no more naps

[adrianainfanson]

hi, i´ve got a 26 months girl and she refuses nap since 2 months ago, before that she was doing very well, she used to have a 3 hours nap an midday, but now she doesn´t want anymore, sometimes she seems very tired and sometimes she does very well during the afternoon, do you think is she getting old so that she doesn´t need a nap anymore?

[Florencia]

Hi Adriana!

It is very normal that toddlers around 2 years start refusing naps, even when they're too young to drop them and they still need them. I would encourage you to keep offering them cause it looks like a sudden change to me the fact that she was sleeping for 3 hours and she stopped cold turkey. MAybe some sleep training in the form of wi/wo or gradual withdrawl (you'll find them thoroughly described in the Faq section at the top of this forum under the thread called Teaching Independent Sleep) will help you lay her down.

If it fails, try offering catnaps in your bed or quiet time in her room, say reading books or just playing quietly in her crib/bed. She surely needs a break for rest in the middle of the day to hold on till bedtime without getting overtired. On days she doesn't nap, offer an early bedtime to help her catch up.

HTH and keep us posted!