It will be this way for the next fifteen to twenty years so be prepared!

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S.S.

answers from Chicago on

I didn't let my kids give up naps lol. But when they would no longer sleep we put on a Disney movie every day. A regular length one like Cinderella or bambi etc. Not a short 23 minute one. Those move to fast they won't fall asleep lol. I then told them they didn't have to sleep but they had to stay still and rest. 9 times out of 10 they passed out. It was a win win. They thought they were getting away with no naps. I still got about an hour's time to pick up, cook, do laundry etc.

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E.T.

answers from Rochester on

Not all kids need 10-12 hours of sleep a day. Neither of my kids have slept that much since they were about two. My youngest, newly turned 4, sometimes takes a 1-2 hour nap in the early afternoon at daycare. He's up until 10:30-11:00 (no matter what time we start the bedtime process) and rarely sleeps past 7:00. He usually wakes up on his own. My daughter isn't much better. I used to worry about how little they sleep, but our doctor said that as long as they were growing and healthy it didn't matter. I wish they slept more so that I can sleep more. But on the plus side, I get a couple hours more a day with them than if they went to bed at a "normal" time.

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M.C.

answers from Chattanooga on

My DD completely gave up naps around 2, then started needing them again in the last couple months. (She is also 3.5) recently, she only naps once or twice a week.

Instead of nap time, I have started doing "quiet time". I have her get in bed, and she gets to pick out 2-3 books. She can either look at the books, color, or sleep. But she HAS to stay in bed for at least an hour. She fought it at first, but I stayed consistent in putting her back in bed and now she automatically goes to bed on her own when I tell her it's quiet time.

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J.S.

answers from Austin on

Mine are the opposite. Not sure what kind of activities yours has before nap time but ours usually has a ballet class/play date or other physical activity for almost 2 hours or more. My littlest (almost 3) will ask for nap and my oldest (5 1/2) still naps on the weekends. They both get up about 6:30 - 7 am every morning and bedtime is 7:30 pm on school nights and 8:00-8:30 (depending on crankiness) on the weekends. We have always been very consistent with nap time, bed time and again, a very active/outdoorsy type family - so that might be what has contributed to our LOs needing the extra sleep =)

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J.S.

answers from Phoenix on

My daughter gradually stopped napping at daycare around 3.5. Even in pre-k (just turned 4) they still require her to lay down for a bit. She does every now and again still fall asleep. We stopped giving her naps on the weekends sometime during the last 6 - 9 months or so, maybe longer. I think last football season she was still napping so we could watch an afternoon game without disruptions! LOL! However, yesterday we were hanging out watching a game and she started laying down on me. I asked her if she was tired and she said yes and actually asked if she could go take a nap. So, I put her down fully anticipating her to get up shortly after, but 2.5 hours later I had to go wake her up. That being said, if naps are starting to affect bedtime, it might be time to eliminate them.

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

Well, my son since birth was a regular napper.
Not a forced napper. Nor was it ever a battle.
I went by his cues, which I knew intrinsically.
Even in Kindergarten, when he was 5 years old, he still napped.
He needed it. Or he'd turn into a grumpy ol' Troll. And even if he napped, he STILL went to bed at night just fine, and by 8:00pm. No problems.
There were also many times, HE would tell me "Mommy I'm tired I want to nap..." and he did.

But, by the time after Winter Break in Kindergarten, he didn't need naps everyday. Then, maybe only on the weekends.
His usual naps, even since birth, averaged about 2 hours.
And that was the norm for him.

However, SOME kids, even if they are tired and need a nap... will FORCE themselves awake, and seem more "hyper."
Because, they are trying to keep themselves, awake.

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