When do they give up naps altogether?

Hopeful1!

My 27 month old has started throwing epic temper tantrums at bed time. He has always been a great sleeper and SOOO easy to put down. He typically sleeps 10 hours (9:00-7:00) Whenever he has had an issue in the past it has been an ear infection, I don't think it is an ear infection this time, he isn't sick and isn't pulling at his ear. He still takes 2-3 hour naps, he doesn't fight it during the week when he is with my parents but he does put up some resistance when he is with us on the weekends. Is he just starting the terrible twos or should we be cutting back/out his afternoon nap? TIA

kmhunt11

Someone described breaking up with a girlfriend/boyfriend as trying to tip over a refrigerator once.  You rock it back and forth until it finally goes over.  This is how dropping the nap is, too!  DD gave up her nap at 2 years 10 months.  She picked it back up again at 3 years 4 months, and has dropped it again at 3 years 8 months.  I don't know if it follows growth spurts, temperature changes or the barometric pressure.  It's frustrating in the transitions, but I've learned to follow her lead.  If she fights it, it isn't worth the battle.  Right now she understands that she has a "quiet time" each day.  She doesn't have to sleep, but it needs to be quiet.  Lately she sets out her dolls and animals and replays circle time from school that day.  Very cute to listen to.  On the days that she does nap (usually when quiet time doesn't get rolling until after 4;30) she doesn't go to sleep on time.  From the very beginning we put her in her room at bedtime and if she doesn't sleep we ignore her.  Usually she goes to sleep, but sometimes we'll go to bed an hour and a half- two hours later and she'll still be messing around in her totally dark room.  I've had to become very zen about certain things because DD is very difficult and stubborn: you can't force a child to eat or sleep.  

ToBeMrsT

DS will be 4 in January and he still naps for 2 hours a day. He also gets up at 5:30am every day.. so it's going to be different for every kid.  I don't see DS dropping his nap any time soon.

regenab

I would say if you are ok with the 9-7 overnight and 2 hour nap during the day then stick with it. 2 1/2 to 3 years was very hard in our house, just plain terrible 2's going on. My girls dropped the nap at 31 months, but that is when we put them in toddler beds and they would just fool around during naptime and not sleep since they could just get out of their beds. But it kind of worked out because they started going to bed at 8pm again and slept until 8:30-9am.

On the weekends if he doesn't want to nap during the day, you will just have to deal with the crabbiness in the early evenings. But I would put him to bed earlier on those days. No way would my kid be up until normal bedtime and only get 10 hours of overnight sleep. They would be horrible the next day and probably fall asleep at around 10am in the car going someplace and just set the day up for being a bad day. Look at it this way, if he does this on the weekends then you can put him to bed at like 7:30 and you and DH can have some extra alone time to watch a movie or just talk.

Amy720

Ben is 4 1/2 and doesn't go to daycare so he usually doesn't go to bed until 10:00 and sleeps until 8:30.  He take about an 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap a day.    I have a feeling he is not going to give it up until he starts to school and has to start going to bed and getting up early.

penguingrrl

This greatly varies by kid. My older one was about 2y 9-10m when she would still gladly nap 2-3 hours, but it meant she was bouncing off the walls until 11, woke up at regular time and was a tired cranky mess the entire next day. We happened to have a day that she didn't have time for a nap and she went to bed at 8 and slept until 8 and was wonderful and happy the next day. We purposely cut out naps at that point since it was clear the nap was interfering with overnight sleep and leading to an overtired child.

My younger one only made it to 2y 1-2m when that happened. At this  point if she takes so much as a 15 minute car nap she's up until 12-1 or later bouncing off the walls unable to sleep and we go into an awful cycle! But, if I keep her up she sleeps 7:30-7:30 and is happy.

I will let them nap if we have something going on in the evening and it can work out beautifully. A few weeks ago we had an evening wedding where the bride and groom wanted the kids there, so they napped in the car between the ceremony and reception and were up and cheerful and adorable until the wedding ended at 11! But, it took days to break the nap-up late-overtired and cranky cycle afterwards, so I reserve that for special occasions!

n&bcarlson

DD dropped it at around 3yo, but her school still has a mandatory nap or rest hour for prek3 and prek4.  She's going to be starting a couple afternoons a week in addition to mornings, so she'll at least need to rest on a mat (something I tried at home but she won't go for).  Luckily, unlike when she's with me, she'll do whatever her teachers ask her to do at school!  See if you can get him to rest in some way on most days but don't push it when he is really resistant.

jewelbug79

My son was still happily taking naps even after he turned 4, we had to cut them out when he started pre-kindergarten in the fall because he goes to school at the same time he was taking his naps.  The rule of thumb I've always heard is that if they fall asleep easily when you put them down for nap, they still need it, but if they fight it or it takes quite a while for them to go down, they would probably be fine without it.  Also though, your little guy is hitting the age when the temper tantrums definitely increase! 

lmdbww

There have been many off and on nap phases since DD turned 2. She is just now not napping during the day (and I can tell it's ok because she's not grouchy at night. lol)

Hopeful1!

Thanks everyone, these responses were helpful. I guess keep trying to stick to a strict bed-time routine and hope for the best.

anna7602

DD started giving up naps around 22 months and by 25 months, I stopped fighting it. The true sign for me was that she would get the same number of hours/day of sleep whether she had a nap or not. So, I could spend 1-2 hours getting her down for a nap (so, start at 1pm, maybe end up with her asleep by 2:30 or 3pm), then get 2 hours nap and sacrifice 2-3 hours of nighttime sleep. Once she dropped the nap, she would sleep about 13-14 hours straight at night and evening bedtime wasn't a fight at all.

While it was a rough transition for me to have DD awake for 10-12 hours straight during the day, it was so nice to have her get all the sleep she needed at night and not waste any time during the day fighting her to take a nap she didn't really want/need.

ArcticFox

My DD dropped her nap at 2.5.  It was taking forever to get her down for her nap (like 2 hours!!) so we said forget it!  So she pushed through nap time, no problem, and we just bumped up her bedtime, which is a nice benefit