2 1/2 Year Old Not Staying in Bed at Naptime

My son stopped sleeping at naptime at 2 years, but I still had "quiet down time" with him until he was 3. He had to lay in his bed or on the couch and be quiet, sometimes look at books and sometimes that was his tv time for the day, but as long as he spent that time laying down and being quiet, he got to get up for snack time which he looked forward to every day. when he was very tired or sick he ended up sleeping, but usually it was just a good time for him to rest and a chance for me to get some things done.

My daughter did this same thing at the same age, although it didn't start out with her being sick, she just started doing it because she could. She would also get out of bed after I put her down for the night and several times in the middle of the night. I just remained consistent. EVERY time, I picked her up, kissed her cheek and put her back in bed and walked out, no matter how many times she did it. She kept it up for about 2 weeks, maybe three, and then just stopped doing it altogether. On the days when I just kept putting her back and then it got too late for a nap, I just kept her up, especially if it went past 3:00 because she naps for about 2 hours. On those days when she didn't get a nap, I would put her to bed about 1/2 hour earlier. The only suggestion I have is to just keep at it and eventually, he'll learn that he's not going to get a reaction from you and it's no fun. I could NEVER lock my kids in a room, which some people suggested I do, so I just kept putting her back over and over and over again. Good luck!

There is a chance that your child has outgrown the nap, but that's kind of unlikely since he's so young.

I read somewhere that a toddler's daily nap should be 12 hours from the time he is in his deepest sleep at night. So that's sometime between midnight and 2 AM, maybe you could make sure his lunch is is between 11 and 12 so that he is ready to sleep during that period.

I just posted this same question last week. I got suggestions like make the routine similar to bedtime, try music and strip the room of fun stuff. The problem is that like yours, my daughter isn't interested in playing with toys she just gets up and runs. She finds it hysterical. I tried putting her back for over a week solid just like you're talking about and it didn't work at all. So Friday I tried something a little different. I sat with my back to her in her room. I didn't talk. (we did the bedtime routine and soothing music). As long as she stayed in bed, I was fine. I didn't care if she was standing or wandering around on her bed...that's how she fell asleep in her crib. If she got off the bed, without a word I picked her up and laid her back down. Every time. After an hour, she got to where when she tried to get down she would climb back up immediately and lay down when she saw me turning. After and hour and half she was asleep. Thank goodness. It had been two weeks since her last nap. Fortunately, my 5 yo cooperated with my experiment. Saturday I did the same thing. It still took an hour, but she napped. Yesterday it took 45 min. I am hoping to slowly taper off and maybe she'll eventually "get it" because I am frustrated with dealing with an exhausted 2 yo. GL! And let me know if you find a better solution!

We bought a "toddler clock" that we set up in my daughter's room. There are lots of different kinds if you google it, but the basic idea of it is you can set how long you want the nap time to be and then the clock turns colors when it is time to get up. My daughter has responded very well to it and will stay in her room until the clock turns yellow. She usually plays for a while and then gets sleepy enough and goes to sleep. I think it is common to want to get up and play when they have that new freedom without a crib and if they don't know when they are allowed to come out of the room, then they will keep trying. My daughter doesn't always nap (she's 2.5), but she pretty much always stays in her room until the clock turns yellow. And if she doesn't, she gets put back and there is no TV the rest of the day. Good luck!

There are two things we can't make another human do no matter how much we want to -- sleep and use the potty.

Getting up is so common with the transition from crib to bed. Yes, he still needs some extra sleep,but he may be ready to give up the nap most of the time. Not what any parent wants to hear, but it could be true. My daughter pretty much gave up napping -- other than in the car -- around 2. I did take her out for a drive most days after lunch and she got that nap she needed, though it was shorter than in the crib-napping days. That lasted a while, then we went to quiet time.

If cruising naps aren't for you, go with what another poster mentioned and give him "quiet time." You can still start out with him on the bed, read briefly to him (I'd give up the "reading until he can hardly keep his eyes open") and say, "It's your special quiet time now" and leave promptly. If it is a routine, and you continue your very good idea of not interactiing with him when he gets up to find you, it'll work eventually -- to teach him to be OK alone in the room, not necessarily to sleep. You could try putting a gate on his room doorway, so he can have the door open enough to know you're there but not to get out and find you.

In other words...keeping him in bed may no longer be an option. Some days he may sleep on the bed, others he may fall asleep on the floor with his toys, other days he'll cry for you because he realizes he's not getting to play his get-up game. When that happens I'd go near the gate, give a quick reassurance that you're there but not pick him up or engage him much, and leave again. And he'll be cranky some because of the lack of naps. But short of driving him around or exhaustiing yourself trying to force a nap he just won't have, quiet time sounds like a next step.