When Do You Know That Naptime Is Over?

Absolutely not! YOU should be the one to decide when your child is done napping, not your child! You should base that decision on the sleep charts that you can find on baby sites that tell you how much sleep children need at different ages. My son took a nap unti he was 4 1/2! Whether he slept or not, he went in his room, layed down and napped. 99% of the time, he fell asleep. Did you know that the more tired a child is, the harder they have falling asleep at night? It's a Catch 22. Being that her naps are off, is probaby why she can't fall asleep at night. There is a chart on Babycenter.com (called How Much Sleep Does Your Child Need) which says that your 3-year old needs 10 1/2 hours of nighttime sleep, and a 1 1/2 hour nap totaling 12 hours of total sleep. Is she getting that? If not, then she's probably overtired and it's affecting her sleep patterns. My suggestion is to keep putting her down to nap letting her know that she has no choice. Don't let her get up...don't let her take toys to bed with her, don't have a nightlight in the room where she can see. Put her down and turn off the lights. Give her no choice. She also may be acting this way because of your new baby. She may feel that she's not getting enough time with you since the new baby came home and is wanting to stay up to be with you. Give her some one-on-one during her wake times so that she feels good about the time she spent with you and won't feel like she's missing anything during nap or nighttime sleep. Keep consistent and she'll get the message. Good luck!

When my daughter was between 3 & 4 and she was not as consistent a napper, we kept up the routine of "quiet time." It was a break for her, which she needed, and for me. It worked well for us. It wasn't so much that we expected her to sleep, although she did sometimes. She would just have some quiet down time and look at books or play quietly in her room.

Possibly naps are over. I would try two things. One is to put her down for a nap at a different time. When my two were young if my older didn't get put down at a specific time, then it would be impossible to get her to sleep. Also, try skipping the nap and see how unbearable she gets, that will be your biggest clue. When I had a young one and the older didn't want to nap, I would nap with the younger one and put the older one on the couch with a fun activity (usually a video on TV, very special). She would stay on the couch, I got my nap and that would be the only TV she watched.

Hi A.,
Congratulations on the new baby!

I've got a 3 yo who can have trouble falling asleep for naps on some days too. He's such an energetic little guy, and my husband thinks he is worried he's going to, "miss out," so keeps himself awake.

We don't go by any "sleep charts." Those are waaay too general for real-life (lol). We decided our little guy needs the nap, ('cause he's an insane little demon without one - ha,ha), but we don't stress it the days he can't sleep. He must stay in his bed for, "quiet time." Usually, he's asleep by the end of that time (2 hrs for us, but may be different for someone else). If he doesn't sleep, he's at least a little less cranky than if we didn't do it at all.

Also, since he's been potty-trained, I can often get him to fall asleep if I hear he's awake (talking) and take him to the bathroom. (Potty training has also cut out night-terrors: I have NO idea why!)

I hope you keep trying with naps, if you can. I know you could use the extra time with a new baby. Good luck!
T