Nap Time

philkristi

I am normally a lurker but have a question.  When do kids normally quit napping?  I have a almost 2 1/2 year old and a 14 month old, so I know it's not yet but my 2 1/2 year old for the past week has not wanted to take a nap and has been successfull at this several times.  When she doesn't take the nap she is a beast at night before bed but will actually want to go to bed at 6:00 if not before.  Nap days we try to keep her up until 7 but sometimes she still gets to bed at 6:30.  She loves nite nite time!  Which is nice but when you work full time the only time I get with her is at night so I try to get her to do something at night with us.  Our DS on the other had is total opposite but also younger so.

jlw2505

It varies greatly from child to child and even sibling to sibling.  I was lucky to have kids that napped for a longer time.  My girls both stopped napping at around 4 1/2 and has always done great with a quiet time (down time in their rooms with quiet toys/books).  Both were in daycare/preschool/PreK that had a nap/quiet time so we just did the same on weekends.  My younger DD will be 5 on Wed and we just now have started to skip the quiet time for her on most weekends although she still gets it at school.  Some kids will go through a few week phase of not napping and it might just be that bedtime needs to get adjusted or they are testing.  Stick to quiet time and see what happens.  If you did a 2 hour nap, do a 2 hour quiet time.  As kids grow, they need less sleep so maybe play with bedtime a little (10-15 mins) if the nap doesn't come back or just move away from calling it a nap time and call it quiet time and stick to it.  The down time, even if not sleeping, does wonders for a kid  (and parent).

stever

Um, yeah, my older boy has been hit or miss with the naps for a year now. At first I thought he was just transitioning out of naps but he clearly still needs them. He's 3.5 and he naps maybe a quarter of the time but acts like he needs a nap daily. Blerg.

philkristi

Thanks ladies!  I know at daycare, they have nap time and I assume the kids that won't sleep have to have quiet time.  Of course yesterday no nap, I get home at 5 with the kids and we eat, bath and she is ready to go to bed.  We were in bed last night at 6:15 and she was out in 5 minutes!  So she still needs the nap.  And she cries and begs to go night night as soon as she walks in the door!  So I will definitely try the quiet time this weekend if she won't nap.