Hey girls,
My 22month old has started resisting naps this summer because our schedule has been slack. I have an older son, 5, who starts kindergarten in 2 weeks. But this summer we've been going to bed later and waking up later 5 days a week. It would stand to reason I would just put him down to nap later but I work 2 days a week and on those days he attends a daycare program and they all nap from 12-2. Needless to say, he hasn't been napping at all on those two days. And this resistance has carried over to my days at home with him.
I could wake him up earlier every day, but that defeats the purpose of a lazy summertime for my older one (cause he would wake up too when he hears the baby).
Does anyone else have an irregular nap schedule that works?
Lisa - Actually he is just bone tired and WAY cranky on the days he doesn't get a nap. It's really no fun for him or anyone ...but maybe you're right. Maybe he doesn't need it every day...
You can't force a child to nap but you can plan a quiet time every day (or most day when you can manage it). I still do this with my 5 and 6 year olds when schedule reasonably allows and my 5 year old STILL falls asleep 99% of the time.
My daughter stopped taking naps around a year old, which afterwards i was told my husband was the same way as a toddler. I however could STILL take naps and did all the time throughout my childhoood. I think it just varies child to child and maybe it's just not for him anymore. My daughter will usually fall asleep in the car on a long trip or something...heck she fell asleep driving ten min. down the road the other day but that's not usual for her! Good luck!
Yep. My 26 month old quit taking her regular 1:00 pm naptime once I had my 6 month old back in December. She has always gone to bed late since she was a baby (between 10 and 11) and has always slept an average of 10 hrs. at night. She does just fine w/out her naps. However, if she gets tired, she'll sometimes climb up on the sofa and fall asleep for a couple of hours. But this is rare...maybe once a week at the most. Now that I've had my other baby, I've become more relaxed about naptime "schedules". I think you just have to do whatever is best for your child. If he's really cranky and missing his naps, then he needs the sleep. If he's just fine and still goes to bed o.k., I wouldn't worry about it.
Hi C.,
My daughter stopped taking naps at 18 months old, except for rare days when she'd fall asleep in the car or something. We tried everything to get her to nap, but then realized that's just the way she was...a non-napper. So we made sure she at least had some "down time" during the day. Good luck.
D.
I wouldn't know... my 2 year old has turned naps down for good, she goes to bed at 9 (9:30 tops) and wakes up at 8 am.. She used to nap from 12 to 2 but she just would not do it anymore... maybe it's the age??
My 2yo doesn't nap anymore either unless she's been up too long. I let her sleep in (she usually sleeps til about 10am). And then she goes to bed around the same time each night. Now at first when she stopped the nap thing, she fell asleep around 5 or 6 or 7pm and I was up late with her for a few months until we were able to get her adjusted. (I did that with all my kids. My boys actually stopped their naps much earlier at 16 and 18 months.)
As someone else mentioned, sometimes they won't even need a nap every day...just like my husband and I seem to need a short nap after church on Sundays (or me while I'm pregnant need it a lot more).
I have always been able to adjust my kids schedule to the one that *I* want. If they got up too early, I'd get them back in bed with me and almost always they fell back to sleep again. I got them used to sleeping in a bit later. My 2yo just happens to sleep a LOT later than my boys ever did. I really don't worry about it at this age because she seems to really need the sleep schedule.
(We homeschool and I get my boys up at 8am and as they get older, it will get earlier.)
My 2yr old has been giving me a hard time as well this summer. His sister though has been in Michigan most of the summer with her dad but he and I get to sleep in since I have no reason to get up early. But what I do a few weeks before school starts with my self and my daughter (now my son will start it this year) is working on getting up earlier and going to bed earlier so we are better adjusted for when school starts back up. I do it by 15 min intervals and only either in the AM or PM that day. Otherwise my daughter is a bear to wake up and I'm cranky and B#%(& if I don't get enough sleep and this seems to work well for our needs.
Just a thought for you to toss around
Good luck
S.
My daughter dropped her naps early on. After tow weeks of putting her down for naps and her staying up, I just realized that she no longer wanted to nap. You can't force a kid to take a nap. I did do quiet time for awhile in her room but at about 2 1/2 she was completely done with them. She sleeps now from 8 pm to 8 am. By about 5 pm she gets whiney and we know she could benefit from a power nap but we can't force her. I just deal with the whining. In the afternoon, I give her quiet time with her favorite cartoon and she lays on the couch to veg. Lately she has been wanting to color during quiet time. Each kid is different.
My oldest child stopped napping completely at 14 months old (coinciding with my taking him out of his crib in preparation for the birth of our second child). I am not strict about naps, although a lot of people are. Some people do "quiet time" with the child in his/her room even if the child doesn't actually sleep. I do have a very flexible nap schedule with my 14 month old now. He naps once a day, whenever we get around to it. This works because he still gets tired enough to need a daily nap. Maybe your son doesn't need one.
