My daughter is 2 years and 6 months. She has recently started sleeping longer at night (like 10-12 hours) but is now fighting to take a nap during the day. Is this normal? When do kids stop taking naps? Should I press the nap issue or just be thankful she is a good night sleeper?
Hi Alissa,
My son is also 2.5 years of age and I have been dealing with this myself. I was just talking to my neighbor who has a 3 year old little girl and she just recently gave up naps. So i am thinking that my son is starting to give up his nap. He didn't get a nap yesterday nor today and he went to bed at 7pm and will probably sleep till 6:30 or 7am. I am totally fine with that. Today he was getting "cranky" like he needed a nap and he said he was not tired but wanted to rest. So i put a movie on for him and we layed on the couch together and watched the movie. He seemed better after that.
I liked having that time with him. My daughter, 6 months old, was also taking a nap at the time.
I hope this helps...i didnt really give any advice but just my experience is the same.
Good Luck.
When my toddlers refused to nap, I told them they needed quiet time. I told them they did not have to sleep, but had to be quiet for 10 minutes to rest. They usually ended up napping. They just needed to calm down and relax. Sometimes they didn't nap, but at least they had a few minutes of rest.
Both my two older boys started around that age, maybe even a bit earlier to drop their naps. I found though that if we went anywhere in the car, they'd fall asleep. I didn't force the nap issue at home but would tell them they'd have quiet time, which they'd be allowed to play with a toy quietly in their bed or they could "read" books. Or I would bring them into my bed and lay down with them where they would wind up falling asleep.