Taking a nap

This has been asked before (at least I remember reading responses to a thread or two about this), but a search hasn't given me any results at all. So, I'm asking again (sorry for a repeat topic)!

I think I remember other parents saying that napping usually stopped around age 4 or 4 1/2 and sometimes as early as 3. However, my question is--how do you know when they might be ready to stop taking one? I ask, since we're approaching 4 and I haven't tried testing the waters, nor do I know how to go about doing that. Do you just skip a nap one day and see how they react, or does it take a few days of skipping for you to find out if they need to keep taking them?

Thanks for sharing any thoughts and/or experiences

 

Do they still usually fall asleep during naptime? Do you think naps are making it hard for them to fall asleep at night? Do you want them to stop napping?

If they are not falling asleep...they don't need the nap. If it's turning in to a battle but you don't want to give up naptime, you can turn it in to "quiet time". My 5 yr old still has quiet time. She goes in her room when H&N go down for their nap. She listens to music and plays quietly my herself for 45 mins. I do the same... and occasionally do something productive then too. As soon as I told her she didn't have to stay in bed and try to sleep the resistance to quiet time ended. She falls asleep maybe once a month. We occassionally let her skip her quiet time on the weekends to do something with DH or I while her sisters sleep.

If you want to give up naptime, I'd just stop doing it. Keep them busy during naptime, and decide if you need to move bedtime earlier so they still get enough sleep. If they still really need the nap, they'll let you know!!

 

Thank you Sounds like good advice to me!

 

Our naps stopped at age 3. I knew because bedtime had become a nightmare, they would not go to sleep for 2-3 hours. So we skipped a nap one day and they went straight down at night. That did it for me, we stopped naps. One of mine will occasionally nap, maybe a couple times a month.

 

For me it was when fighting with Amy about taking a nap became more tiring and frustrating than just skipping it. I realized that it felt like a relief to just say "OK, you don't have to nap anymore." (Sarah then quit napping because Amy did -- she would happily have kept it up, but seems to do OK without it.) This was at about 3y3m.

FWIW, we haven't had much luck with quiet time. They will sit still and watch a video for ~30 minutes, but that's it -- and even then, they don't leave me alone. We tried (for a few weeks) saying they needed to stay in their rooms for quiet time, but they were not at all willing and we decided it wasn't worth the fight.

They both still nap at daycare (almost every day M-F), which makes it easier on weekends when they skip naps. When we were recently on vacation for 10 days, I found that I could get them to nap about every 3 days because they were so wretchedly tired. They also did a lot of conking out in strollers. So I would say we're still in transition.

 

I stopped when getting them to bed at their normal time became a huge hassle!! That was just before age 3~ The pedi was HORRIFIED!! :blush: But she wasn't the one alone every night trying to put them down! So that's how I decided! Good luck!

 

Thanks for the replies I skipped naps on Saturday to see how things would go, and sorta confirmed that they are in no way ready to stop taking a nap yet. I'd forgotten how spectacular tantrums can be when sleep-deprived :blink:

 

We stopped Emilie's nap at the beginning of summer, so she was not quite 3.5. We had to because she was not falling asleep at night until 10pm and sometimes later. I hated giving it up. Funny thing though, she gets tired and will ask me if she can sleep and I have to tell her no. ardon: She does still need a small one, but then bedtime would be a nightmare. Trevor, on the other hand, still takes one for at least 2 hours every day and still goes right to sleep at night. I'm not giving his up until he either starts fighting bedtime too or doesn't fall asleep during his naptime.

 

Ditto here. Zack was still taking a 2-3 hour nap, but then was awake until 10pm in his crib. (Annika stopped napping at age 1, but always did quiet time in a playpen. So she doesn't count

I stopped at 2 yr 10 1/2 months (July 2nd). They get 1 hour of TV (that is quiet time) so I can make dinner. They also now get up MUCH later (8 or 9 am) and go to bed at 7:30 SHARP. It's GLORIOUS!!!!!!!!

 

we're still trying to figure it out - today they didn't nap (and didn't fall asleep in the car on the way home from the grocery store like I thought they would) and they were ok until about 7 pm when I told them it was bath time...then the meltdown started but it wasn't horrendous...they were both asleep by 7:30 although my son woke up about 11:00 and wanted to lay in my bed...he fell back to sleep and I'm just about to move him back to his own bed so Tony and I can go to sleep...

they won't go down anymore until after 2 and then sleep till nearly 4:30 which makes bedtime 9:30 which is just too late!

 

We stopped at 3 years, 2 months, when they started preschool. They had PM preschool, and occasionally, they would take a catnap after getting home, but it never affected nighttime sleep.

Also, you shouldn't base your decision on one day, because energy levels are different everyday, and their bodies need to become used to being up, so there will be somewhat of a transition. I would just make it busy days to compensate at first, like being out and about. You can always plan an early dinner and bedtime while making the transition.

 

When they stop falling asleep at their usual bedtime, then it's likely they're on their way to dropping naps. But, it can be a slow process -- our pediatrician told us when Nadia was 3 that she'd probably need a nap every few days, just to catch up. And, that's exactly how it worked out, until she stopped napping altogether between 3.5 and 4.

With my little ones, I have to be careful to limit their naps to about 2 hours (they would sleep for 4 if I'd let them!), otherwise they won't go to bed at night.

 

My oldest stopped at age 3 1/2 and she was / is a great sleeper / napper. Weissbluth always told me that 50% still naps at age 3 and only 10% at age 4. My twins won't nap much anymore, not compared to my oldest. Some days they do, some days they don't. My oldest was at preschool at age 3 and she did 3 long days (8 to 3) so she wouldn't nap but did the other days. She does quiet time. The twins will start 5 mornings a week next week, so they could still nap and we'll see how it goes. Next year, they'll go 5 full days so then naps will definitely be of the past.