My 22 month old daughter is all of the sudden refusing to take naps. She is still in a crib and usually goes down quite easily. She never cries or fusses when it is nap or bedtime. I am not ready for her to quit taking naps!!! What should I do?
Thank you everyone for your responses. We have tried to keep giving her naps and she is actually really tired, we can tell, but not until around 5:00PM. It is awful to give her a nap that late because she wakes up SO cranky and she doesn't want to go to sleep until way late. I am happy to hear about the "quiet time". I will try this. I know that every child is different, and some just need less sleep than others, I was just hoping that she would take naps for a long time (until 3 would be nice)!!!
Both my kids gave up naps before 2. I didn't love it but there wasn't much I could do. I'm still jealous of those parents with "good sleepers"!
Maybe someone will respond with a trick to get her to take a nap. I would have tried anything.
Good luck!!
My oldest daughter gave up her naps before she was two. I tried everything. I didn't want her to nap too late in the day, because it would just delay her bedtime. Every child is individual. My other two kids napped on and off until they were three.
Enforce the quiet time. She doesn't have to go to sleep, but she has to lay down and be quiet for an hour. Tell her she doesn't have to go to sleep, but she has to lay down and she has to be quiet. She needs the downtime no matter what - so do you. 9 times out of 10 all of mine would fall asleep. Set a timer so she is confident that you won't forget about her and make her stay there longer than she has to. If she falls asleep - turn the timer off. I contined this until age 5 - because they have nap time in kindergarten and I didn't want to mess up the routine. I could see it now - yelling at the teacher that they don't have to take a nap anymore...
She may not want to lay down and sleep but she does need the quite time, who knows she may fall asleep anyway. Later on you will both need the quite time with a new baby on the way.
The total amount of sleep that a 2 year old needs is about 13 hours. See how long your dd sleeps at night and then you can tell if she needs a nap during the day. Even if she doesn't need to nap, she should have some down time that is quiet, with books or whatever.....if you need that as a mom, she needs that time....You can only be your best when your needs are met as well, quiet time is NOT going to hurt her, but can do a world of good for you.
Hugs and blessings~
this is just a phase- keep putting her down at the same time everyday- even if it means putting a few books in her bed to look at- you are the mom and establishing a time of quiet- ie... you can sleep if you want to but you have to remain quiet in the house during this time to this time- I did the same with my other 3 kids- my daughter is 20 months and there are days that she does not sleep very long but I leave her in the bed from start to finish of quiet time. Good luck!
I don't understand why parents try to force their children to take naps until X age.
Most kids know when they need to sleep - when they need to sleep they will. If she is willing to lay down and play or amuse her self for a while - consider this her down time / nap time. Maybe this is all she needs to recharge.
