does your 2-3 year old still nap?

[ktgrok]

In my circle of friends there are several kids that dropped their nap around 2 or so. So when nap became a huge battle, and would make bed time stretch out until past 10pm, we tried dropping it with good success. Now she is passed out by 9pm at the latest, sleeps until after 8am, and is waking less often at night. When my mom mentioned nap I just said oh, she has dropped it for the most part...and she started to give me a guilt trip about how much sleep she needs, that it is too long to go without a nap, that until they are 4 they often need one.....etc.

 

My daughter NEVER slept as much as my son, ever. Even as a newborn she didn't nap as much. Am I crazy, or is it fine to drop at this point?

[Mergath]

My dd hasn't napped since she was eighteen months old. Our doctor said it was fine, as long as she's getting eleven to twelve hours at night.

[Annie]

Mine dropped his nap at 18 months. It was a nightmare trying to get him to sleep for both his nap and bedtime. Seriously, a complete nightmare. I almost went crazy. Since he dropped his nap, he sleeps about 6pm to 6 or 7am. He falls asleep like a dream 95% of the time. He wasn't getting any more sleep when he was napping, he was just getting the same number of hours in two chunks.

[JudoMom]

None of my boys were still napping regularly at 3.

[littlebug42]

My oldest was still napping at 3.5 and my youngest dropped hers at 18 months. Oldest still requires more sleep and she is 10.

[JennyB]

All of my kids stopped taking naps at around 2 years old. If they took a nap they were awake until between 10-midnight. We still have a quiet time. Everyone needs that break, but we have no naps. I have to admit to being a bit envious of friends children that take naps until 5 or 6 and still go to bed at night. :D

[Momof3littles]

With DS1, I encouraged him to drop the nap around age 3 and we switched to quiet time in his room. I had a newborn and it was helpful to have him still do quiet time so I could rest. He would fall asleep quickly for his nap but was really tough to get down for bedtime before 10 pm. So, we encouraged him to give up his nap.

 

With my DD, I did the same, for the same reasons. She clearly still needed it though IMO. Dropping the nap did not go well and her behavior deteriorated by late afternoon, even after a few months of giving up the nap. Around 3.5 she resumed napping for another 6-9 months.

 

My DS2 is a little over 2 and still napping. He falls asleep quickly for his nap, but I can't get him to bed before about 9:15 or 9:30. I sometimes consider trying to have him drop his nap. I don't let him nap later than 2:30 or 3 (he's usually up by 2-2:30) and bedtime is still difficult.

 

Shortening naps didn't help with our kids getting to bed any earlier. Even 30-45 mins resulted in a late bedtime. This coming year we'll have co-op one day and DD's dance class cutting into part of naptime, so we will see what happens.

[Shellydon]

Mine tend to drop naps around age 2.5. They then begin sleeping 12-13 hours a night.

[Paige]

My almost 5yr old is still a beast after 5 if she doesn't get a nap at least every 2-3 days. We've been busy and she hasn't had a nap all week she has never been such a miserable child. I think all children are different and a lot of it depends too on how late they go to bed and how early they wake up.

[Mommy_of_4]

My oldest dropped napping at 8 months old. He hated to takes naps! My 3 1/2 yr old hasn't taken a nap since she was 16 months old and my 13 month old still naps thank goodness.

[Alice]

All three of mine have tried to drop their naps around 2 to 2 1/2. With the boys I was pregnant when they were each that age, so I needed them to nap (and nap myself). With my oldest I would get in bed with him after lunch and make the room nice and dark and warm and I could get him to nap a couple of hours with me. With my second I'd lie down with him for about an hour while the older one watched a video. They both stopped napping completely at about three when I stopped needing it myself. My youngest gave up her nap around 2. She is sometimes crabby late in the afternoon but if she gets enough sleep at night she's ok.

[happyhomemaker]

Dd1 took a nap until she was a little over 3. Ds stopped napping as soon as he turned 2. Dd2 is 20 months and still needs a nap. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for he to drop the nap around 3, but I have my doubts as to whether or not she will. I know I took a nap until I went to K. I still need more sleep to properly function than most people do.

[Ellie]

Older dd quit napping at 2, even though she still needed it. :glare:

Younger dd napped until she was 4. Woohoo.

[BigMamaBird]

Yes, my almost 4 year old still takes 2 or 3 afternoon naps a week. Either I put him down in his room or he zonks out on the couch.

[*********]

Both of my boys were nap free by age three.

[2squared]

My 18mo prefers to take 2 naps/day, but he gets up at 5:00am. :glare: My 4yo voluntarily takes a nap nearly every day. If she skips, she's usually asleep by 6:30pm. My 5yo, 8yo & 10yo take naps when they need them. My 10yo took a nap today, in fact, and I suspect my 8yo & 5yos will nap tomorrow.

 

We strongly encourage napping, and we do not encourage early bedtimes as we enjoy our family time in the evenings. We are a napping family. We have always scheduled our days around the kids' nap schedules.

[sunriseiz]

I do think it's unusual, but my 3yo naps virtually every day, my 6yo naps most days, and my 8yo still naps once or twice a week. :001_huh: They all get about 10 hours at night as well.

[KatA]

We're a nap-schedule family. My son has always taken a nap, never faltered, never fought it. Not even when we switched to the big boy bed. He sleeps from 8:30 (sometimes we hear him talking until 9:30) and wakes up at 7.

 

I know a few people who have kids that dropped naps at a younger age. My mom actually expressed concern when he was a year that he slept too much.

 

Eh. Each kid has his or her own sleep rhythm. I have no great mommy wisdom, but it seems if she's doing good without a nap and sleeping so well at night, I wouldn't be concerned. (But I don't know how I would live without the sweet, blessed afternoon break.) Maybe a quiet time if you're concerned about her resting her body?

 

For us now it is a solid 2 hour nap. FTR, he just turned 3 in May.

[I.Dup.]

I have all my children under 5 lie down. My 2.5 year old still naps for 2 hours in the afternoon, and is ready for bed at 6:30 (I guess we just have a really active household? lol) and my almost 4 year old still falls asleep half the time for nap. There is NO way I'm letting my 2-3 year old go without naps in the afternoon!

[tabrizia]

Ds1 gave uP naps at 2 1/2 he hit the up until 11 or midnight if he napped stage then and it was any nap even 15 minutes so we dropped it.

 

Dd dropped naps at 18 months. She hit the same stage of up till 11 if she napped at all. Unfortunately she is napping on weekdays because she is in full time daycare this summer and it makes bedtimes in the evening evil.

 

Ds2 is still only 15 months so napping, he seems to need his sleep more then either of the other two so I don't expect him to give up naps anytime soon, but he could.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Stay at home moms often claim kids don't need and/or won't take naps. Yet, in daycares, almost every single 2 and 3year old takes a nap, very few even need any coaxing. It isn't til 4 or 5 that most will drop them and most of them will still SOMETIMES do so. IMO, it is mostly a discipline issue as is the night time routine lasting til 9, 10, 11pm. Most of the time THAT seems to be kids not taking parents seriously and parents waiting long enough for kids to get a 2nd wind. Almost every parent I've worked with that had this issue was able to remedy it by dropping bedtime to a significantly earlier time.

 

NOW, I do know there are SOME kids this isn't true for. Once in a blue moon (not 1/3 or 3/4 of all stay at home kids!), there will be a kid who truly doesn't need a nap. This is usually more obvious than a discipline issue though. And there isn't a behavioral issue tied to stopping it.

 

Due to my experience in child care centers and as a parent coach, I said they all need it. All not mean 100%, but the great majority of typically developing children.

[TexasRachel]

My almost 5 yo still naps for an hour or two most days. I don't expect the 2 yo to nap as long as him, but quiet time is a must in our house.

[ktgrok]

Hmm...my reason for thinking she doesn' t need it is that she sleeps 11 hours either way. Either a 2 hour nap and 9 hours at night, or 11 hours straight at night. So....it isn't like having a nap means more sleep for her. If I REALLY forced an earlier bedtime, even with a nap, she gets up earlier...oftentimes resulting in less overall sleep. (so say she goes to bed an hour early, she will get up two hours early in the morning!)

 

So for those that say yes, need a nap, would that apply to a kid that sleeps the same number of hours, with or without a nap?

[I.Dup.]

Stay at home moms often claim kids don't need and/or won't take naps. Yet, in daycares, almost every single 2 and 3year old takes a nap, very few even need any coaxing. It isn't til 4 or 5 that most will drop them and most of them will still SOMETIMES do so. IMO, it is mostly a discipline issue as is the night time routine lasting til 9, 10, 11pm. Most of the time THAT seems to be kids not taking parents seriously and parents waiting long enough for kids to get a 2nd wind. Almost every parent I've worked with that had this issue was able to remedy it by dropping bedtime to a significantly earlier time.

 

 

:iagree: It's not an option in our house that they stop taking naps until they are old enough to be more independent. It just isn't an option for my own sanity. They get their 2nd wind around 6pm and night times were just hellish for us, so we started putting the 6 and under crowd down at 6:30 and what do you know, they're all asleep by 7 :) They wake up between 6am and 7am. I'd love it to be later but no matter how late they stay up, they wake early.

 

I tried the early bedtime after reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and I'm not about to let them quit napping. ;)

[ktgrok]

Stay at home moms often claim kids don't need and/or won't take naps. Yet, in daycares, almost every single 2 and 3year old takes a nap, very few even need any coaxing. It isn't til 4 or 5 that most will drop them and most of them will still SOMETIMES do so. IMO, it is mostly a discipline issue as is the night time routine lasting til 9, 10, 11pm. Most of the time THAT seems to be kids not taking parents seriously and parents waiting long enough for kids to get a 2nd wind. Almost every parent I've worked with that had this issue was able to remedy it by dropping bedtime to a significantly earlier time.

 

/QUOTE]

 

Do you think that naps are more needed in daycare, because kids in daycare are woken up earlier and that may effect their sleep schedule, as opposed to children that get to sleep in in the morning? My daughter sleeps until she wakes up naturally...and if she had a nap it is 9 hours, if no nap it is 11 hours. She gets up after the sun does. My niece is in daycare and has a much more hectic schedule, and has to be up by 5am, then gets picked up after 5pm, go home, get dinner, get a bath, etc to get to bed....so maybe they just get less sleep at night if they have 2 working parents and have to get up early? Or maybe their day is more exhausting/stimulating?

[2squared]

I have all my children under 5 lie down. My 2.5 year old still naps for 2 hours in the afternoon, and is ready for bed at 6:30 (I guess we just have a really active household? lol) and my almost 4 year old still falls asleep half the time for nap. There is NO way I'm letting my 2-3 year old go without naps in the afternoon!

 

Our households sound very similar. Naps are a requirement until at least 3.5yo, and I fully admit it's for my sanity. :D

 

We do have an active household, but I don't know how we couldn't with our sized and aged clan.

[Momof3littles]

Stay at home moms often claim kids don't need and/or won't take naps. Yet, in daycares, almost every single 2 and 3year old takes a nap, very few even need any coaxing. It isn't til 4 or 5 that most will drop them and most of them will still SOMETIMES do so. IMO, it is mostly a discipline issue as is the night time routine lasting til 9, 10, 11pm. Most of the time THAT seems to be kids not taking parents seriously and parents waiting long enough for kids to get a 2nd wind. Almost every parent I've worked with that had this issue was able to remedy it by dropping bedtime to a significantly earlier time.

 

/QUOTE]

 

Do you think that naps are more needed in daycare, because kids in daycare are woken up earlier and that may effect their sleep schedule, as opposed to children that get to sleep in in the morning? My daughter sleeps until she wakes up naturally...and if she had a nap it is 9 hours, if no nap it is 11 hours. She gets up after the sun does. My niece is in daycare and has a much more hectic schedule, and has to be up by 5am, then gets picked up after 5pm, go home, get dinner, get a bath, etc to get to bed....so maybe they just get less sleep at night if they have 2 working parents and have to get up early? Or maybe their day is more exhausting/stimulating?

 

eta: we tried everything to resolve the late bedtime issue with napping. It did not work. Tried shortening the nap, tried bumping it up earlier, etc. The kids were super happy, cooperative, and well rested all evening until they went to bed. That's why I am certain they were not tired. We did try the earlier bedtime. I'm well aware of that concept and sleep begets sleep. It was not a discipline issue, they simply were not tired at the typical bedtime while they were still napping.

Edited June 17, 2012 by Momof3littles

[ktgrok]

Hmm..our household is NOT very active most days. There is a 10 year age gap, so often I spend mornings working with my son or doing chores and my daughter tags along a bit, but mostly plays blocks/legos, colors, watches a leap frog video, looks at books, etc. Then after lunch she will watch a winnie the pooh movie on her beanbag chair, now that she doesn't nap, or lay on the couch and watch it. Days when we are super active she does still sometimes nap....today we had a big lunch then went to the science center, and she napped in car.

[Dustybug]

Um.....I just recently allowed my 6 year old to stop taking naps. :tongue_smilie: Very recently....like, in the last 4 months.

 

My 4 and (almost) 2 year olds both still nap. I'm kind of rigid about it, but every family is different. My inlaws refer to me as the "nap nazi." :glare:

 

There were a few times when they tried to refuse naps, but I would buckle down and still require them to lie in their beds with a book quietly for at least an hour and after a few days of that, they would start sleeping again. I finally let my 6 year old drop hers because she started having trouble falling asleep at night before 10-11 if she napped.

[Just Kate]

At about 2 years old, both of my dc stopped napping. Funny thing is...ds went to a babysitter at that age a few days a week and ALWAYS napped for her. Dd goes to preschool two days a week now (she is 4yo) and STILL naps there!!! :glare: But would they nap for me? No way!!!

[Tohru]

If her attitude and behavior are fine, then there isn't a problem. My daughter napped consistently until 4, and now just sporadically. She really, really needed them though.

 

Although something you mentioned, that I thought was odd:

In my circle of friends there are several kids that dropped their nap around 2 or so...

 

Because in my circle of friends, little ones kept napping until about 4....weird.

Makes one wonder if it is unconscious peer pressure, biology or just an attraction to others with similar parenting styles.

[petepie2]

All of mine napped until they were almost 4 yrs old. My current 4 yr old still occasionally gets a nap. I think it's likely that most kids would benefit from a nap until they are about 4 or so. However, not all kids fit into that mold.

 

I think it also depends on what's going on with older siblings. My DS just wants to play with them instead of taking a nap. If I had a quiet time for everyone, he would probably still nap every day.

[happypamama]

I made DD nap until she was 3, because I was pregnant and needed her to nap so that I could nap. She'd have been fine without it though.

 

DS1 was still napping regularly at age 3. 4, even. Occasionally even at 5. He's 7, and if he's up late a few nights in a row/up early a few days, he'll still take a nap once in a while.

 

DS2 is almost 3y8m and is generally fine without a nap. If we're in the car, he might fall asleep for a bit, or if he's up late one night or up early one morning, he might decide to take a nap for a while. But as a general rule, no, he does not nap and hasn't regularly done so since he was just over 2.

[Embassy]

My kids stopped napping at age 2. When my youngest naps she ends up getting less sleep because she can't sleep until a couple hours after her bedtime. Even a 10 minute nap in the car could mess up her sleep.

[Embassy]

Because in my circle of friends, little ones kept napping until about 4....weird.

Makes one wonder if it is unconscious peer pressure, biology or just an attraction to others with similar parenting styles.

 

I never thought of it as a parenting style. Some kids just need less sleep.

[SKL]

My oldest is 5.5 and is only now being forcibly weaned from her nap since she'll be in 1st grade come August.

 

My other kid, also 5, has taken a nap all along because there's been an established nap time. She never really resisted it. But she could have been fine without it from around age 3, maybe younger. I mean, the times when she missed her nap due to a busy weekend schedule, she (unlike her sister) was none the worse for wear.

[Grover]

DS dropped his day sleep by his first birthday, DD by two. Both continued to have "rest time" for an hour every day (and still do), but neither one has slept during the day since then. I think it just depends on the child.

[Soror]

Mine do quiet time but you cannot make a child go to sleep. Just because they don't nap doesn't mean there isn't quiet time. Ds dropped his around 2. I still laid with him every day and forced him to be still but he couldn't turn off(his brain is always going and even when a baby his sleep was less than others). DD1 napped pretty well until around 4.5 but is sporadic now at 5. DD2 is 2.5 now and is hit or miss.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Or maybe their day is more exhausting/stimulating?

 

I think this is it rather than the early wake up for the ones it applies to. Though I would guess many homeschooling moms it may not. They have active play, educational opportunities, sensory play. They also have a lot of socializing. And kids DO try to behave for others (generally) so it takes a bit more energy in that way also.

 

I have always been surprised how many people don't do these things at home though. Playdough is too messy and paint isn't even considered. Even extremely hyper or more challenging children are kept in the house all day (what is the point of the fort Daddy built in the back yard? Do the kids ask to play when they hear/see so many neighbor kids out front?). Why NOT go to the park, swim lessons, or teach him his ABCs? What POSITIVE is coming out of watching Cartoon Network or Batman Returns? Seriously, my little kids would DRIVE ME BATTY if we lived like most people I've met with young kids.

[Bluegoat]

My oldest two dropped naps around age two. My youngest at 2.5 almost always still naps, but I wish he would drop it. The days he naps he is not able to get to sleep at a reasonable time and is up until 9:30. I'd much rather he had no nap and go to bed by 8 with his sisters.

[ktgrok]

I think this is it rather than the early wake up for the ones it applies to. Though I would guess many homeschooling moms it may not. They have active play, educational opportunities, sensory play. They also have a lot of socializing. And kids DO try to behave for others (generally) so it takes a bit more energy in that way also.

 

I have always been surprised how many people don't do these things at home though. Playdough is too messy and paint isn't even considered. Even extremely hyper or more challenging children are kept in the house all day (what is the point of the fort Daddy built in the back yard? Do the kids ask to play when they hear/see so many neighbor kids out front?). Why NOT go to the park, swim lessons, or teach him his ABCs? What POSITIVE is coming out of watching Cartoon Network or Batman Returns? Seriously, my little kids would DRIVE ME BATTY if we lived like most people I've met with young kids.

 

LOl, we aren't quite that bad! We do playdough several days a week, paint almost daily, color daily, work on ABC's and counting, etc. It is just that we stay inside most mornings, so my oldest can do schoolowork, and then do activities outside, errands, etc in the afternoon.

 

Although even on days we go to a preschool co-op in the morning she no longer falls asleep in the car on the way home.

[Soror]

I have always been surprised how many people don't do these things at home though. Playdough is too messy and paint isn't even considered. Even extremely hyper or more challenging children are kept in the house all day (what is the point of the fort Daddy built in the back yard? Do the kids ask to play when they hear/see so many neighbor kids out front?). Why NOT go to the park, swim lessons, or teach him his ABCs? What POSITIVE is coming out of watching Cartoon Network or Batman Returns? Seriously, my little kids would DRIVE ME BATTY if we lived like most people I've met with young kids.

That is not at all how live here or how most other kids I know live. My kids spend most of the time out doing free play(climbing, playing with animals, searching for blackberries these days, looking for bugs) and have drawing/coloring time every day. Painting is done quite often. They build with legos, logs, knex, have tea parties, etc. Tv is pretty limited, I was not allowing it at all but have been letting them watch 1 show a day. They help cook, are required to do chores etc but still yet my 2.5 yo doesn't always nap even with quiet time. My son was the same he was always high strung and needed less sleep, his metabolism is super high and he's always bouncing around, yet he stopped napping at 2 as well.

[Lucy in Australia]

Up until this last babe, I would have said yes, they need naps till about 3. Sadly (for me :tongue_smilie:) DD decided at exactly 2 1/2 that she was done with naps, thanks, and she would just sleep an extra hour in the morning. And really, I'm not complaining. She gets a total of 13 hours sleep per night, and it frees up our day.

[Parrothead]

Dd napped until she was 6. She has always been a sleeper. She still needs 10 hours. At that time she was getting 11-12 hours a night and napping 1.5 hours a day.

[MissKNG]

My girls aren't sleepers. I'm tired....

[nukeswife]

None of mine napped after they were 2 unless it was a fell asleep in the car thing because of a long drive. In fact my two boys each came to my on their 2nd birthdays and said "I'm a big boy mama, I don't need naps no more"

 

My dd was like yours and not a sleeper at all, so it didn't surprise me that she stopped napping when she was 2 even though she didn't make the proclamation her brothers did.

[VeganCupcake]

My DD is almost 4 and acts like she is going to tear the house down if she doesn't nap. She napped regularly until about 3.5 and just recently has not been falling asleep at naptime.

[BlsdMama]

I've not let them give up naps. When you can read, you can stop napping. No, I'm not kidding. We have quiet time EVERY afternoon. You read or you nap. Those are the choices.

 

There are very few things that I consciously do for my mental health. This one is one of those things I won't let go of... And after nine children, I feel I can say almost every child can nap. (Goodness, if I can nap with the amount of energy *I* expend, a 2 year old certainly can considering they run around in circles all morning long.)

[kesmom]

My older two stopped between 2.5 and 3. I'm guessing my youngest will be similar.

[Pamela H in Texas]

That is not at all how live here or how most other kids I know live.

 

Just to be clear, I did say that I thought most homeschooling families probably did otherwise. Additionally, I did say "most people I've met with young kids." Off the top of my head, I can easily list a handful of families where 2-4yr olds are doing little more than quiet play in the livingroom while the tv is on kid shows. Do they EVER do something else? I'm sure. But I've not seen or heard of it when I stop by, call, text, etc. It is not surprising to me that they may find it challenging to get the children down for naps or bedtime with such an inactive lifestyle.

 

However, I did also say that children are individuals. I did have one who didn't nap even as an infant (and she was in daycare).