do we need to drop the nap?

[*Becky*]

M is approaching 3 years 3 months. She has loved her nap since going to one at 17 months and we have slowly capped it during the last year to 1 hour. My issue is I am not sure she is anymore rested with the nap now 
She gets tired quite easily anyway and will happily nap so I tend to just put her down but the days after a nap she seems to still be tired and I wonder if day is taking from night?
Her gro-clock is set for 7am and she never calls me before it but it is difficult to say what time she is waking up 

On a no nap day she copes fine and BT is 6.30pm but after a couple she is pretty tired...the thing is I am not sure the nap is doing much and not not sure why? 
I never had this issue with H as he was a chronic nap refuser so we ended the 1-0 with 2-3 CU naps in the car to prevent OT.

Any ideas or tips for me?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hmm that is a puzzle! Would she do quiet time instead (or would she fall asleep anyways?). By her age neither of my older two were napping except for a very rare nap due to illness or something...but they had clear indications like faffing at bedtime etc that it needed to go.

[*Becky*]

yes we have none of that but I have a feeling there have been some EWings.
If she did quiet time she would likely fall asleep but I do need to instigate something like that as we will both need some down time!

[Emami]

Do you think she would still fall asleep for quiet time even if it was obviously not nap time? When my DD was sometimes napping sometimes not I still used to approach it as if I expected her to sleep, so closed curtains and white noise on.  If she wasn't asleep after half an hour I'd go in and give her some books or something.  Now she still does quiet time but any nap is more trouble than it's worth, so we go to her room but it stays bright, no white noise, and she has a few books and toys with her the whole time.  She would never fall asleep like that even if she's tired!  Do you think M would anyway?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Spencer was the opposite and did quiet time in the dark with white noise for a few years - she sang and talked to herself but rarely slept! Not sure if it is because she is so literal and took my "it is quiet time and not sleep time" too seriously.

[*Becky*]

No Emma, I don;t think she would if it was light etc - could try that.
She is tired now though, we have had lots of no nap days so will put her down for one today. This transition is going to be long...yawn.

[jessmum46]

Quiet time has been really good here - and when DD is *super* exhausted she has very very occasionally dozed off in a light room with toys.  But I'm talking once in the last two months!  If you need any ideas for quiet time Becky give me a shout x

[*Becky*]

ooh that would be great Katherine - I did it with H but any hints or tips would be fab. Maybe I should be setting her up with low light rather than putting her to bed every day, that way she hopefully will only sleep when she really needs it?

I could do the odd car nap too but don't want to get stuck in that again like I did with H!

[jessmum46]

What worked really well for us was making a special "quiet time bag" with various activities for her to do.  I planned to rotate them to keep the interest up, though haven't been that great at doing so, but she seems to enjoy what's in there.  Top hits are paper and stickers or sticker books (things like 'dress the teddy' etc), colouring book and crayons, lacing cards or beads, a small magnetic drawing board, some cards with pictures/numbers on, an Aquamagic colouring thing....and of course a load of books.  Occasionally if I see something I think she'd enjoy when I'm out shopping I will add it into the bag and then it's exciting for her to find out what's in there (and encouragement to get her into her room lol!).

When she would still nap relatively often, I used to draw the curtains and make it dimly lit (though light enough to see) so that she would be likely to doze off if needed.  I don't bother so much now but sometimes she asks.  I have wondered about getting a small radio/CD player for some music or stories as she gets older but haven't done so yet.  I think M has a gro clock?  Perhaps set it for 45 mins in the first instance and see how she goes?