Do your 4-yr-old nap?

Background: My singleton (4 next week) starting boycotting naps at around 18 months. She was taking 2-3 hour naps every afternoon, but then, for some reason that I've never been able to pinpoint, she starting fighting sleep. She wasn't crying or upset, she would just lay in her bed and chatter, hum, etc... for hours. I tried every technique for getting her back to a decent nap schedule. I would even leave her alone in her crib for 2 hours (listening on the monitor); usually she would finally cave in and fall asleep at the end of that 2-hour period, which meant that there was no way she could sleep for 2+ hours and still be ready for bedtime at a decent hour. So, for over a year, I struggled with her nap routine, wasting many many hours just waiting on her to fall asleep. I finally gave up, and stopped planning on daily naps. Since about 2 1/2, she only naps when she got up really early, or is sick. She typically still needs 13-14 hours of sleep each day (but often only gets 12).

Now, however, she will soon be starting 3-day-a-week preschool at 9 am. This is the first time that she will regularly be waking early. I know that this routine will tire her. I would love it if she would start napping again - even if only every other day, or a couple of days each week.

Do most 4-yr-olds still nap? If she is up every day at 8, and in bed at 8:30, is 2 a good nap time? And, how do I convince a kid who hasn't napped in over a year (and was never a good napper) to start napping again?? Is this just hopeless - am I just destined to have a tired kid?

 

When my oldest DD was 4 she did not nap anymore, but she did have a rest time in her room. Usually from 1-2 or a little longer if she was doing well. I felt it was always important for her to rest and sometimes she did fall asleep which was even better.

 

Mine are not quite 4 and they have not napped in a while.

They go to bed around 8 and are up @ 7.

 

Nope, no naps since they turned three.

 

QUOTE(3greysandamutt @ Aug 13 2008, 11:31 PM) [snapback]929412[/snapback]
Do most 4-yr-olds still nap? If she is up every day at 8, and in bed at 8:30, is 2 a good nap time? And, how do I convince a kid who hasn't napped in over a year (and was never a good napper) to start napping again?? Is this just hopeless - am I just destined to have a tired kid?


My almost 4 year olds still nap. They ask to take a nap (1 1/2 - 2 hours). The drawback is that that go to bed about 8:30 and will talk or sing to 9-9:30.

Maybe you could institute a quiet time during the day. See if she will read a book quietly in her bed and if she is tired enough, hopefully she'll fall asleep.

Good Luck!

 

Mine do. They go to daycare and get up early so they nap for a few hours each day. On the weekends they sleep later and will sometimes skip naps but get very cranky in the evening.

 

My DD starting fighting naps around 3. After months of fighting it, I finally gave up and she has a "rest" instead where she watches a movie in her room while the twins nap. Once in a while I can get her to take a nap if we've had a really hectic week. She recently attended a week-long summer program at her pre-school which was every morning. As the week progressed, I noticed her getting up later and later in the morning. If it was her regular schedule, I might be able to get a nap more often. However, my DD goes to pre-school in the afternoon.

 

My 5 year olds still nap. We went through a phase where they just rested in their room, but soon went back to sleeping. They go down at 2 o'clock.

 

I have one that is 'nap resistant' and simply plays quietly in bed....I know when preschool starts this fall she will need the rest (am school).

I would start with a rest time and take it from there....or if she does not nap and gets up early, move bedtime earlier so she gets the rest.

 

My four year olds still nap, daily, from about 1:30-3:30. They do tend to stay awake at night in their rooms though, an hour or so after we put them down. I don't mind this, it gives them some time to wind down.

 

Just an update: I decided to implement "Family Rest Time" every day during the twins' afternoon nap. *crossing fingers and knocking on wood* It's been going pretty well so far!! At 1:30, we all head upstairs. I put the boys down in their cribs, and then go into DD's room, where I read her a nice, long, story, and then dim the lights, and leave her alone. I explained to her that it was Family Rest Time, so all of us would have some quiet time, and take a nap if we wanted to, until the boys woke up. For the past several days, she has played quietly with toys or books, but - SHOCKER - today, she actually climbed into her bed and said that she was going to take a nap. (She heard me in my room, though, before she dozed off, so she pad-footed across the hall, and we cuddled in my bed until Ben woke up.)

If this continues to work.... DD might not be a disobedient grump by dinnertime... and I may regularly get some down-time (or nap-time! )!

 

My 4-year-old also sleeps roughly 8pm to 8am, and no, she doesn't nap. I actually try to keep her from falling asleep in the afternoon -- which she will, on occasion, after a particularly tiring day -- because she will then stay up way too late at night, just talking and singing in her room, sometimes 'til 11pm. Clearly she only needs about 12 hours of sleep, because she's out right away with no nap.

Between ages 3 and 4, though, as she was dropping the nap, we did an official "quiet time" in her room for a full two hours. About half the time she fell asleep, but sometimes she'd just look at books, listen to audio books on her CD player, do puzzles, etc. She really needed the unwind time after preschool -- it ended at 1pm, and then she played on the playground until 2pm, and we got home just after that. Then snack, one TV show, and quiet time from 3 to 5pm. It worked really well!