should I drop a nap?

AvianaNmommy

Hi Everyone!

So my little girl is almost 2.5 years old, and lately she has been ssstruggglinnggg to nap. Usually around 12:30-1pm she'll get a bit tired and it'll come naturally. Lately she has been staying past the nap, until 3:30-4pm, at this point I'm almost forcing her to go down for one, because I don't want her to be overly tired.

It occurred to me today that maybe she was ready to give her nap up? Could it be so, at this age?

eta: because she's going to nap so late, she's going to bed at like 10:30-11....and is waking through the night on occasion too....

any advice would be greatly appreciated! 

Thanks!

JENandJEH

Do you consistently put her down for nap at a specific time or do you wait for her to go to bed?  Your wording is confusing to me...is she just playing in her bed/crib or is she not wanting to go to bed so she gets to stay up playing?

I think that very few kids give up naps at that age and it's probably more of a nap strike/battle of wills thing.  I would pick a time and be consistent.  It's naptime/quiet time at 1pm in my house.  On the weekend with DS1 is home, he goes to his bed at 1pm for an hour of quiet time.  DS2 goes in his crib at 1pm and 9 times out of 10, he goes to sleep right away but on those other days, he plays for a bit and winds himself down then falls asleep about 30 minutes into naptime.  I would keep at it with her and see if she'll fall back into her old routine.  

JMU_Bride09

My son is a little over 2.5 and has mostly dropped his nap. I noticed the same trend as your daughter. He started pushing it back so far that it was messing up bedtime. Now, I put him in his room between 2 and 3. We do the normal naptime routine: story, close blinds, turn off light, tuck in under covers. He then has the option to either stay in bed and nap or quietly play in his room. He will nap some days but usually plays. He gets pretty tired by bedtime, and I do my best to make sure that he's in bed on time.

You really can't force them to sleep, whether they're ready to drop their nap or not. Just keep up with the same routine, so that your daughter has the opportunity to nap if she feels tired. And if she doesn't, at least she's engaging in quiet, restful activities for an hour or so.

ashiscute

JENandJEH said:

Do you consistently put her down for nap at a specific time or do you wait for her to go to bed?  Your wording is confusing to me...is she just playing in her bed/crib or is she not wanting to go to bed so she gets to stay up playing?

I think that very few kids give up naps at that age and it's probably more of a nap strike/battle of wills thing.  I would pick a time and be consistent.  It's naptime/quiet time at 1pm in my house.  On the weekend with DS1 is home, he goes to his bed at 1pm for an hour of quiet time.  DS2 goes in his crib at 1pm and 9 times out of 10, he goes to sleep right away but on those other days, he plays for a bit and winds himself down then falls asleep about 30 minutes into naptime.  I would keep at it with her and see if she'll fall back into her old routine.  

This.  I was sort of confused.  I usually put both my kids down between 115 and 130.  I usually make them stay there for 1 hour and then if they are still awake I'll go get them.  This happens almost never.  Sometimes they'll play for 30 mins or so but they almost always fall asleep.  

I would not drop the nap if you don't have to.  My DD is 3 and still napping.  Naps are the best. 

MomtoH

When my son started taking such late naps that he was up until 10-11pm, we cut out naps.  He'd occasionally take one, but it wasn't regular. He was around 2y4m. My daughter is almost 2 and takes a nap most days, but is fine if we are busy and she skips one day.