Is My 2 Year Old Ready to Give up His Nap?

Yes, dont worry, this is an adjustment phase. My son's naps have got shorter and shorter. He is 3.5 and sometimes he skips a nap. But then he will fall asleep no problem before he even gets to bed. It is normal. They are very excited about things we take for granted and they usually dont fall asleep until they are ready to drop. Avoid too much TV also. This disrupts their sleep patterns.

What you can try when he looks ready to take a nap is to lie down on a playmat with him next to you and read him a story, or make up one and watch him start to close his eyes. It has even put ME to sleep. LOL

Get him out in the mornings and run around time.
Boys... need physical activity. They are very active.
A kid this age still needs a nap... I believe.
My kids, who are 3 and 7, still nap. My 3 almost 4 year old, everyday. In the afternoon. He needs it. He won't last all day without a nap.
He still goes to bed by 8:30, just fine.
He naps 2 hours. Everyday.

I agree with S.H. Your little boy needs lots of very active play in the mornings.. Wipe him down with a cool wash rag. Then try to feed him a quiet lunch between 11:30 and 12:00.. Make the house quiet and cool..

Then read him a story or put on a story CD and have him "rest".. At least for an hour or hour and a half.. Then have active play again...

Give him a good bath with lots of strong rubs.. Have the house quiet so it does not sound like a lot is going on.. (No cell phones ringing, no loud TV)
At night with it light outside, you may need to darken his room. I used to hang quilts.. We played quiet music to block out the kids playing in the neighborhood.

Again quiet book.. Read slowly, this is not the time to engage your child in the book.. Just read.

Good luck..

When my kids have sleep issues, I always keep a sleep journal for a couple of weeks. Try to see how much sleep your son needs in a total day. He may be going to sleep later at night because he is napping so late. Even if my daughter doesn't fall asleep until 3:00, I wake her by 4:00. And I never let her sleep more than an hour and a half at naptime. Don't be afraid to wake your son from his nap in order to preserve nighttime sleep. I wake mine almost every day. If not, they would be going to bed really late and up really early because they didn't need anymore sleep. I firmly believe that 2 is too young to drop the only nap. Cutting naptime down might be your best bet.

I have to agree and disagree with previous posts. It all depends on your schedule. My DD, now three, hasnt napped since two...HOWEVER, she sleeps 12 hours a night. I think that as long as you are getting those twelve hours, even broken up, you are fine. Going to bed at 8-9 and getting up at 5-6 isnt enough....he would still need a couple hours nap.

I would take a completely different approach, based on how my nearly 3 year old naps. I also agree that sleep begets more sleep.

I would suggest an earlier nap, as difficult as that might be. At that age, my daughter napped from about 12-3. THREE hrs nap plus sleeping about 8-7 (11 hrs) at night. At that age, 12 hrs is not sufficient the more sleep the better. As my daughter has gotten closer to 3 she now has to nap even earlier! Most days she's asleep between 11 and 11:30 and sleeps until 3. We always wake her by 3:30 if she isn't up. ANd I put her in by 7:30 or 7:45 and she falls asleep around 8:30, sleeps til 7 ish. SO, go for an earlier nap, and put him in for earlier bedtime too. Of course, so it in increments (like 15 min earlier each day) until you get to the target.

I meant to add that with my daughter, if we "miss her sleep window" she also doesn't nap right away or fall asleep at night. SO I think you might be missing the nap window (and the night time window) and if you move both earlier could solve problem
GOod luck!

I wish I better news to tell you, but, as hard as I tried, our older daughter was TOTALLY done with her afternoon naps at the age of 18 months.

at the age of 2 my son stopped taking naps all together..but went to bed for the night around 5 or 6 and slept 12 hours or longer. which was fine with me because i had a nice quiet evening!!!

Put him down for his nap at 1:45 and see if he falls asleep by 2. Sleeping past 3:30 is too late. 2-5:00 nap? 3 hours!? Just cut his nap down to 1.5 hrs and put him to bed by 8:00 and he'll fall asleep faster with the shorter nap.

I think that kids need naps, like the other mom in previous posts. My daughter is 19mths and she only ever has had one nap a day which can consist of 2-3 hrs. She wakes up in the morning around 7-7:30, we eat BF and then we run arrands or i take her to the park or lake, pool so she can burn off some energy. Then we come hm for lunch and I give her a bottle and lay with her and she falls right to sleep. I have heard to never let your kids sleep after 4pm but my daugher usually wakes up from her naps at 5:30pm. She always goes to bed at about 9pm after dad gives her a bath and then her bottle. I think every child is differnent and thier sleep patterns are aswell, but It sounds to me that your son wants to still nap and so you should let him. Like the previous mother said before, it matters how much he sleeps as a whole rather than just at his bedtime, which i know you probably dont want to hear because i assume you get up with him at 5:30am:( You must also be very tired from your other little one. Remeber he is still getting upto 10+ hrs of sleep in the whole day and It sounds like the timing in both your kids naps does help you have a break during the day, so go with it and dont bet yourself up to much, your baby will tell you what he needs :) Your doing a great job! Good luck :)