3 Year Old with "Security" Issues?

If the daycare is noticing that she is not taking as long of a nap and this was going on before your trips, then I would say that she is probably going through an adjustment stage. That doesn't mean that she doesn't need a nap anymore. I have noticed with my daughter and my nieces that at about 3 years old they go through a stage where they start fighting the nap and a lot of people let them stop taking naps at that point. I think it is just a stage they go through to try to test their limits. She probably did get a little out of routine while you were gone and the timing of the two together doesn't help. Stick with the routine that you are used to and she will figure things out again before too long. At nap time, as long as she is laying down quitely, don't worry too much about whether or not she actually sleeps. She is still resting and if she is tired, she will sleep. But don't give up on that nap just yet. It took a couple of weeks and a couple of battles (very strong willed child!) with my oldest but she was back to her regular naps within a week or two.

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i know you're just asking "to know", since there's not a lot you can do about it, but in my opinion, she still needs her naps. i would bet that she is just unsettled from mommy and daddy being gone. you hear it all the time (and i'm sure lots of mamas on here will have first hand stories) that as soon as something "traumatic" happens, the child reverts. three is too young to "really" understand these business trips, or even if she has some idea of what it means, she will still be upset by your absence. good luck, my only advice is to try to have patience and follow her cues. she may take a few weeks to get back into a routine. good luck!

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It is possible that whomever you left your daughter with didn't enforce your naptimes and it'd thrown off her schedule. It is also possible that she's no longer needing an 1 1/2 nap. My daughter is 4 and hasn't taken a nap for over a year. I think it's great that she still stayed in her bed for as long as she did. Why not step it up and call it peace and quite time instead of nap time? It'll make her feel a little more grown up and not be such a turn off (while still giving you p & q time)

As for the security issues...heck yeah, I think she's got them. She's not going to sleep because she thinks that if she closes her eyes when she opens them you all won't be there. I'm a military wife. My eldest is 5 and daddy's only been around for 2 years of his life...I AM the ONLY anchor that has ALWAYS been here day in and day out. If I take off for a day or even a weekend the kids are pretty frantic and constantly ask about me (unless there are a WHOLE LOT of kids around to distract them from my departure).

Spend some extra time with her...do some mommy and me projects...maybe even get her into your scrapboooking or do a craft together. Just reinforce to her that sometimes mommies and daddies have to go away because of their jobs but that you all will be back and miss them the whole time! Another thing that we did for the kids was to get pictures taken of them with their daddy before his deployments and they always had them on their nightstands to say goodnight to daddy. You might want to consider getting her her own picture...or if you want to take it one step more...Walmart is selling a portable digital photo frame for like $29 right now and it'll hold some 60 pictures. You can load it up with all kinds of photos of you're family and it'll be a nice thing for her to look at if she gets lonely or misses you.

As for the potty thing...just keep trying. Maybe an incentive prize will help. My daughter was promised a new doll when she went a week w/o messing her pants (daytime only). You can also do daily rewards...extra 15 minutes staying up late, extra snack, stickers, you name it. That also may help (but at a point it didn't with my kids...they just got too stubborn). The important thing about the potty training is to keep it positive. When she goes just let her know how proud of her you are and what a big girl she is. They say for every negative thing you say you should counter with 4 positives...a hard thing to do sometimes but really really true with potty training. Good luck!

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My son will be 2 1/2 on Monday and he hasn't been napping since early December. He still could use one, but he just won't go. I try to run errands in the late afternoon so he can nod off in the car, but other than that.... Some kids just give up their naps earlier. I wouldn't automatically assume it's a security issue.

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I think that in this day and age, when everyone wants us to believe that we "have" to work and daycare is "just as good as" if not better than staying home with your children, we can often downplay our significance to our children. The truth is, you and your husband are very important (the most) fixtures in your children's lives, and leaving them for days at a time for any reason is going to be very detrimental to their feelings of security and ultimately, then, to their behavior. I strongly urge you to consider staying home with your children or at the very least finding a job that does not require you to leave them entirely for more than a few hours. This will reassure your child and help her behavior.

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Maybe instead of a security issue, she's just out of routine. Whoever was watching her must not have kept your routines. Now mommy and daddy gotta get her back in gear, nobody does it like mommy and daddy :)

I have been lucky if my 18 mo olds take a regular nap. So, I would say that if you have gotten away with it this long, you have been really lucky. LOL I have had 7 children, and only 1 took a daytime nap after 18 mos. This last one isn't to that age yet, but I expect with his issues, he will probably still take them until 2yo. My mother always had her children take naps until 5yo, but I don't know how she managed it. :)

The issue is probably much more of a reversion due to the business trips. Even if her routine stayed the same, just not having you there when she is used to that can cause a reversion.
My son was never a good napper. He just never required as much sleep as other kids...I'm sure he gets this from me! haha Anyway, the ending of naps is usually a gradual thing, kids don't just one day decided they don't need naps anymore. You will know when she doesn't require them as much, or at all.
I would say keep at the routine, and she was a good napper before, so she should get back into it.

Your daughter sounds normal. I had one child that napped every other day around age 3. Another that napped every third day and another that went to no naps just a longer bedtime. Her potty training sounds like her body is mature. As for the one accident aper day, she is probably distracted and doesn't want to stop playing.
1. ask constantly if she needs to use the bathroom or just make her try to go every half hour if she is playing
2. if she is using pull-ups you may switch to undies so its a terrible feeling if she has an accident. Its great that she stays in her room and has quiet time even if she doesn't sleep.

As hard as it is, she may just be ready to give up the naps. She will probably be ready to go to bed earlier at night then. My son is 4 and hasn't taken regular naps for about a year. All children are a little bit different about how much sleep they need. My son goes to bed at night around 7:30 and sleeps for approx. 11 hours. I hope all works out well for you guys!