2 Year Old All the Sudden Doesnt Want to Nap

I would suggest putting her favorite movie in and sitting her on the couch and she may just fall asleep herself.

Two year olds need naps and so do Moms of two year olds! Stay firm on this one. We used to have to change the words and we had to stop saying "nap". After a while we might have to not say anything except "come with me". If she is two you could simply pick her up and place her in your bed or her own, which ever works. One of my sons would sleep in his own but the younger son had to sleep WITH me. And yes, it caused me to end of taking a 2 hour nap!

Don't try to discuss it with her, just simply do it.
Good luck.

I have three girls (6, 3, 1). We felt that naptime seemed to go through stages with our girls, especially between the ages of 2-3. They started to not need a nap everyday, but then would eventually go back to an everyday naptime. We are going through the screaming and yelling stage with our 3-year old, but she hasn't been doing it long. Usually she does this when she's over-tired. Bascially what works for us is that I'll let her have one day off of naptime (only if she hasn't been running around where she's completely tired), but I NEVER give her two days off, because that means even more screaming. As I'm sure you already know, a good naptime routine (much like a bedtime routine) can really help, too. My oldest would do a gagging thing when she was screaming. I would have to sit with her on the floor, make major eye contact with her, and calm her down by having her take deep breaths with me. We later found out she had/has asthma. It was tough, but it did pass. She went back to normal naptime after a few months and really calmed down. Hope this helps!

I never was one that could sleep during the day. When I was little, I remember my mother making my sister and me have a quiet time. We could be in our beds and read books, but we stayed there until Mom told us we could get up. My favorite thing was brushing my Barbie doll's hair. If I were you, I would make a "quiet time" for your daughter. If she sees you stress about a nap, she'll be more adamant about not taking one. If you just calmly say that it is time to be still and watch a dvd, read books, or whatever quiet activity you select for her, she'll either still be used to a quiet time every afternoon (good, since they take naps in kindergarten) or she will find no use in fighting about naps since she isn't getting a reaction out of you, and may begin taking them again. Either way, you'll have some time to get some things done, or get some rest yourself. Good luck!!

I have three daughters that all quit napping at different times. My youngest quit at three - she has never required the same amount of sleep as her sisters. If skipping the nap really doesn't affect her behavior in the evenings and she gets a good night's sleep, she may be ready to drop it. As for your quiet/chore time, you may approach it with her that now that she is such a big girl, she doesn't have to nap, but she still needs some quiet time. This is a time to lie down and read books or play quietly in her room. Make it seem like a big privilidge to "graduate" to quiet time. You may even tell her not to fall asleep. Sometimes she may actually fall asleep when she is not upset about having to go to sleep. If not, at least you get a little time to do chores. Good luck!

Tell her to rest her body, she doesnt have to go to sleep just rest her body.

Hi A..

I'm sorry to break the news to you, but your two-year old is done with nap time. Since it's not affecting her normal sleep time and she is so adamant about it, this is just her natuaral time to grow out of it. All children have their own schedule for this, and unfortunately for some of us, some of our little ones never do even start with the naps from day one (I was one of the unlucky ones :O). Perhaps you can enlist her help with getting some stuff done and she can feel like she is being "Mommy's Helper".

I have a seven year old with special needs who only sleeps about four hours a night with no naps.

Best wishes.

BethanyH

Your little one may be ready to move away from that nap. I know several families in which the child stopped napping at a really early age, sometimes before 2 years old, and still got plenty of sleep at night. It can just be a little more inconvenient for the mommies trying to get things done! Good luck, but you might spend that time actively with her relaxing with a good book...just learning how to relax doing nothing is important, too!

My daughter did this-not quite to this extent-when she was 18 months old. When and if she did happen to fall asleep it was only for about 30 minutes-I was in my 1st trimester with #2 at this time and was really wanting a nap too! Happily it was a short phase that she got through. She's napped quite well until about the last several months, she's almost 4. I hope you'll get your naptime back soon. You'll be needing it for #2!! Good luck with that and God Bless you!

Kiersten went through a stage just days before she turned 18 months when she refused to take a nap. I required her to have quiet time in her room for a couple hours every afternoon. Occasionally she would fall asleep, but usually just read the whole time. She went back to napping for a few months, then was off for a few months. Now, at 27 months, she's back on again. Regardless of whether she naps though, she goes down for quiet time-- she needs to rest and I need some sanity!

My 5 year old daughter still does "quiet time" but rarely sleeps. When she was younger, she went through several transition periods, where I thought she was giving up sleeping, but suddenly would go back to it several weeks later. So I would recommend still putting her down for her nap. She doesn't have to sleep, but the down time is good for both you and her. My daughter would listen to music or look at books. At that point I would limit her books to a specific number and tell her when she was finished she had to lay her head down for the remainder of the time. You can set a timer for them, so they know you won't forget to come get them. :)

I have 3 children who are young and have gone through a similar situation....I would try allowing your child to take a nap later in the afternoon, when she is more tired, or try a little bit of TV time on the couch to settle her, which may help her fall asleep....Some children dont need as much sleep as others, and the more active they are prior to nap, the harder/better they will sleep. Even if she refuses to nap, she can still have "quiet" time in her room for 45 min-1 hour...give her quiet/ calm toys to play with on bed..set rules to stay on bed until you get her (this may take a few times to adjust)...hope this helps!

My daughter is about 2 1/2 and she gave up her nap time already! We do have "quiet time", which means she reads books in her bed (or our bed), or she will watch a Disney movie on the couch and quiet time means QUIET TIME. A little relaxation in the middle of the day goes a looong way! Good luck!

PS: she does sleep about 13 hours a night now...that's nice!

Hi A.!

Yep, 2 year-olds can definitely be a handful and I totally understand using the naptime to get things done. She is probably starting to outgrow the need for a nap; however, she needs to rest her body and maybe you could get her to sit or lay quietly with a picture book. I definitely don't recommend her sit quietly in front of a TV program - totally messes with their little brains and they don't really rest at all.

Hope that helps,
~V~

Really, i personally don't think that there is no such thing as growing out of nap time. At least not yet anyway because i have a 4 year old son that still takes naps and he loves them too. Sometimes he doesn't want to take a nap when i need him to so that i can get things done around the house, but he then i just play with him a lot and just get him really tired then i give hima snack and some milk or something to drink and turn to oeta the learning channel and after about 30 minutes or less i will check on him and he's out for the count. I suggest just playing with her untilshe just gets tired as heck like running around outside or something. Then she should be so tired that she just passes out and take a very good nap at least for an hour or two. That is usual for her to not want to take a nap because all three of my children went through that stage but now that they are 4,5,&6 they understand that they are tired and instead of whining like a baby or younger child they just ask to watch a movie or the oeta channel and they take a nap to rest their little minds. I just suggest letting her play herself tired and maybe that will work. Good luck!!! I hope it works.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but my son completely stopped napping at age 2. On the rare occassion that he could collapse into a nap for some reason, we had a very late bedtime that night!! Best of luck getting a more useful answer from someone else. I really missed the nap time, but i really didn't like having him up unitl nearly 11:00 pm. His bedtime has always been my down time, and that was gettting pretty late for my downtime!!
Have an amazing day and god bless!!