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Two Year-Old Abruptly Stops Napping, is this Permanent???

afleisheafleishe member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+
My two year old who has always been happy to take his 2 hour nap a day, suddenly without warning has stopped napping.  He has napped twice over the last two weeks.  Sometimes he sits quietly in his crib, while other times he his bouncing off of the walls.  He goes to bed happily between 7-8pm, and sleeps until anywhere between 6:30-8am.

These days that he has not napped, he is a mess by 3 or 4 o'clock, very short with patience, tired, and crabby.  We try to get him to bed earlier but with it being summer if I try before seven he won't go down.

I'm just wondering why a kid who clearly needs and enjoys his rest, is suddenly, consistently not napping.  Especially as I have a 4 month old and for the last 4 months I have been putting them down at the same time and have enjoyed a 2 hour break everyday.  Is it over? Say it a'int so!!!
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Re: Two Year-Old Abruptly Stops Napping, is this Permanent???

  • cedentoncedenton member
    I am in a FB group with other moms with 2 year olds (like turned two in the last 1-2 months) and it seems a common thread that many are fighting naps right now.  From that anecdotal experience I say keep trying to continue naps and he might come around.  Seems to be a sleep regression at this age.  My son is rarely affected by sleep regressions or wonder weeks (or perhaps just to a lesser extent), but h is naps have dropped form 2.5-3 hours over the last week to 1.5-2 hours.  Good luck!
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  • afleisheafleishe member
    Thanks for your thoughts.  Because he is still in his crib, I do leave him there for some quiet resting time for about an hour or until he starts calling for me.  I guess that's where we are at!  Also, he has most definitely experienced every sleep regression, so it's nice to hear this may just be another one. 

    It's so strange how he will be rubbing his eyes and curling up in the chair after stories, but then I put him in the crib and he is all over the place.  Those signals alone will keep me trying :)
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  • ELF4321ELF4321 member
    DD did the same thing for several weeks and I was terrified she was trying to drop her nap completely -- clearly tired, needed a nap, but was testing and pushing boundaries. If she didn't sleep at all, I'd put her to bed 30 minutes earlier (anything more than that never worked). After a few weeks of misery, she started napping again but falling asleep 30-45 minutes later than she used to, so I pushed nap time later and now wake her up by 3:00 if I have to, to make sure she still sleeps at night (usually 9p-7a). She still fights nap occasionally, but once a week maybe. Don't give up yet, but you might need to tweak nap time a bit until you find something that works.


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  • TiffanyBerryTiffanyBerry member
    This is the age my daughter moved her nap back (it was something like 2:30-4pm.  Seems crazy late, but worked.
    But perhaps it's time to drop it?
    Regardless of when it gets dropped, there's something like a month long mess of a transition period.
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  • vamomtobevamomtobe member
    In our case, we had been rubbing his back until he fell asleep for naps, and that was the problem.  He started prolonging the whole process, and would only half-fall asleep so he could open his eyes and make sure we were still there.  Of course, when we weren't, he'd cry and naps just weren't happening most days, some days only 30 min.

    Still can't believe this worked, but it did - we spent a few days talking to him all morning about what was going to happen at naptime.  We were going to read stories, grab our blanket, walk down the hall, kisses, say goodnight, close our eyes and fall asleep, and - here was the key - wake up HAPPY!  He started looking forward to naptime, saying "Wake up, I happy!"  

    Went from no naps most of the time right back to 2 hour naps!
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  • DawnJM25DawnJM25 member
    DD went through a phase right after she turned 2 where she wouldn't nap.  She was still in her crib at the time.  I still put her down at the same time every day, and left her there for "quiet time" for awhile.  Thankfully she started napping again after a couple of weeks.  We have days here and there where she doesn't nap, but I've figured out that only happens when our nap routine changes for some reason, or if I'm doing something different than I normally do during naptime and she can hear me.  DD is almost 3 and still naps for 1.5-2 hours most days.
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  • afleisheafleishe member
    edited September 2014
    I tried to leave him for quiet rest time in his crib today, giving him cars and a book to read. Instead of hanging out for about 45min-an hour without crying or calling for me, he was screaming and pitching a fit within minutes.  I also tried to put him down again at 3 instead of the usual 1, to see if he'd be more ready, but that did not go well at all!

    It gives me hope to hear that all of your children went through this and ended up returning to naptime.  I figured if it was a phase it would only last a week tops, but I guess it can be longer.  We had to leave his favorite class last night because he fell and was so tired that he couldn't get it back together. 

    I will keep trying for a few more weeks and enforce quiet time in the meantime.  I do have my TV card that I play when needed for no more than an hour a day...should I allow him to have his rest time in my bed watching a quiet hour of tv if after a few more weeks he is still freaking out in his crib???
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