Help - 27 month old has been refusing naps for almost 1 month now...give in?

[scherezade]

Hello all...please, please help me..
My beautiful boy who is 27 months old at this point, just refuses to nap. He was a lovely napper...would sleep 2-2.5 hrs midday and then as of one month ago...just began refusing naps.
I thought it could be molars or development since he really has been picking up so many new words since his 2nd birthday...but could it be that his naps are truly gone? He still seems tired and has slight circles under his eyes. Definitely becomes more easily frustrated by dinner time, whereas his disposition is normally pretty even keeled.

Our current schedule when he doesn't nap:
6-6:30am wake up
10:30 snack
12 -lunch
12:30-1:30/2pm REST time...which he fights...
3pm - snack
5pm - dinner and start bedtime routine
6/6:15pm - in crib and he usually is asleep by 6:30pm. 
He's roughly getting 11-12 hrs of sleep, mostly in one big chunk. He has had occasional wakeups due to gas or poopy diaper, but it's rare.

Back in July, when he was napping his schedule was:
5:30-6:30am wake up  (huge range, i know, but I tried to not get him out of the crib until closer to 6:30am)
10:30 snack
12 -lunch
12:30-2:30/3pm NAP
3pm - snack
6pm - dinner and start bedtime routine
7:15pm - in crib but he was starting to take longer and longer to actually fall asleep...like he wouldn't be sleeping until 8:30 or 9pm.
When I look back..I guess he was getting roughly 11-12 hrs in a day on average. Sometimes it would be closer to 10 hrs or 13 hrs depending on how well he slept.

On a selfish note, I miss his midday nap because it gave me a break and allowed me to rest as well if I need to (I'm in early stage of pregnancy). I still try to put him in his crib for "rest" but I've been keeping the lights off.
If I need to accept the nap as gone, maybe I would modify this routine by putting on a dim light for his quiet time..and giving him books to look at.

I just feel like he's too young to drop his one nap...and that he needs more than 11-12 hrs of sleep...but maybe he's getting what he needs?

So frustrating...

[jessmum46]

My DD was all done napping by 29 months, and had been steadily decreasing her naps (by refusal) from about the 2y mark.  Yes it is early but if he is sleeping through most nights then it may be he is ready.  That said, I do think there are things you could try.  First thing I would do is put him down later for his nap/rest, like 1/1.30pm.  If he is more tired he may be more inclined to go off to sleep for a bit - you can always wake him so bedtime doesn't get silly you can also try a car ride around 3/3.30pm if he won't go for the lunchtime sleep but is clearly struggling - often DD would doze around that time if really tired, and I'd wake her after 15-20 mins.  Just enough to take the edge off tiredness but not affect bedtime . If he really is done napping though I would find a way to make it work.  I'd still do quiet time/rest, but suggest doing something like I did with DD which was to make a "quiet time bag" of activities that she could do alone - stickers, magnetic drawing board, picture cards, crayons, little figures etc etc and rotate the activities to keep the interest.  I would give her one of those in her bed and aim for minimum 45-60 mins in her room, even if I had to pop in occasionally to remind her it was quiet time.  I'm not sure if you use a gro clock or similar but you can set a timer/light and say mummy will get you when the timer is finished.  It worked for a good few months for us, and because I wasn't expecting her to sleep, the odd time she did surprise me by doing so

[scherezade]

Thank you so much for your reply!
I like your quiet time activity bag suggestion...will try to put one together.
I guess if he does catnap during quiet time or even around 3pm mark in the car...I'm not sure what time to make bedtime...I don't want to have it turn into a 9pm bedtime situation...

[Lindsay27]

My DS went through a phase around this age where it really seemed like he was going to drop the nap, and we would just offer quiet time on the couch with a movie (he would aboslutely refuse to be in bed) and about 50% of the time he'd fall asleep on the couch.  This lasted maybe a month or 2 and then he actually picked the nap back up again, consistently napping and didn't drop it until somewhere between 3/3.5.  Just wanted to mention that in case it is a little 'phase'. 

[scherezade]

Lindsay27 - I appreciate hearing your experience. Yeah, not sure if this is a phase or something that's here to stay...it's almost been one month now of the no nap situation.
I'm going to keep offering quiet time in his crib, but when he gets too angry about being there, I'll let him out...
I guess I'll just see where this goes!