Is this the end? 2 year old refuses nap most days

[EricaM31]

Hello!

My 2 year (will be 2 in 1 week) on most days refuses her afternoon nap.  I have read that toddlers usually nap till 3 or 4 years of age?  How come she is refusing it this early?  Is this normal?  She has been an independent sleeper since 6 months old and sleeps through the night every night unless there is illness...
She moved to 1 nap just before she was 1.  Has anyone encountered this?  I am quite sad as I have a 3 month old too and it's nice to have a break in the afternoon.  A month ago her regular nap time was 1pm till 3pm or so.  I have tried moving it later like 1:30pm and I tried 2pm as well as it usually doesn't work.  any suggestion or is this the end?

[<Catherine>]

My DS is 28 months old and we have spent the last 6 months tweaking his routine.

I thought the same as you when he first started refusing his nap, and was worried this was the end of the nap - well he's now napping better than ever, every day and for 2.5 hours sometimes!

To start with we were alternating no nap days, then he wanted the naps back a few weeks later. Then we started getting BT dramas so had to start capping the nap, then we moved into a BBB and this seem to help with BT and we actually found an EARLIER naptime helped - have you tried this?

How is she coping without the nap?

[*Amy*]

I know this sounds weird, but i would try earlier for a few weeks. I remember my ds went through something similar and we over his nap earlier for a few weeks and it did the trick. So he usually napped at 12 and we moved it to 11/11.30am.
Hth

[<Catherine>]

So he usually napped at 12 and we moved it to 11/11.30am.

Yep, here too. He used to nap 1/1.30 and we moved it to 12/12.30.

[michaeljacknnugg]

Hi there! My DS started dropping his nap around 2 - it took about 6 months to go entirely. If your LO is low sleep needs then it might be that you need to think about dropping it a few days a week to start off with. As she moved to 1 nap early I'm guesing she is?

If your LO goes to bed later and ends up getting the same amount of sleep she would have done if she'd dropped her nap, then an early night might be more beneficial to her.

[EricaM31]

well she would normally go down at 1:00pm or 1:30pm.  It seems she refuses her nap for a couple of days and then yesterday she fell asleep in the car at 12:45pm and I transfered her to her bed and she slept till 3:30PM!!!  Then we had troubles at bedtime.  She is pretty good but stayed awake playing for an hour.  So It think I'll try putting her down earlier and capping the nap at 2hours?  Well anyway I can try a few different things.  Thanks for all your support and help.  I know baby Whisperer says they nap till 4 years old.  She is in a BBB already as well.

[Tweakster]

well he's now napping better than ever, every day and for 2.5 hours sometimes!

Yup here too.  We asked daycare lady to put him down first, so he's going down closer to 12:30.  It's crazy but we are back to 2 hr 15 min naps and a 10.5 hr night.  Precariously so but still. 

They love to mess with our heads

[BeasMommy]

We have been through the same thing. I thought it was nap dropping as we had bedtime problems too, along with EW and NW. Its been a nightmare for the last 4 months - we have had other health problems too but looking now I think it was a coincidence and it seems that most kids go through this 2 year sleep hiccup. She also went form 2-1 early  think she was 9 months (urgh!).

I too moved her nap forward a little and capped it, now we are napping from 1-2.30(she was doing 1.30 till 3.30) - I also resorted to what I used with her as a baby - setting the scene religiously every day, she now has her lunch and I say she can pick a book when she gets down and she even now says 'then nit naw after story' (what she call sleeping). I'm now afraid to change it and not be home for a nap at the moment as things have only really been consistent for 2 weeks!