[redbonec]

I did not know that my K, almost 2-1/2, would give up the final nap so soon! I know others who are a year older and still napping.
Four of the last five days are no nap. When I have had her in her room to see if she will sleep at all, she will talk and sing non-stop. I also thought she would tire earlier in the evening. She really does not slow down.
She seems fine with no nap--definitely more of an adjustment for me!

Anyone else with young no nappers or transitioning out of one?

[mommamarci]

It may not be the end yet. Cameron has done that several times. I have been sure we were finished with naps, but then after a week or 2, he started napping again. Keep trying and don't give up yet!

[loveajax]

I was going to say the same thing (and my daughter is 3 and a half)....The naps start to become more erratic, but they may start again (and hopefully, unlike my DD, they will become regular!).

[jalapeno]

Well, my DD is still going strong with her nap (she'll be 3 in April).

But I wanted to mention that my SIL had each of her kids transition to a "quiet time" once they stopped actually sleeping for naptime. They had to stay in their rooms (I think for an hour) and be relatively quiet. Sometimes they would fall asleep and sometimes not. I don't know if your DD would do something like that. I'm pretty sure mine will when we get to that point. She tends to do a little bit of quiet time on her own when she wakes up anyway.

My younger DS no longer seems to need to sleep for his morning nap. But he can't quite make it to his afternoon nap if I just do nothing. So I've started having him do a 20 minute quiet time in his crib with a few books in lieu of his morning nap. So far so good!

Best of luck in adjusting!!

[redbonec]

I do have a question about this "quiet time" you bring up. She will stay in her room, I have giving it 30 minutes, but quiet is not the term I would use. She talks, sings, and plays the whole time. Today I finally turned off the monitor so I would have quiet time. SHould I be enforcing the "quiet" part? I have always thought that down time for any age, child and adult, is great, but I am not sure how I can get her to be realize "quiet" for that long.

Erratic naps is not helping. THat means that one day we went somewhere in the car at 6 p.m. and she fell asleep. Then she cries when we get her out because she is tired. Then yesterday she went to her room on her own, crawled into bed, and fell asleep at 4:45! This is bad for us because if she ever slept past 3 p.m. for a nap it would mean she was going to be staying up late that night.

[jalapeno]

Oh I've done the turning off the monitor thing! Oh the things I said I'd never do before I was actually a parent . . .

I would probably be ok with singing and playing for quiet time. That way at least you know what she's up to in there. Maybe I'd draw the line at yelling and jumping on the bed. I suspect it's more the "alone time" aspect of it that helps a toddler rejuvinate. Time when I'm not hanging over her head saying "do you need to go potty?" or trying to engage her in "structured play". Just my thoughts.

[Betelnut]

My daughter (2 3/4 years old) refuses to take a nap on the weekends (or any day that she is home with me) but will still do it during day care!

She definitely NEEDS a nap because if she doesn't take one she crashes about 1 hour early than usual for bedtime and can be a bear before that (crying, refusing to take a bath, etc.)

Sigh. But how can you force someone to take a nap?

[Biblemom]

All of our children have quiet time for 2 hours everyday. They have to stay in their beds but can take quiet toys and books. At 2 1/2 she might be too young to understand to be quiet for that long, but I would draw the line at yelling or singing very loudly. My youngest (just turned 3 last month) will not take naps anywhere other than home - too much to look at. At home he gets two books and his stuffed dog. Usually only takes 30 minutes before he is bored of them and goes to sleep.

Once children in my home start 1st grade they are allowed to play quietly out of their beds, as long as they stay in their rooms. On our behavior chart we have a 'get out of one naptime free' card that the older children can earn. Naptime gives me time to cleanup and decompress.