3 Year Old Not Napping Anymore

I have 3 kids:

#1 took a nap until he was 5
#2 took TWO naps per day from birth and stopped altogether at 18 months!
#3 is 2.5 and sometimes takes a nap, but usually doesn't.

They are all different.

Have her help you around the house. Give her chores to do. My 2 year old empties the trash. My 4 year old vacuums. My now 8 year old started emptying the dishwasher at 18 months. He now takes the trash to the street, brings all laundry to the washroom. My 2 year old separates it by color. We all work together.

My daughter is starting to wean herself off her naps, but I tell her that mommy is fussy and needs a nap and she needs to have some quiet time... I will set up something that has a set time, like a tv show or music, and tell her that she can come get me when it is over... You may try something like that, where she has a definite time to come out... and knows that you need your time...
Good luck!
R.

My daughter stopped really napping at 18 months, and only naps about once every 2 weeks or so. She will be 3 in March. She still has quiet time every day. Some days she will stay in her room for 45 minutes, others only 15. When she refuses to stay in her room, I set her up with some quiet activities at the kitchen table --painting, coloring, sticker projects.

My kids, thankfully, are terrific at playing alone, so if she doesn't want to sit at the kitchen table, I let her run free in the play room while I work.

my daughter did the same thing and I have a younger one also...she was an awesome sleeper, so I expected her to nap forever too, but after 3yrs "nap time" became "quiet time" in her room, and now she won't stay in there at all... I try to get her to play quiet things independently, but *I* actually got more peace if I let her watch a TV show. We don't watch much TV in our house so it was a big concession for me, but now she watches a couple DVR'd PBS shows after sister goes to nap, so at least her body gets a bit of rest mid-day; and I can catch up on work.

You can try a timer or alarm, and she stays in her room until it goes off. I tried to show her what "3:00" looked like on the clock, but she is kind of young for understanding that.

My six year old boy stopped napping pretty much at age 2, and never took very long naps in general. and get this, my baby who just turned 9 months only naps for about 30 minutes in the am, and 30 in the afternoon since he was six months! he's not cranky at all though but i know he needs more sleep...it's just terrible, i have no free time and it's so frustrating. but i agree with the others that three is normal for them to start phasing out naps.

3 is pretty average to stop napping. Maybe you can have her take her quiet time somewhere else in the house - i.e color at a table or watch a movie?

Both of my kids were done napping by 3. My son was pretty good with "quiet time" for a while after that, but my daughter was a different story. Could you get her a kid cd player with a music cd or book cd to listen to during quiet time. She can probably learn which button is for "play" and which for "stop" (you could use green and red stickers). She might be able to listen quietly in her room until the cd is over--it might buy you 30-40 minutes or so...

I think it's pretty normal. My daughter just turned 3 a few months ago and she goes in spurts of napping and not napping. It's hard to get her to stay in her room for quiet time too. I would just talk to her before nap and tell her what needs to happen. I'm afraid that if this is the route you want to go you may have to let her scream. It's possible your other child might wake up, hopefully not, but if you keep letting her out of her room she's going to keep screaming. You might also consider setting a timer and putting it up high or right outside her bedroom so that when it goes off she knows she can come out. I'm dealing with the same thing and some days it goes great and others i get nothing done!

I understand why you want her to nap (as I type, my 2.5 year old is asleep while my 5 month old squawks), but maybe there are quiet non-napping things she can do? If it's really important for you that she be in her room, then I'd consider relocating your son for his naps.

... my kids still nap. My son (who is 4), naps everyday otherwise he turns into a TROLL.... by late afternoon.
My daughter who is 8, will nap if/when tired.
I have always taught them that napping... is not a 'bad' thing.... it is what their body needs, when tired. And adults nap too.
So I don't make it like a punishment/negative thing for them.

But yes, every kid is different per naps.

For me as well, in the afternoon is it quiet time, because my son naps. Then my daughter who is older, will have quiet time and do her homework etc. AND... I also say that this time is also "Mommy's time"... for nap or doing work at home or whatever. I also, use that nap time for my son, to do 'bonding' with my daughter. But it is quiet things, since my son is napping.

But whatever it is.... we always have a routine.... everyday. They know it like autopilot, so there is rarely any 'battling' about it. All I have to do now, is verbally cue them, about it. Ahead of time.

For you, quiet time seems to be, with your daughter IN her room, by herself. For any 3 year old, they cannot, developmentally to me.... just be by themselves tinkering around for who knows how long. For them 1/2 hour can be like an eternity. And then they also want company.... with you. So, it is never a long concentrated time of them just tinkering away by themselves in their room. Alone. Nor quietly. Not until they are much older, can they do that.

Tell her maybe, that MOMMY is quiet time too. Then do it together. You could also just lay on the sofa, getting some time off your feet/closing your eyes.... while in her room... and she may doze too. I have done that, and it worked.

But if she is really done with naps... then well, that is that.

But have a regular routine about quiet time... but not as restrictive as her being IN her room for the whole time. That is arduous for any 3 year old.

I had my son when my daughter was 3 going on 4 years old. Ever since he was an infant, and per his naps.... I coordinated that with my daughter's naps too, synchronizing it. Same timing. Then as my daughter got older... she just got used to her brother napping, then it was soft-voice time and quite time... and it was just routine. Both my kids KNOW... that when someone is napping.... they need to be quiet and use soft-voices. It is quiet time. And do quiet things. They do so. They understand.

all the best,
Susan