OT- When did your child stop napping?

[amarberry]

I'm just curious to hear when other children stopped napping. DD is 22 months and usually is pretty good about her nap. However, some times on the weekend, she just won't sleep. She'll contently hang out in her crib talking and singing for hours, but won't sleep. She is my first so I'm not sure when kids stop napping! I figure that we still have a long time before she stops napping regularly, but when do you stop worrying/freak out because your child hasn't slept?

I guess this is entirely OT since I am thinking about what we'll do about naps during our Sept. trip. On our previous trips, DD napped pretty well in her stroller, but we noticed on our last trip when she was 18 months old that it was getting a little difficult.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

DS gave up his AM nap at 12 months and stopped consistently sleeping at PM naptime around 18 months. He still goes in his bed everyday for "down time" but rarely sleeps and he will be 3 next month.

ETA: He goes to be around 7:30 and sleeps till 8:30.

 

[Mom2DS]

My oldest DS was around 2 when I realized that it was taking me longer to GET him to sleep than he was actually sleeping. Figured if he was tired, that wouldn't be the case. Second DS NEVER napped more than 10-15 minutes at a time. It was hard on both of them when they went to kindergarten and had to lay down every afternoon. Got a lot of notes from their teachers.

 

[Hannathy]

My DD never napped, My DS stopped around 18 mos unless it was an unusual day or we were in the car. If they aren't sleeping but playing in the crib for hours? I would say they don't need the nap.

 

[all4fun]

By the time my ds was two he pretty much stopped napping in the stroller (at WDW) unless he was really tired. We also found going back to the hotel for a nap didn't work. So we would try to find places to take short breaks, have a snack etc, and then hit more attractions. This works out ok at WDW because ds is so interested with everything going on around him he generally doesn't have time to be cranky. By the time we rolled into our hotel in the evening he would be so worn out that he would go right down without a fuss, which is something he doesn't normally do at home, lol.

Btw, my MIL is our daycare provider while dh and I are at work and she still gets ds, who just turned 3, to nap most days but on the weekends, at this point, it's pretty rare for dh and I to get ds down for a nap unless he falls asleep in the car and we are lucky enough to be able to move him from car seat to bed without him waking up! I personally think it's because now that he's older and much more active, he really likes it when we're both with him at the same time and he just doesn't want to miss out on anything. He's usually pretty cranky when he misses his afternoon nap though, so I still think he needs it, even if ds disagrees.

 

[lady_hlh]

My DD stopped at around age 2. I thought when we were at MK last year and she was 3 1/2 that she would nap because she would be exhausted but she never napped not even in her stroller.

 

[liznboys]

Here are when my boys stopped napping:

DS#1 right around 3rd birthday
DS#2 26 months
DS#3 21 months

I'm predicting my 4th son will be less than 21 months. lol

 

[jennifer293]

DD#1 quit taking naps the very day she turned 1, and DD#2 stopped at 21 months when I took her out of her crib and put her in a toddler bed. She feels it is more important to get out of bed and play then it is to sleep..

 

[Merriwind]

I am in the minority, but I had to train DD8 to stop napping in order to go to full day kindergarten when she was five. To this day, if she has a busy day--like being at Disney--or we plan to be out late, she will nap. I know that she would be napping consistently to this day but for school. BTW, she would NEVER nap in a stroller, she always needed a bed--or a car seat in a pinch!

She is 4'6" tall at age 8, so I figure so just needs more sleep for all that growing!!

 

[mommy*RN]

I think I am like the pp with the child still napping. My DS is almost 4yr and he still takes a 1-2hr nap most days. This time last year he was taking 3hr naps consistantly...I thought something was wrong with him so I took him to the ped. He had blood drawn and everything is fine. The doc thinks he is such high energy that his body just needs more sleep. He sleeps about 10-11 hrs at night to.

My DD is 9mo now and she is a horrible napper. I am sure I won't get lucky twice with the awesome naps. She only takes 1 nap now and it is only for an hour if I am lucky . She is a great night sleeper tho so I won't complain at all!

Happy Travels!

 

[Laurajean1014]

I think it's at age 45

 

[amarberry]

Wow...sounds like a lot of kids stopped napping when they were not much older than DD. For some reason, I thought it would be when she was closer to school aged.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Disneylvr]

DD just turned 3 in March and she still naps 1-2 hours per day. We are working parents and she has to get up pretty early for school.

 

[bigbabyblues]

My 5-yo still naps, although we've started trying to break him of it since he'll go to kindergarten in the fall. He doesn't sleep every day, probably 4 days a week he actually goes to sleep.

My almost 3-yo still naps about 3 hours in the afternoon.

On our WDW trips though, EVERYONE naps because we're all so tired! We're going again next year and may try it without the nap, but I don't know if DS3 will make it or not. If not, we'll take the nap!

 

[pperfectmom]

I'm writing this while my DD(3) is working on her third hour of nap time. She is a great sleeper at night too. I have started noticing that she doesn't seem to want to nap if we go some where. My DS who turned 1 in Feb. didn't even start taking naps until he was about 9 months old. The kid slept less than 8 hours every day. Now he might make it 1-2 hours if I'm lucky. We are definately planning an afternoon nap break every day of our trip to WDW in September. We are staying at one of the resorts, so it should be convenient. I figure if the oldest one is no longer napping she and Daddy can hang out by the pool. I really think we will all need a chance to recharge . Good luck with nap time!

 

[Mom to 2]

Both of my kids were non-nappers. Every since they were around 3 they are night owls. They are now 8 and 12 and still go to bed around 12 or so and are up by 6:30 for school, no problem!!! I dont know how they do it. I do let them both leave their tv's on all night so that probably dont help but they know if they ever start getting crabby it is off with the tv and to bed. Haven't had to do that yet.

Lory

 

[lauritagoddess]

My DS started to drop some naps by 18 months. By 2, he was napping maybe 2-3 times per week. By 2.5, if he napped once a week it was alot. Except if he's been sick, and even that's iffy, he hasn't napped at all since he was a few months shy of 3. He's also up before 6:00 most mornings. Yawn!!!

 

[kidshop]

My ds1 napped regularly until about age 4. He slept 2-3 hours in the afternoon and around 10-11 hours at night. Ds2 stopped napping regularly just after age 2, although I put him in his room for 2 hours every afternoon. sometimes he plays, sometimes he sleeps. We both need the quiet time. He's 3 1/2 now and sleeps maybe 1 or 2 days a week (for 1-2 hours) and sleeps 10-12 hours at night. The days he naps, he sleeps less at night. I enforce quiet time w/o fail, though. It works well for us.

 

[mom2bellaandlivi]

If we are really busy, my almost 3 year old will nap. If I can get her to fall asleep she will sleep for 2 to 3 hours. The trade off..she is up until 10 p.m. Other days she will not nap at all, especially if dad is home!

 

[carissanboys]

My memory is awful (that's what happens when you have 3 kids!), but as best I can remember, my boys stopped as followed:

My oldest probably napped until he was around 3. I think the main reason we had him stop was that if he napped, he wouldn't go to bed until 10 p.m. (normal bedtime was 7). He still had to take a rest though...play quietly in his room, etc.

My middle son stopped earlier...before he was 2. I can remember being pregnant with my 3rd and having to lay down with him to get him to sleep which wasn't a bad thing because I needed the nap too! He still has to go to his room for rest time each day, but he rarely naps. If he's sick or if he's been very physical he might nap, but otherwise he doesn't.

My youngest is just turning 2 this month. He still naps with no issues for about 2 hours a day. There are the occassional days where he doesn't sleep, but they don't happen often. I'm not sure how much longer he'll nap for, but I'll enjoy it while I can!

Even when all 3 boys have given up naptime I plan to have a quiet time period each day. We homeschool so they can use that time to read in their rooms.

Each child is different. I'd say if she's not napped for a week then she's probably given it up. As long as she doesn't mind being in her bed, I'd still keep up with the rest time anyway though. It's good for both of you