Really ready to give up nap?

[Anonymous]

Kaelyn has never been a big sleeper. In March or April, she started having trouble napping at day care. We thought that it was mostly related to the social aspect of day care and her hopes that Grandma would pick her up instead. (It wasn’t unusual for grandma to randomly pick her up during nap time.) She would nap without a problem on the weekends, so we assumed it was just a day care issue.

We are now wondering if maybe she really is ready to give up her nap. She is taking forever to fall asleep during nap time (sometimes one or two hours). Once she falls asleep she will usually sleep for two to three hours. But then she can’t fall asleep at night. Last night, we put her to bed at 8 and it was after 10 before she finally went to sleep. She woke up at 5:30, rolled around in her bed talking to herself until 6:30, fell back asleep and slept until 8:00. I put her down for nap today at 1:30. It’s now 3:30 and she is still awake. She’s been quietly sucking on her paci for the last 20 minutes, but I can tell that she’s still awake. Before that, she was singing to herself for at least 30 minutes. Very amusing to listen to, if it wasn’t nap time!

So, is she ready to give up her nap? Is this just a fluke? To make things more confusing, the girls and I are leaving in the middle of the night tonight to drive 12 hours to my dad’s house. So, her sleep will really be messed with tonight.

[Anonymous]

My guess would be that she’s ready to give it up. We’ve gone through the same thing with Sarah for the past 8 months or so- she’s been ready, but I haven’t!!! It’s nice for the girls to nap together. We find that if we cut out the nap at home, she goes down better at night. She also hasn’t napped at daycare for the past year.

[Anonymous]

That’s what I’m afraid of! I am not ready to lose that nap time!!!! Fortunately, she’ll happily play quietly in her room during that time, so we can still get a break.

I did forget to add one thing. When she doesn’t nap, she is AWFUL in the evenings. Is this a sign that she still needs the nap, or is she just adjusting to the missing nap? I remember her doing the same thing when she went from two naps down to one, so it makes sense, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like she may be ready to give it up. I am struggling somewhat with this myself with Seth, He naps 1.5 – 2 hours at daycare but then does not want to go to bed some nights before 10:00 and never before 9:00 (even though we try) and then has a rough time getting up the next morning. On the weekends, it is nearly impossible to get him to nap, we always end up driving him around to get him to sleep. Like Kaelyn though, once he does finally fall asleep he will nap for 2 or 3 hours on the weekends so I don’t know what to do either. The other problem is if he does not nap, he will usually get over tired and over stimulated and will almost always have night terrors/reflux. How does Kaelyn sleep if she does not nap? If she sleeps better, then I would definitely say it is time.

[Anonymous]

Kim, I guess we were posting at the same time!

[Anonymous]

Hi Kim,
It does sound like she’s ready to give it up. My boys both gave up naps earlier than I would have liked (around age 2). Parker would still take a nap, but if I let him sleep for even ten minutes he won’t go to bed at night. So we just do without nights and try to get them to bed a little earlier in the evening. They both go right to sleep at night, so that’s a plus of no naps. We have the same problem with Parker being grumpy in the late afternoons and evenings. I really think he could use a nap, but he just won’t fall asleep at night if he gets one, so it’s a double-edged sword I guess.

[hellbennt]

we’re lucky with jonah (this was Sir No Nap until 18 months!)

he still would nap if he could

at 2, when he went to daycare, he wouldn’t sleep there but I could get him home for a late afternoon nap 4-6pm & he would still be able to go to sleep for the night at 8pm!

right now we’re at the point where he gets home too late to try that (don’t think it’d work) so instead, we put him to bed earlier to ‘make up’ for the 2hrs of nap…so tonight I had both boys in bed by 6:45pm ()

he will also nap on weekends. he’s just about 4(!)

so it just goes to show every child is different…if he wouldn’t nap then I would make it rest time and have him do something quiet- even lay down in his room- I guess

we did go through a rough patch where he didn’t want to nap & fought us and pitched a fit- probably around 3 yrs old- & I resorted to bribery (not one of my finest moments ) so that he would have a CALM nap. he now wakes up asking “did I have a nice, calm nap?” He earns ‘surprises & treats’ and I am very open-ended with what counts as a treat, lol, so for instance, after a nap on saturday I’ll tell him he can watch tv sunday morning (which he can do anyway, oops, don’t tell him!)

all of this to say: maybe try rest time or see what happens if you put her to bed earlier (or try bribery, LOL)…

[Anonymous]

Colton stopped napping around 17 months and hasn’t taken another one since. Just like Kaelyn if he takes a nap it takes an extra two hours to get him to sleep at bedtime. But Colt does have a rest time where he just quits playing and will lay around and that seems to work great for him. It sounds like that is what she is doing. She might be singing but she is still being quite and resting. I think its fine for some kids maybe we just have the two who don’t want to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Alexis too was never a napper. She gave up napping around 2 years old. If I do put her down for a nap, I pay for it at night since she will be up past midnight. It sounds like she is ready to give up the nap time. She still naps once in awhile especially if we are in the car after a fun fill trip coming home from swimming or playing very hard. I let her nap if she tells me she is tired but if she says no then we skip the nap time. Like Laura mentioned she does go to bed without a fight and falls asleep much faster at night without a nap.

[Anonymous]

hannah was down to one nap at a year. naps disappeared altogether shortly after 2…she sleeps like a champ at night — and jeff and i have a lot of time together since she will go to sleep at 7 and sleep until 7.

[Anonymous]

Kayleigh also has that if I nap then I’m up till midnight problem! So I’ve started Mommy time. She has to lay on the couch and watch a video or lay in bed and listen to her music for 30 min. No talking or playing it seems to be working. Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Sorry… we traveled all day yesterday so I didn’t get a chance to check. I think that you are all right. It’s just not the answer that I wanted to hear. The good news is that she loves to sit on her bed, talk to her animals and read books, so I should be able to still have that quiet afternoon time while Alex naps. Hopefully, she won’t take long to adjust to her sleepiness during that late afternoon/evening time.

Of course, we’re going to be at my dad’s for the next two weeks with all of us sharing a room, so everybody’s sleep pattern might get disturbed. Thanks for your help!

[Author]

Posts