2 Year Old Suddenly Refusing Naps

I nanny for a 2.5 year old who stopped taking naps after summer vacation. Her parents had her up a lot doing things on vacation and she never went back to napping. Right now we just have quite time in the afternoon. We will put on the tv or a movie and she lays on the couch with pillow and blanket. I am able to get a break and she is able to get some rest. Rarely she does fall asleep. Hope this helps.

My daughter did the same thing around that age. I found out she had developed a red dye allergy which caused her not to be able to relax enough to go to sleep. I would honestly look at the food your daughter is intaking and see if cutting out Red 40 helps. If that doesn't help at all...just be both persistent and patient. Even if she won't nap, make sure she is in her room during nap time. When my daughter went through this I would make her be in bed, but I could hear her playing. Eventually she would end up asleep in bed.

Your daughter is probably having a harder time going down for bedtime at night because she had a nap during the day and isn't "ready" for bedtime yet. When my daughter was 2 she gave up naps all together BUT, she went to bed at 8 p.m. and slept until 10 a.m. For us that was a perfect schedule. She wasn't cranky or whiny during the day so we followed her lead. Maybe your daughter is just ready to give up naps. I know that you are probably looking forward to her nap time to rest yourself (it is tiring with 2 small ones, and getting them to nap at the same time is ideal), get something done, or spend 1 on 1 time with your baby, but follow her lead and see where she goes.....
Good luck!
Wendy

Even if she won't sleep during nap time make her rest anyway. All of us, from my 13 yr old down either take a nap or rest for at least 1 hr everyday. It took some training to get them to stop complaining about it but now at 2:30pm they go up to their rooms without too much fuss. LOL It makes my day so much better and some days the oldest one does in fact take a nap. I read once that a mom had tapes or CDs that were the length of her desired rest/nap time. She played one for the child each day. The child would know that when the tape or CD stopped, it was time to get up. We always have snack when we get up. Our afternoon snacks are usually the sweet ones too. Rasins, yoguart, hot chocolate with marshmellows, cookies and milk, M&M's, crackers and cheese etc we will find something good to snack on before dinner. This gives them something to look forward to while they are resting for an hour.

Good Luck and Merry Christmas!

Take Care,
N. :) SAHM homeschooling 3 boys 13, 8 & 2 yrs old and married to my Mr. Wonderful for 15yrs on Thurs. I love to help other moms, who want to become SAHMs, reach that goal!

our son stopped taking naps at age 2 because if he did, he would be up till 3am. But I do say that if you place your child in daycare/preschool, work on the quiet time because at least all the ones we went to, they do NOT work with you on the "no nap" thing.

I used to tell my son, he didn't have to sleep but he still had to take the time. I hooked him up with a small easy to turn off lamp(the only light on in the room) by his bed and a small book box. I told him he had to stay til a certain time and if he got tired to turn off the light- 8 out of 10 time the light would be off in 20 or 30 minutes. The same worked at bedtime when he started not wanting to that either!

When my 3-year-old son was about that age or younger he also started refusing to take naps on the weekends, although he still dutifully takes them at daycare/preschool. Even though he also becomes a holy terror, I eventualy gave up and just try to use it to my advantage by getting him to bed earlier, giving me some extra evening time. It has also freed up our afternoons so that now we can go out and run errands or do other activities without having to plan around his nap. Sometimes while doing so, he will fall asleep in the car. I always keep a book handy in the car, so I can also take advantage of this extra "me" time whenever it happens.

i say, get in the car and ride around until she falls asleep. or ride it out and she'll be over her naps, and have an earlier bedtime. sometimes, when my 3.5 year old refuses his nap, he'll get really tired around 3. so i put on a cd and he'll listen to the music or story and then pass out for a while. some people use a video for the same purpose, but my guy will never fall asleep for a video.

bedtime -- may have to ride this one out. we did. finally he goes to bed now and it took a few months. we also have a new 8 month old and i think that's why the 3 year old was acting up at bedtime. but now he's over it.

my daughter gave up naps very early. we have quiet time at 30min to an hour. she lays in bed in a darkened room and can look at books. no tv, no toys. when we started this bedtime became much easier because she was ready to sleep! she does the same thing at school. she sleeps around 12 hours at night.

That is about a good age that they stop, but you can encourage some "down time" as in- she has to stay in her bed, she can have books to look at, but has to stay in her room til the timer goes off after one hour. She cannot come out, cannot come to get you. She has to lay quietly in bed. She may return to the naps. My 3 1/2 year old went through it too but we encouraged the down time in her room and she went back to taking two hour naps daily.

I highly suggest the book from the library- healthy sleep habits, happy child. It saved me from miserable days with my 1 year old and 3 year old. it will help your 7 month old too. It was a pretty quick read and it changed me and the kids.

Well I would tell her she has to have quiet time in her room for an hour. Set up a timer she can not get out untill the timre goes off. I'm also not sure if she watches TV but you can take away TV time if she dosent do it Hope things get better

Hi, my son is about your daughter's age and I have a 5 month old. My son has been through many nap refusal stages and who knows another may be just around the corner. We always have a quiet time even if a nap doesn't happen. I've put my son to "nap" with a pile of books before and listened to him read in his room while I got things done. I've cleared his room of anything that could be a problem and we've been through the "coming out of the room " phase so leaving his room is not an option until I've returned. I know he still needs a nap b/c his behavior is awful w/o one but quiet time is the next best thing. (Just an aside, my son is not usually one to sit still ever... and making nap time or quiet time a part of our schedule has been essential to everyone's sanity =
Best of luck!