Pre-School and Daycare

When did you drop the last nap?

I know this has undoubtedly been asked a million times. Sorry. It is my turn now. When did you do it and why did you pick that time?

I think the boys still need naps, but now that they are in school I feel like I never see them. They go to school all morning then come home and nap and I just see them in the evening. I kind of miss them. They do take some time to go to sleep but once they are asleep they will sleep anywhere from 2-3 hours. They do OK when we miss a nap here and there, but have never gone without for more than a couple days in a row. 

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Re: When did you drop the last nap?

  • DS dropped his nap (against my wishes!) right before his 3rd bday. He started resisting going down and would inevitably sleep really late because of it. Then bedtime became a nightmare and it would take up to two hours to get him to bed. Once I stopped pushing the nap bedtime went back to being a breeze. It took some adjusting but he's no longer cranky in the afternoons. 
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  • DS started dropping his nap at 3 and was totally done before preschool started at 3.5. On the rare days he would still nap, it would take him forever to get to bed at night, which wasn't good. 

    DD was just over 2 when she dropped her nap (when she switched to the big bed from the crib). It sucks.

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  • gisele was exactly 3.5y
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  • DS dropped his around 3, DD stopped napping just after turning 2.
    Nadia Irene 8/13/07 Reid Owen 8/18/09
  • At 4.5, DS is about 50/50 on the afternoon nap.
  • The summer DD turned 3 I stopped putting her down for a nap because she would stay up until 10:00/10:30 at night.  She would occasionally fall asleep in the car, but no real naps.  Once school started that fall I had her nap only on school days (twice a week) because she would be really tired.  Right at 3.5 she started having a hard time going to sleep at night on the days she napped, so that is when we stopped them all together. 
    DD~6 years old~born June 6, 2008 (1st grade)
    DS~4 years old~born November 6, 2010 (1st year of preschool)
  • DS and DD both dropped their naps around age 3.

    DS just stopped falling asleep at nap time most days. DD was still napping so I would put DS in his room and let him read or play quietly for about an hour while she napped. He fell asleep probably once a week for a few months then stopped falling asleep at all.

    I forced DD to give up her nap because she started staying awake until 11ish at night. If we skipped a nap, she would go to sleep by 8. She is 4y4m and would still take a nap if I put her down for a nap but then she is awake way too late so we just skip it. I can't even do quiet time for her in her room because she falls asleep and then is up til 11. I would rather she be up all day and go to bed at 7:30/8. 

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  • Annalise still napped at daycare most days all through 4K. She was forced to give it up when she was in summer camp at 5 yrs. She generally would only sleep 10 hrs at night though, so she really needed that nap.

    On weekends she stopped napping completely around 3.5 to 4 years.
    Annalise Marie 05.29.06
    Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
    Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
  • DS still naps and he is just over 4.  He does ok without a nap but then I will put him to bed about an hour earlier.  I also wake him after 1.5 hours because if he naps longer he won't go to bed until 10pm.

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  • DS dropped his nap around 2.5 (yes, 2.5 It sucked!). He still does about 90 minutes of "quiet time" in his room each afternoon because I feel like he still really needs that down time, and so do I. I'm hoping that it will last until he goes to Kindergarten. My theory is the same as when the kids were small - don't wake a sleeping baby! If they still want a nap, give it to them! 
     
  • I didn't plan when my kids dropped the last nap, it just happened.  My kids have always been in FT daycare/preschool/PreK and now the older is in kindy.  Older DD was 4 when she started to not nap.  She was in the PreK Program and they have a 2 hour rest time.  In the beginning of the year, she would sleep for a short time each time and then be able to read books or do other quiet games on her cot.  By the end of the year, she was never sleeping but never had an issue resting.  Younger DD will be 5 in Mid March and most days now, does not nap.  She started the PreK program in Sept and they now do a 1.5 hour rest time.  In the beginning she was sleeping for 30-45 mins a few times a week and now it is maybe 1-2 times a month. 

    I do still have a quiet time at home on weekends but the girls never sleep but they still do benefit from the down time in their rooms.  They play quietly with their books and toys that they have in their rooms.  It does us all good.  I don't sweat over it though, if we are out and about and not home, we just skip it and its not a big deal.

    So I would say at around 4 1/2 on average the girls gave up their naps but still have a quiet time.  My older DD's kindy class still has a 20-30 min quiet time in the afternoon and my DD has told me that some kids do fall asleep.

    Jenni Mom to DD#1 - 6-16-06 DD#2 - 3-13-08 
  • If they are still napping and you don't have an overnight sleep issues (refusing to go to bed at reasonable time or getting up before the sun) then I say stick with it. I don't see an issue with 3 year olds still napping if they need it. Mine gave up the nap at 2 1/2 when we put them in toddler beds. Since they were free in their room they just started trashing the room and running around screaming instead of napping. So we just ended naps.

    My BFF's son will be 4 next month and he still takes a 2 hour nap every day and goes to bed by 9pm. But she also as a kid took naps until she started the first grade. She did morning kindergarten and then came home and took a nap every day. Some kids transition early and others don't. But if it were me, I would probably start to transition to a shorter nap or start dropping about 6 months before they start kindergarten so they will not have such a hard transition (if they do all day kindergarten). They give them a one hour rest time after lunch in all day kindergarten, but that is by no means like having a 2 hour nap.

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  • DS is almost 5 and I think he is just starting to drop the nap.  He still has to rest for an hour in the afternoon though (some alone, quiet time).  

    I would let them nap if they need it.  Your evenings might be bad without it.  I was thinking if DS was still napping at 5 I would begin to have him stop because of kindergarten 

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  • DS is 4.5 and still naps 2 hrs every day. He starts Kindergarten in the fall this year that doesn't get let out until 1:40 so we will see how that plays out. Maybe he will give them up this summer.
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  • DS is 4-1/2 and he rarely naps.  We only encourage them if we feel like he needs one.  And even then, he ends up going to bed later than normal.  We have always taken his cues when it comes to sleeping.  When it became a challenge to put him to bed (around 3-1/2), we stopped pushing the naps.
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  • I officially dropped it for DS when he turned 5.  He dropped it himself around age 4 :-)

    I still take a nap and I make him do quiet time in his room with quiet toys.

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  • DS is 3.5 and we're not dropping it any time soon.  He still sleeps for 2 hours on average in the afternoons and about 12 hours at night.  Sometimes he skips his nap at daycare, but then he's cranky and miserable the rest of the day.
  • DD's teacher at school took her out of the nap room (lights out for 2ish hours) and let her "rest" with the bigger kids (lights our about 45 minutes and quiet work time if you don't sleep) at about 3.5 since DD wouldn't sleep that long. There are some weekends when she will take a nap (and if she does it's like, 3 hours) but most times she just lays awake in her bed or plays quietly in her room for an hour to "recharge". I will say she sleeps better at night now, for a while we would put her down at 8pm and she would still be talking to herself after 9pm, now she's out within 15 minutes.
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