When do naps stop?

mmttc1b · May 2012

My DD (29 months) used to be a fantastic napper. She'd go right in her crib and sleep with no problem. SInce we moved she has refused to nap every single day. It's been about three weeks. It's not that she doesn't need a nap because someways if she slows down enough she'll pass out whereever she lands. Yesterday it was with her head under the baby's excersaucer. If we go anywhere in the afternoon she often falls asleep in he car before I even get out of the driveway.

When we moved she refused to sleep in her crib at all and would only sleep in our bed. She's back to her crib now, but still in our room. Now she refuses to go to bed unless we both got to bed too. If DH is working late she will stay up until he's home and goes to bed. Some times this means 1:00am!

Before we moved I had both kids napping at the same time and I'd sleep too. Please tell me how to get back to that. I need my nap! :-)

howleyshell · May 2012

So she doesn't nap but can will herself to stay awake until 1 am? That's CRAZY!!!

For my kids napping didn't stop until 4 yrs old for one and 4.5 for the other.

IMO she's way too young to be dropping naps especially if she's staying up until 1 am.

Any chance you can get her crib out of your room?

In my experience if they're alone in a room in a crib and they're tired they will eventually sleep.

choco_lab · May 2012

My son is still taking a nap and he's 3. I put him in his room at 1:30 and if he's still awake at 3:00 I go get him. What do you mean by "refuses" to nap? Does she cry or just stays in her crib and doesn't fall asleep? We went through a stage like that where he wouldn't sleep, too, but I still made him stay in his crib for at least an hour. I have an "alarm" clock that is a traffic light. When the alarm is set, the light is red. When the alarm goes off, it turns green (no sound). I set the alarm when I put him down and tell him he can get up when it's green. He waits until it's green to start calling me. Maybe try something like that? This is the girlish version. They have boyish versions, too.

https://www.amazon.com/Stoplight-Sleep-Enhancing-Groovy-Butterflies/dp/B002TKLN3W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336663964&sr=8-1

mmttc1b · May 2012

Yup, she will not nap and stay up until 1:00am. It's crazy. By refusing she will scream her head off, throw herself out of her crib and walk out of the bedroom. I tried putting her crib in her room when we first moved and it was even worse. She used to nap if I layed down and once she was asleep I could sneak out if I wanted. However, now even if I lay down she screams, get out of her crib and refuses. I've considered putting her in the car, driving around the block, then parking the car in our garage and letting her sleep in there. With hot weather coming that's probably. It going to work.

Ali212 · May 2012

My 4-year-old dropped her nap at 39 months (3 years, 3 months). Her last 1.5 months of naps, they were sporadic but I blame that largely on us....we had just moved overseas so her schedule got quite disrupted and we (esp my husband) didn't force a nap if she fought it at all. I think she could have continued her naps a bit longer but we had a new baby in the house and then she started school in the afternoons so it just became unfeasible.

I would say if she's still tired enough to pass out when/if she slows down, then she still needs a nap. Personally, I'd just be firm with her and not give in -- on the naps (when & where). If you tell her she's going to nap and where she's going to nap and not let her decide not to (even if it's just quiet time in her crib), after a few days, she's going to realize she can't make the decision but it does require you to be firm if she's fighting you on it. GL!

laura1 · May 2012

Right around 3, DS stopped napping. I still put him in his bed every day between 1 and 1:30, and he stays until 3. If he is still awake at 2-2:30, I will give him some quiet toys to play with. I feel like they all need some quiet time, even if they don't nap. Would she go in her crib with some quiet toys or books? DS used to do that, and would fall asleep while looking at the books. Do you have the room VERY dark? That was the only thing that made my DS go to sleep - we have blankets hung up over the curtain rod to make the room even darker. Good luck!

queenbone · May 2012

DS1 quit napping at some point when he was 2, and that didn't mean he didn't still need it, he just seldom ever fell asleep. The late afternoons/early evening were rough for awhile!

I did a couple of things. I quit calling it nap time and would call it quiet time, because frankly, I still needed a break from him. He would shake his crib so violently that the screws began to work themselves loose so I also converted it to a toddler bed in the hopes that having more freedom meant he might sleep if he was really tired. So for an hour or two every afternoon he would go to his room for quiet time. He could play, read or sleep. If you don't approve of locking the door to keep her in there, you could stack two baby gates over the door to keep there instead.

IMO it isn't necessarily the sleeping that is important so much as the time alone to calm or rest oneself. Plus Momma needs a cuppa tea and tv with adults talking.

regenab · May 2012

My twin girls stopped napping at 2 1/2. But only when we moved them to toddler beds. They share a room, so nap time just became play time in their room. They refused to nap and instead decided to trash their room. So I just stopped having them nap. But for my girls they just started going to bed earlier instead. Instead of bedtime being at like 10pm (since they were taking a 2 hour afternoon nap), bedtime when to 7:30/8pm. Which I loved because I had my night time before bed back again. Sucked because they were up all day though. For the first year they would fall asleep most of the time if I put them in the car between 2-5pm at anytime. And sometimes if we had a very busy morning they would just pass out on the couch in the afternoon. Now that they are almost 4 they don't really fall asleep in the afternoon at all anymore. But they still get 12 hours overnight. Maybe you could try a big girl bed for her (or toddler bed and see if that gets her to go to bed at a reasonable time. Personally if she is climbing out of her crib to come out of her room, I would put her in a toddler bed and put a door knob cover on the inside of the door so she can't get out and let her scream it out until she falls asleep on her own for a couple of nights. Just remove anything from her room you don't want her to destroy or hurt herself with. So basically you are making her room like a big crib with the door knob cover on the inside of the door so she cannot get out. Put her in her bed, explain the bedtime rules (stay in bed, lay down, close your eyes and go to sleep) and then turn off the light and leave the room. After a couple of nights of you being consistent with the bedtime routine, she will stop flipping out and screaming, crying and will just go to bed because she will not get the reaction from you any longer. It may mean you need to put your DS to bed in another part of the house in a pack and play away from her so he is not woken up by her in the beginning of the night when you put him to bed. If you are consistant with her, she will get with the program. May take a week or two, but she will get it.

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