Naps

[♥ MaryAnn ♥]

My son is 32 months, so will be 3 in October and lately he seems to think he does not need a nap, which is tough for me because I am pregnant and LOVE that time in the middle of the day that I can nap/relax.  I know he needs his sleep so it makes me crazy when he doesn't nap, but should I just chill out and do early bedtimes?  (which of course is what we do when he doesn't nap)

Thoughts?

[Shiv52]

I haven't voted as we still have a nap.  We were having a lot of refusal there and it was driving me MAD but fingers crossed we're back on track.  My LO is 26 months.  I am due number 2 in October and hoping she's still napping then!! 

One thing I had decided with all the napping nonsense here is I was going to introduce a 'quiet time' at nap time so even if she didn't sleep, she would have a rest and i would have a break.

Maybe thats something you could think about?

[deckchariot]

Abby is 39 mos, and still needs a nap - doesn't always take one   I still plan every day for her to have a nap.  If she doesn't nap, she still stays in her room for the length of time she would normally be napping - that way I still get my break and she might eventually fall asleep and get a wee bit of a nap.  And then we do early bedtime if no nap.  One sign that bubs are getting ready to give up their nap is when they start making up for a lost nap with a longer night.  And for us, that's just (last 2 weeks maybe) started happening.  So on no nap days, she goes to bed at 7/7:30 (instead of 7:30/8) and she'll sleep til 8 at least, whereas most mornings, she's up by 7 (when she's napped the previous day).  So I know our napping days are numbered.  But I'm still doing the quiet time in her room.  I'm not pg, but I need the break!

[marlowsmom]

My DD1 is 4 years old and she has been stating that she doesn't want to nap but she needs a nap.    If she misses a nap then she is a wreck by bedtime.   She missed naps for two days and started to EW.    I say keep the nap for as long as possible.    DD1 naps about 1hr to 1.15 min now.    AS a baby and toddler she was a solid 1.5 hour napper

[♥ MaryAnn ♥]

Sharon-- Has she always been a good napper??  MY son has pretty much always struggled with naps, he's such a spirited little guy it's hard to slow him down.  So I wonder if that has a lot to do with it . . .

[marlowsmom]

DD1 is a spirited kid.    She's been telling me for almost a year that she doesn't want to nap.    She would try the ol' I'll-lay-in-bed-and-wait-for-a-while trick but I have a monitor in her room so I can hear her.      First, I had to teach her that if she was going to sleep that she had to close her eyes, keep them closed and we worked on closing our eyes.    She would squeeze them shut.   Then she had to lay still not move.    We talked about her body and how it fell asleep.    We talked about how she may not feel like she needs a nap but her body is saying (in a silly voice) "Alila, I'm tired.   Please lay down and let me rest."   
I'd also go up there and tell her that she isn't leaving her room until she napped.     I also told her that she didn't have to take a long nap; she only had to take a teeny tiny nap but she had to nap.   She was cool with that.    Obviously, I'd let her sleep as long as she needed which was always about 1.5 hours.