Is my 2-year-old giving up naptime?

[redheadbaker]

On Sunday afternoon, we put DS in his crib around his usual naptime. He was looking tired and rubbing his eyes. However, he sat in his crib and talked and sang to himself and never fell asleep. He just hung out in there for two hours. 

I picked him up from daycare today, and his teacher told me that they've been struggling with him at naptime for a couple of weeks. He'll get up off his cot and run around, talk and laugh and keep the other kids awake. In the past, he's eventually settled down and slept, but today, he would not fall asleep at all. They had to send him to another room so that the other kids could nap. 

Could he be ready to give up his nap? Or is this just a phase? Two seems really early to be done with naptime altogether.

[zarapipe]

Is he an early two, late two?

DD went through phase where she didn't nap but quit napping completely for us at home before she turned 3, or right when she did, I forgot exactly when. He hopefully is going through a phase, hopefully in a few more days he will back to normal...if not, start putting him to bed earlier. I have no nap days but she does go to bed earlier which is really really really wonderful.

[redheadbaker]

Jan 7, 2014 20:10:18 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Is he an early two, late two?

Sorry, I forgot I took the ticker out. He's an early two -- 2 years 1.5 months old.

[pupcake]

Hopefully just a phase. I remember DD1 going on napping strikes for a while but I always put her down for a nap and after a week or so she would go back to sleeping. I don't remember how old she was. Even if she didn't nap I still needed a break and she needed quiet time as well.

[JakJak]

I'm right there with you, DS1 is 2 years and 4 months and has been nap free for about 2 months now   his pedi said that some kids just aren't nappers, and as long as he's getting a good nights sleep it's ok. The only way I can get him to sleep at all before bed time is if we go for a long drive

[h]

It's possible. My oldest was only napping about half the time by 21 months and was totally done with napa by 2. The poor kid spent 2 years sitting in the library center alone during nap time at day care. DS2 gave up naps for good between 2.5 and 3.

[redheadbaker]

Jan 7, 2014 20:21:10 GMT -5 pupcake said:

Hopefully just a phase. I remember DD1 going on napping strikes for a while but I always put her down for a nap and after a week or so she would go back to sleeping. I don't remember how old she was. Even if she didn't nap I still needed a break and she needed quiet time as well.

I'm hoping it is just a phase -- like you said, I need the mid-day break, too! 

[Deleted]

We went through that phase right at 2. Then she'd go weeks with a great nap. Weeks without.
Now at 2.5 it's inconsistent. 1/2 the week she naps. 1/2 the week she doesn't.

We just have an enforced quiet time rule. Like pp said Mama needs a break.
She also needs some sort of downtime or she's a hot mess.

[frlcb]

DS gave up napping at 2, and it sucked!

[anna7602]

DD gave up napping at age 2 exactly. When she started pre-school at 2 y, 3 months and the teachers rocked her/strolled her around/etc. just to get a 15-20 minute nap out of her, it would totally throw off bedtime. That was the final confirmation for me that nap time was over forever. On the plus side, she consolidated all her sleep and was getting a 12-13 hour chunk at night v. The previous pattern of a few hours during the day and 9-10 hours at night.

[deo]

DS started to give up his nap starting when he turned 2. He would nap about 3 or 4 days out of a week. Despite my best efforts to keep nap time going he is pretty much done with it now. He will only sleep in the car and when he does sleep he doesn't fall asleep at night. I miss nap time

[irish]

Dd1 started by giving up her naps in crèche, right around 2. They'd give her books to read instead during the quiet time. At weekends she'd still sleep 2/3 hrs. That changed when she moved to a toddler bed at 2y3m. Gave up naps in crèche months before that. She always slept 12hrs at night even with naps.

Now she's moved up a room and we asked them to get her to lie down and rest with the other kids. She does this for 30-45mins so is a bit rested. She won't do this at home.

[redheadbaker]

Jan 8, 2014 4:32:25 GMT -5 irish said:

At weekends she'd still sleep 2/3 hrs. That changed when she moved to a toddler bed at 2y3m. 

We were just talking about possibly converting his crib to a toddler bed. Scratch that idea! 

[irish]

Jan 8, 2014 9:36:06 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Jan 8, 2014 4:32:25 GMT -5 irish said:

At weekends she'd still sleep 2/3 hrs. That changed when she moved to a toddler bed at 2y3m. 

We were just talking about possibly converting his crib to a toddler bed. Scratch that idea! 

Yeah, before the move she'd fight the nap but eventually fell asleep cos she was trapped. We moved her to the bed when we moved house cos dd2 was on the way...

[dragonfly08]

It's certainly possible. My oldest stopped going down for naps right after her 2nd birthday. The only way I could get her to sleep was to be in the car at naptime; she'd fall asleep in the carseat and I could transition her to her bed. By 2 1/2, though, even that stopped.