2 Year Old Won't Nap Anymore

My daughter is 2 years 6 months and we've been through some nap issues recently too. I agree with several of the posts who said that they get overtired easily, making is much harder to sleep (counterintuitive).

I am absolutely positive my little one needs her naps, no matter what my mother in law says! ANyway, we often have "lunch" around 10:30 or 11 at the latest - I've found that these days she has to be in to nap by 11:30 at the latest or we've missed her "sleep window" and she'll not fall asleep. Every day is a little different - it depends on what time she gets up etc - if she wakes up super early she might be in for her nap by 11 or even before. ANd some days she can make it til 12 but not usually.

If all this gets messed up and we miss her sleep window and she's in her crib taking an playing but not sleeping, my back up plan is always the stroller. If she's not asleep by 2 she goes for a walk in the stroller and will fall right asleep and stay asleep until you stop walking. And an hr or an hr and a half is MUCH better than nothing for her so I do it when necessary.

I do try to have her in her crib ready for bedtime by 7:30 everynight but lately she's been battlign me there and often I am in her room with her until9pm before she fals asleep. But then she sleeps til 7 or 8am and we start all over!

Bottom line - my advice is try an earlier lunch and nap, and put him in even if he doesn't nap right now because it could pass and soon enough he'll be sleeping like he used to.

good luck

ps I put my little girl in at 11:30 today and I think I missed her sleep window - it's 12 and she's not asleep yet : (

Give him lunch at 11am and put him for a nap immediately afterward. He is over-tired and that's why he can't fall asleep. I know this is counter-intuitive, but its true for children.

My older son did the same thing at about the same age. I kept putting him down for a nap, and if he wasn't sleeping after an hour, I'd get him up. After a week, he resumed taking naps. I've no idea what was going on. I have only recently given up naps in favor of quiet activities, and he just turned four. My 2 year old is still napping. I think 2 is too young to stop taking a nap or at least a rest in the bedroom (you can't force him to sleep, after all!). And, you need the break! I hope that you'll get a nap out of him at least some of the time, Good luck.

My daughter, also just over 2 years, recently did this as well. Her name is M. by the way :). We continued to put her in her bed at her usual nap time and she would play and talk in there and we would leave her in there for 2 hours for some down time. I think she must have been in between growth spurts and did not need the sound sleep. She is now napping as usual again. It was short lived, maybe 2 weeks or so. The fact that your son is crying... hmm... I would still stick with it and keep putting him in regularly because he could soon again start napping. Have you changed your morning routine at all? Is he getting all is energy out before his naps? Or maybe try getting into nap mode right after lunch, quiet playing, stories etc leading into nap time. Good luck!

My son did the exact same thing around 2. I found that some days he just didn't need a nap. I would put him in his bed for "quiet time" for about and hour and he would just talk, read books and play with stuffed animals, then I would go get him. But if he wasn't sleeping I didn't feel he was tired. The days he did nap it was usually 1-4, but then bedtime was 9pm at the earliest. The days without naps, he's in bed by 7pm. I usually just see what the day brings. If he's really cranky, I know he needs a nap and if he's happy, we skip a nap and do early bed time. He's 29 months now and usually naps 2 times per week...not a bad compromise. As long as he's happy, I'm assuming he's getting enough rest. (One note, the days he doesn't nap, he sleeps 12-13 hours at night, as opposed to 10 hrs when he does nap)

I am a total, firm, believer that kids need naps and when I was confronted with this little 3 yr. old I am trying to raise well that suddenly stopped napping at 2 yrs. old I was totally freaked out. Not only do I need that break time to pick up from the morning I absolutle believe kids need the rest to develop correctly. I still work with him but he rarely sleeps for a nap, and if he does I can count on him staying up until midnight or later. He is nuts by 7pm too, but if I put him to bed early he's back up around 3am. I feel your pain, literally.

I would not worry if he doesn't want to nap anymore , and being ready for bed by 6.30pm isn't so bad , he is only 2 and an early bedtime is good for kids.You may find that he will nap every other day or so , just to catch up. My eldest stopped napping at 2 aswell.

No, it is not time to omit his naps.
This is just a minor tweak.
MANY kids do this at 2 years old... they are changing in many ways... developmentally, so as a result their sleep/naps gets tweaked.

Still have a daily routine/times for naps. Everyday. If he does not fall asleep... after a reasonable time. Then you can have a quiet time, if it works.

If he has harder time falling asleep/napping the later you do it, then do it earlier. By then he is too over-tired. Over tired kids actually have a harder time falling asleep and can't sleep well and will wake more... and some even get more hyper when they are too tired.

At that age, my son's naps were earlier.
My son is 3, and he still naps everyday. He is honestly tired and needs one. I have a daily routine everyday. I also know his cues and gauge him... and so according to that, I adjust his nap times. Daily.

Kids this age still benefit from naps.
Here is a link:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-much-sleep-does-your-chil...

If you completely OMIT naps period... then you will have an over-tired/fussy child. And this discombobulates them more.

Before any nap/bedtime, you NEED to allow the child to wind-down and key down. It takes me about 1/2 hour to wind-down my son first, then we segue into his nap. He knows that. They need to be guided... not just plunked down in the crib/bed and then expected to fall asleep in 1 minute. It is a "transition."

I always verbally cue my son, about it. ie: "after we play... then nap time..." or, "in 1/2 hour, nap time..." and he knows. I don't force his naps... but I know his patterns and sometimes he will even tell me he is tired and then he will get in his routine himself.

Certainly, not all days will be a successful nap. But to do away with naps, completely, is also not the solution. Because they obviously still need one. It takes patience and going by your child's cues.. and gauging them. But having a daily routine about it. For me, I am always home, for nap times, for example. My son cannot nap/sleep on the road or while out.
He naps for 2 hours. I just know him and his patterns and if he will fall asleep or not.

But yes, at 2 years old, nap and sleep gets tweaked. Temporarily.

Just some quick thoughts,
good luck,
Susan

our son did the same about that time in the afternoon when he was 1 and half. We stopped talking about nap time, but around 3 o'clock or so -when he was obviously tired -we had him do quiet activities like you talked about. Then he would just conk out on his own. Mentioning "naps" generates anxiety for some reason, at least in our boy. We use the words sleepy or tired still, though. Letting him have the reins for when he is sleepy has worked better.

Normally, I would say he's not ready to give up his nap, but I have several friends who went through this with their 2 year olds around this age.

What time is he getting-up in the morning?
I'd recommend seeing if he could go down for a nap earlier (say noon) and feed him lunch earlier. If he's struggling more the later in the day you get, it may be that he's overly tired.

At 3.5, our son still takes a nap. None of his friends do anymore. But, he needs one. He's a horrible sleeper in the evenings, though. No matter how much we try to wean him from his nap, he has to take one at day care, so it's a futile cause.

All three of my kids stopped napping at age 2. They are now in preschool and have a rest time after lunch but most days they just rest and don't sleep. They are however great nighttime sleepers. They are in bed at 7pm and sleep thill 7am. I think every kid is different. If your child sleeps great at night and can benefit from just rest time I would try that. On the weekends my kids don't have to lay down and nap but they do have to lay down and rest. I normally let them watch a movie and they cannot get up until it is over. That way they get at least an hour of down time each day.