How early did the nap stop?

  • Wednesday, August 08, 2012 8:30 PM
    Message # 1042318
    What is the earliest age that the day nap dropped for your child?

    My son is not even 22 months old yet (will be next week), and for a few weeks now has been fighting naps more and more. (In the last week he's napped only once!) He'll go full day without  it, and we do put him down 1 hour earlier than usual; he's typically fully asleep by 7:30pm on days when he doesn't nap... and he does sleep longer in total at night, if he didn't nap in the day.

    But I'm still concerned that this is far too early to be dropping naps; he's not even 2 years old yet...  and it's not like I can just let him have 'quiet time' alone in his room, outside the crib, as he's still too young to be left totally alone in a room without supervision... (besides he is anything but 'quiet' during it; bounces, laughs, talks, etc in the crib.)

    Has anyone had their baby stop napping so early?!
    Last modified: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 8:38 PM | Tatiana
  • Monday, August 13, 2012 11:38 AM
    Reply # 1045814 on 1042318
    I am worried too as my 26 month old daughter has been doing the same thing!  Since I have been off this summer, she has not wanted to take a nap and has been napping maybe once a week too.  She now goes down at around 9pm and awakes at 9 am.  I read that if they are getting at least 12 hours of sleep a day, then they are alright and as long as they are not cranky during the day.

  • Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:10 AM
    Reply # 1046449 on 1042318
    Debbi (Administrator)
    My daughter stopped napping around 20 months, even though she was in daycare full-time.
    It started with her resisting naps at home on the weekends - we'd have to put her in the stroller and walk a minimum of 45 minutes, then transfer her to her bed. Eventually, we decided it wasn't worth it, since she'd only nap for 45 minutes anyway, and then would be up until midnight. (She never slept in the car, so that wasn't an option either.) 

    By 2 years, she'd pretty much stopped napping altogether - even at daycare. She went to bed earlier and slept 12 hours (8 till 8). If she got a little tired during the day, we'd simply have 'quiet time' by reading to her in her room. Don't get me wrong, some days it was hard and we really wanted her to nap, but she would just fight it. Other days, we'd do everything we could to keep her awake and stretch her out towards the end of the day (if she napped that late, we'd have trouble with bedtime later than 12 am). She's now almost 3.5 years old and the same routine continues.

    As mentioned, as long as they get the number of hours of sleep they need and they don't get (too) cranky, then I think you should follow their lead and  not force the nap issue, or it becomes a power struggle.
    Last modified: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:12 AM | Debbi (Administrator)
  • Monday, August 20, 2012 4:39 AM
    Reply # 1051373 on 1042318
    My older DS stopped napping at 1 year old. We tried everything: nursing, babywearing (worked best, but still only resulted in about 30-45 minute naps and I couldn't put him down or even stop walking), car rides, ... If he did nap, bed time was horrible and we ended up spending 1-2 hours a day just to get him to sleep, which resulted in very grumpy parents and baby. When we finally gave in and skipped the nap, everybody was much happier. ODS was asleep within 15 minutes at night (5pm) and slept about 12 hours till 5am. He never got the midday dip in energy that so many kids seem to get and quiet time never worked for him either. At least now that he is 4 he will sit and read a book with me. Between 1 and 2 he wouldn't sit down for more than a couple minutes (yes, that included eating) until he passed out in bed at night :p.

    Now my just 2 year old still very much needs his nap, even though he can do without occasionally. He'll nap for 2-3 hours if I let him.

    Every child is different and you just have to figure out what works best for you and your little one.
  • Monday, August 27, 2012 9:36 PM
    Reply # 1058092 on 1042318
    Thanks everyone for posting! (wow, stopped napping at 1??? even 2 sounds early; ouch.)

    It seems like my son has returned to napping again (much to my relief), and I think much of it came from him starting daycare recently, where apparently he was very good at going to nap. It even carries over - usually - to napping at home too. He'll be starting full-time in September, so hopefully he'll keep napping... hopefully!!

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