My 2.5 yr old son has been refusing to nap for about three months now. We have a schedule, and we stick to it. For about 12 weeks, I had been fighting him for hours to take a nap. Nap time is 1pm, and I would literally put him in his crib over and over and over and over for hours every single day! I moved nap to 2pm, thinking he may not be worn out until later. No dice. I have done the silent treatment, just be quiet and put him back to bed. I have yelled at him to sleep when I'm at my wits end. I have taken every single toy and book from his room so he's not able to get out of his crib to play. He gets in his closet, he poops his diaper on purpose, just to get out of his crib for a diaper change. He just keeps getting out!!!! I am seriously going nuts. He needs a nap, he is tired, I just know it! He gets so cranky in the evening, he argues, and is horrible at dinner time. Some days, he will fall asleep on the couch at 5, which I hate bc bed time is 8pm.
For the last week or so, I have given up on trying to get him to nap. Is he too young to just stop napping? Now that he doesn't nap, he goes to bed at 7pm. He wakes up at 7am, which is just fine. I am just so sick of him being naughty bc he is over tired and flat out refuses to nap!
I am not a lenient parent, he has manners, and is well behaved normally. I am the parent, he is the child. This is the only place I am stuck on my parenting and its driving me insane :-/
What can I do?!?
Thanks ladies.
I have made peace over the last week or so that he just won't nap. I was just lore concerned that he is too young to stop napping. I suppose it is not uncommon :-)
And life DOES happen on a schedule. My kids will be used to a timeline when they prepare for school.
We are potty training, but i have posted before that he only poops in his diaper. We are working on pooping in the potty.
He is done napping. While his brother takes his mid-day, two hour nap, we now cuddle and read or watch cartoons.
I think he's done with napping. Switch to "quiet time" where he has to lay with you and be still, look at a book but QUIET is the key here. 9 times out of 10 that will buy you 6 more months of napping! :)
Childproof his room and put a gate on the door. Tell him it's quiet time and he has to play in his room. He may play, he may fall asleep, he may stand at the door and scream. Let him go and have a cup of tea - he'll get the hang of it.
I too went through the exact same thing. We now have him "rest" with his nuggie (blanket) if I feel he is THAT tired or he can have some books and some quiet time alone for about 20 to 30 min. Set a timer. Even the rest helps us make it through the horrible time of day. I feel the pain. :O)
I feel your pain but it sounds like he is done w/his nap. Mine went through that.
Only once in a blue moon will he nap again and that is only
if I get him good and tired playing, running around all day.
By the way, he can't poop on demand just to get you to come in there.
What you can do is try skipping the nap and putting to bed earlier than you usually do like at 8pm (probably not 7).
He's not too young to stop napping. Some kids (mostly girls) stop napping right at 2pm.
How about putting him down for some quiet time (that way you get some
too) for about half at hour? Two hours will be too much.
I would try to get him to rest (after lots of activity) about 5 hours after waking. Try that.
I get my son good & tired. It takes a lot out of me w/trying to do housework, laundry & getting dinner ready but I do my best . Play outside, play inside, take him somewhere etc.
Try that. AND if he will only rest everyday for 1/2 hr but nap once a week
consider that good!
Also, I know you are at your wits end (I've been there too) but yelling for
him to nap is counterproductive and won't work.
Hang in there and adjust YOUR schedule and expectations.
That will greatly benefit YOU. I promise. Take it easy, take a deep
breath, change what you've been doing, try what I have stated above
and get a break for YOURSELF when you can.
He's done with the nap, mama, sorry to say. No point in trying to force someone to sleep, it's quite counterproductive, no one naps, and you're BOTH upset.
Replace it with quiet time, and an earlier bedtime. Eventually he will even out.
DD dropped the nap during her older 2's. I did the same thing you did until I finally realized it just wasn't worth it. Of course, she never did make up for the 2 hours of lost sleep, but she functions just fine & doesn't miss the sleep.
Both of my girls stopped napping about this same time...Really bummed me out. We have a quiet time after lunch (usually about 2 hours) where they watch a movie or "read" books but are not running around the house. That way I can still get some things done and they get some rest. They are now 4 & 5 and we have been doing this for 2-3 years now....it works.
Sorry your L. one is refusing naps...his attitude will get better in the evenings but it will take time (we still have our bad days here and there).
He's done with the daily naps.
I wanted NO parts of spending 2 hours out of my day TRYING to get a nap to happen.
Put him to bed a L. earlier on the days he's unBEARable OR you might get lucky and get a nap out of him every other day or every third day.
Good luck!
It's time to move on to the next phase - not always your call! YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO BE FLEXIBLE OR YOU WILL HAVE THIS FIGHT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!
This won't be the only way you are stuck on your parenting if you don't learn to be flexible.........
When my son was 2.5 the exact same thing happened. I mean exactly the same thing! Looking back now I see that he was ready to stop his naps. He is now 11 and has never been a good sleeper. At that age I needed the break too! I had another baby who thank God was a sleeper! My solution was to get movies from the library and let him watch one while the baby and I took a nap. We were all so much happier for it!
I try to get that nap as long as possible. They should nap till at least 3.5. Ha! I have a crib tent on my DS's crib. He is 2.5
You might try taking him out for a walk before nap time. I find that a L. exercise and some fresh air will work wonders.
He might be done with nap, but I've also seen kids go on a "nap strike" about this age and then after a period of time they go back to napping as usual. Usually they won't nap but will meltdown after a day or two of this because they really can't go without one yet. However, if he's doing ok not napping all week with a 7pm bedtime, he might be done.
I agree with some others about the quiet time. He needs to rest in a quiet (preferably dim) room each day at the same time. The battle with you might be fueling his refusal to nap. If you take that away by saying, "you don't have to sleep, but you do have to be quiet and rest" it takes away the control and you aren't as stressed about it. (Sometimes, even if they don't nap, this rest time refreshes them enough to have a better day.) If this is done consistently and kids still need a nap, they will usually fall asleep. But if he's not asleep after an hour get him up. If you see that he's never sleeping when you do this he's probably finished with napping.
Good luck~
My daughter dropped her nap at 2 years. We just moved her bedtime up. They only need 11.5 hours total at this age, so if he is getting 12 hours at night, he is getting enough sleep.
Institute quiet time, and/or let him watch a video.
Not going to read all the other responses. One thing that struck me as I read this that I want to make a comment on for whatever it's worth. I don't even think of naptime as being in the child's room. We do home childcare and have fold up cots that the children use. The cots are placed in either the living room or the family room (which is the playroom for the children). Both of the children we care for currently are 4 year olds and often do not actually need to sleep. They lie on their cots quietly with either a calm video to watch or quiet music playing. I use the music when I'm pretty sure one or the other of them really does need to sleep, and the video when I'm pretty sure all either of them needs is some quiet time. We adults spend that time doing something quiet as well and are within sight and sound of the children so we can monitor if they are getting up and rowdy before naptime is finished. Sometimes one or the other of us will pull out a mat and rest.. and sometimes fall asleep ourselves. With two of us here, one can do that while the other is awake keeping an eye on the children.
I don't know if any of this will apply to your situation, but thought I'd mention it for whatever it's worth. If you are interested and want to know a good brand of cot to get, please feel free to contact me personally.
Nothing stresses me out like when my son won't nap! He is also 2 1/2...if he can get out of his crib can you make his room safe and just kinda leave him in there?? That sounds scary...but maybe he's doing it b/c he knows he's getting a rise out of you?If you do that for maybe 2 days I'd think he'd just relax and think the game wasn't fun any more?
Or maybe an earlier nap time? When my son gets overtired he won't sleep. He just gets super silly and wound up.
My son went through a nap thing last week for most of the week where he wouldn't nap either. Made me crazy! But he would wind himself up and then couldn't calm down to sleep. But my son is still in his crib and can't climb out (or rather hasn't) so I just literally left him in there for a long long time (the amount of nap time).
Almost no advise here...I feel your pain! Good luck!
You can't make a child sleep (or eat or go to the toilet). If he is sleeping 12 hours at night, which is very good for his age, he'll be fine.
I feel your pain!! This is exactly what my daughter is doing, but she is 19 months old!! At least you had more than 2 years of a napping child!
I don't really have any advice. When I get desperate, I try the car trick, which is to drive her around until she falls asleep. Sometimes it works, but it has been less effective in recent weeks. And chasing naps is probably one of my least favorite things to do.
I think our latest solution is to suck it up. Let her nap at 5:00 and deal with the resulting fallout of her going to bed at 10:00. If I had to calculate it, I think she needs a nap every 1.5 days, so sometimes it works out at a convenient time for me and sometimes it doesn't. It's not ideal, but she has an older brother whose schedule she has to accommodate anyway. I try to justify it that it's only fair that she dictate the schedule once in awhile.
Hi, K.,
I know you don't' want to hear this, but your kid is done with taking a nap. . .My daughter stopped napping at age 2, and hasn't napped since (she is 4 1/2 now). My son stopped at 2.5, with the same drama as your son is going through. All phases must end. This nap phase is ending for your son.
Best thing to do is to implement a "quiet time" in his room. He can play with stuffies or look at books. If he falls asleep, fine. But you can't force a 2 year old to do anything, especially nap!
He will be cranky in the afternoons for awhile, but it will pass. . . make his bedtime earlier. Should be easy since it gets dark so early.
Good luck.
H.
My son drove me insane when he gave up his nap at 26 months, and now my daughter is 24 months and showing signs of the same :( I really needed that quiet time, but I will admit that it's nice to be able to run errands between 1 and 3 and not have to wait.
Right now, I'm watching my daughter's behavior and trying for a nap every other day, especially the days when she can sleep in (Tues, Th, and Sat/Sun). There have been times where nap time has come in the car and other days where sleep has come while watching a video, but I learned not to force it 3 years ago with my son, which was pretty horrible because I had a newborn at the time. All I wanted was for him to nap, but I just decided to push bedtime earlier, and it actually worked very well.
He is done with naps! Let it be. Sleeping from 7-7 is fabulous in my book! My son gave up naps at 2.5 yrs but my daughter is 3 and still needs and WANTS a nap every day. Just a difference in kids. Just be sure to keep him awake on the days he starts to fall asleep at 5 or else you will have a big problem come bedtime. The best part is that you don't have to work you r schedule around a naptime anymore - it's quite a perk! Enjoy!
Lighten up. Life doesn't happen on a schedule. My 1st son stopped napping at 6 months old. Number 2 stopped at about a year. They sleep through the night and the night is longer. Big deal. If he can get out of bed to poop, it's time to redirect your energy to potty training. He's ready.
Every child is different. It sounds to me like he is ready to give up the nap. My son was barely two when he didn't need a nap any longer. I tried everything for a couple of months but he didn't want to nap. Once I surrended he slept 12 hours a night- which was great and showed me he really was ready to give up the nap. My daughter is three and she still naps. Every child is different...
It's great that you have schedules, kids need schedules to thrive, I applaud you for that. Sometimes that schedule needs to get adjusted as the child grows. And each child is different. We have really struggled with our now 4 year old son. But that's another story for another day.
If he's done with naps then try moving his bedimes up to even 6:30pm, this way you can start getting him ready around 6 maybe even allowing some adult time in the evening, if possible. See the positive in early bedtimes now because they don't last forever! Good luck! ;)
My son (now 4) really fought naps for about 9 months starting around 2 1/2. I knew he still needed the sleep, and for him, it was more of a behavior and control issue. Plus, he slept at daycare during the week without a problem, it was only an issue on the weekends or he was at home. Plenty of K. drop their naps at that age, but you may want to stick to your routine and do "quiet time" in his room instead. We did this for awhile with my son, and then he ended up going back to naps. I'm glad we didn't give up the nap/quiet time completely, because I don't think we would have ever been able to go back to it. Good luck with the transition!
