2 year old should nap or not?

[Bexmummy]

Hi,

I'm sorry if this is covered in one of the threads and I'm not very observant, but... Bec is 2 now and is showing signs of no longer needing a nap. She's been reluctant to go down before 2pm each day and then doesn't wake until 4pm. Last night she then slept okay until 4.30am and then was wide awake. On the days I put her down earlier she won't go to sleep and flakes out about 5 ish. Is it best to stick it out with the evening tiredness and put her down early (she's a cranky wreck that way) or have her nap and potentially wake up very early? (she had to have her nap at about 10am this morning because she was up so early). I'd appreciate some advice because it's a bit hit and miss now!

Thanks from Vic x

[mari]

Perhaps she needs a shorter nap. I am finding with Alex that she is starting to benefit from a shorter nap, I used t wake her at 2.30 but I find that she is better woken at 2 and then sleep at 7pm.  I think that they can stop the nap anytime between 2-5 years.  I would try to get her to sleep or have some quiet time at some time during the early afternoon and on the days that she doesn't nap, try to put her to bed earlier to compensate.  Let me know how you get on as my little minx is starting to show signs of this and she's not 2 until next week!

[mari]

Take a look at this thread
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=75618.0

[Bexmummy]

Today I had to go out for a driving lesson at 3.30, so I tried to put Bec down at 1 and she played in her cot for an hour. By the evening she was wasted and got to the point where she was overtired and kicked up a huge stink when we put her down at 7.30. She then got up for another hour and has only just gone to bed now! I'm knackered!!! 

Maybe the only answer is to cut her naps to an hour between 2 and 3 and then make her get up after that so she's not raring to go at a stupid time and tired enough to sleep through the night. Thank you for the advice Mari and the link to the other thread. There's such a variation in the way the toddlers keep and/or drop naps. I'm surprised! I'll come back and report on how it goes with the shorter nap.

[Katet]

Is it something about the name/ My niece (also Bec) gave up her nap at 2 y 4mo... My SIL ended up giving her 1 hour in her cot with books & timed it so she had 11.5 hours from wakeup until the start of wind-down... on days when she did sleep, she made sure that she never slept past 2.30pm as that was the "d" time for them...even if it meant a 5mins sleep... now at 4 she still has 1 hour of quiet time (while her younger sis sleeps) so her Mum gets a break

[esthere]

Harry started not to sleep the last month at nap time. He is a good sleeper at night 7pm roughly until 8am. We have bought wind down to 6pm as he does get tired and also I have moved main meal from 5.15pm to 4pm and give a supper before so its easier to amnage if he is v tired. We too still bring him up at 12.3Opm and he reads and listens to music for an hour.

[Diegos Mama]

My older son began to really fight his naps at that age.  We gradually transitioned him to a twin bed and bedtime issues vanished (both nap and nighttime).

Might she be ready for the switch?

[Carmela's Mom]

We are going with our 2 year almost 9 month old little girl.  We have gone through it on and off through this year actually.  Right now I am still putting her in at 1:00, but she's not falling asleep until 2:00 or after.  I've been waking her at 4:00 p.m. but she is a BEAR when I wake her!  She's waking early as well   I call this period "yuck".  I think they are transitioning to no nap, yet aren't quite ready yet.

[Duckie]

I remember my oldest fighting naps when he started preschool (around 3) because for the first month he was in a summer program there and he and one other boy were the youngest and the only ones napping and he refused it because the older kids were doing something waaay more interesting but after 3 days of no naps I put him to bed at 6 after he had a total meltdown over dinner!

[mari]

My older son began to really fight his naps at that age.  We gradually transitioned him to a twin bed and bedtime issues vanished (both nap and nighttime).

Interesting,, do you think that it could be time for Alex too.  I am not looking forward to this transition. 

[Diegos Mama]

Depends on the child. With mine I kept the crib set up in the room during the transition and made a big deal about the bed.  If they refused to stay in they had to finish the sleep in the crib.  This did the trick for both of mine.

[mari]

Might try that one Laura, when I am ready 

[imsmum]

Laura--thanks for the interesting advice--so often you read about the transition to the big bed as being the end of naps and causing all kinds of night time problems--it's nice to hear to a case where it's gone the other way.

I agree with pp--my dd (29 mos) has been skipping naps but sleeps fine at night provided she is asleep  12 hours before her normal wake time, ie. winddown happening no later than 11.5 hours after wakeup.  Tough, given that I work downtown--I'm having to sneak out early, race home and try to feed her and get her off to sleep no later than 6:30 but I figure that at least she is getting her 12 hours a day even if they are all at night!  Early bedtimes are a life saver when they skip their naps.

My dd for a while did better with an earlier nap surprisingly--otherwise she would do what your lo was doing.  I think florencia has posted that Manolo is like this too--miss that sleep window and it's a royal pain to try to get them to sleep.  So I'd try a slightly earlier haptime and let her get any fussing out of the way before her "nap window" comes and goes.   

[Bexmummy]

Bec's now napping okay again now. I think she might have been having problems partly because the eczema on her scalp's been so badl lately. Fortunately, it's calming down a bit now so she's a bit more restful. She's been going down between 1.30 and 2pm to 3.30 - 4pm depending on the day. She goes to bed a bit on the later side (8.45 - 9pm), but she seems to be more at ease and more able to wind down and sleep through that way. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she keeps this up for a bit now. She's certainly not ready to skip her nap.

I think the idea of keeping the cot in her room with the toddler bed is a good one. That way, there are options for us to use when she does transition. If we have problems with the toddler bed, we can revert to the cot again for a bit. 

[kim&savannah]

We ahve been going back and forth with naps for a good 5 months now or so.  Sometimes she'll go a week without taking one despite having "quiet" time for a coule hours every afternoon in her room (she's so LOUD during that time, its hard to call it quiet).  But then she'll nap every day for a couple weeks. 

I think as they are trying to make the transition, the best thing you can do is still provide the time for them to nap each day since they still do need it a lot of the time.  And then if they don't sleep, just move bedtime forward.  We move it by about an hour, sometimes a little more if she's way too grouchy, so she's going to bed at 7 on no nap days, 8 on nap days.  And she usually wakes between 7 and 8 either way.

~Kim