What age did your kids transition off naps? Any tips?

[peg2001]

DD just turned 4 today and we are struggling with the whole nap issue. She won't/can't sleep in the early afternoon like she did when she was younger and tends to want to fall asleep in the late afternoon/early evening. If we let her sleep then, bedtime is a fiasco. If we don't let her nap at all, she gets so tired and has meltdown tantrums.

My other DD gave up naps around age 3 and I remember it being a much smoother transition. She would skip a nap one day, take a good nap the next day, and then skip a few more days. Even when she napped late, she was always ready to go back to bed at bedtime. Eventually, she didn't nap at all.

Just hoping some DIS folks would have some advice on what worked for them.

Thanks!
Peggy

 

[Stimpy]

Wow, I'm jealous! My DS stopped taking naps completely when he was about 2 1/2. Even as an infant he hated to sleep. He's a very active 4 yr old now and I wish everyday that he would take a nap LOL When he did give up naps, his bedtime was changed to a 1/2 hour earlier. I don't think he realized it and atleast we had break time for us.

As you can probably tell, I really don't have any useful advice but I do wish you luck!

 

[DD2Disney]

My DS is 2 year 5 months now and he has not taken naps in about 4 months or so. (He does have quiet time in his room though). Very rarely does he get tired and cranky either he is just a bundle of energy....lol I wish he WOULD nap.

 

[Serena]

My girls didn't like to sleep during the day at all. I would end up resorting to laying with them hoping they would go to sleep. Well, with each of them.
It got to where they would be quiet until I fell asleep and then get up to play. When the time came that I would be woke up by them coming back to bed after playing, I decided they were done taking naps.
I forgot to mention, they were both under 2.

 

[Griggle]

First: Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

DS8 sounds like your oldest - didn't matter when he napped or how long for, he was ready for bed at 8:30.

DS2 - another story. If he misses a nap for whatever reason - it's real messy - and pushing up bed time is not an option - he just won't/can't do it. If we struggle through dinner quickly and I do bathtime right after - for some reason, he's fine for the rest of the night....I guess the warmth of the bath wakes him up without overly waking him up....I think somehow bathtime is also a *wired* signal that it's time to wind down and be mellow.... - but it works.....

Hope it gets better.

 

[luvmydogs]

Ds8 stopped taking naps at 22 months. He was never a sleeper from the day he was born (2 months premature, you think'd he be tired!), and still isn't. Even on weekends or in the summer the boy is up at 6:30-7 raring to go. Sometimes it was so difficult when he was younger--he'd just run me ragged, and I so looked forward to some quiet nap time--never got it after 22 mos. I just went with the flow...he's just not a sleeper (neither am I, dh is another story...) I always tell dh we need to appreciate ds's energy now--when he's 15 and we can't get his butt out of bed, we'll be wishing he were 8 again!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Hi peg, I had the same problem. I had to cut them off of naps. It was hard at first, but they became used to it and then they went to bed earlier.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

One suggestion I have is to implement a "quiet time" where the nap time used to be. Settle down with a book, a DVD or VCR tape, etc.

It may just be enough of a break to re-energize without an actual nap.

Good luck!

 

[Spinning]

I second the quiet time. We had to do this with DS. Same situation. Beautiful napper early on and then he didn't want to nap during the day but around dinner. So we started the quiet time in his room. He could play but it had to be quiet stuff. This seemed to make a nice transition. At times he actually fell alseep and other times he just played. I also usually read him a story before I left the room too.

 

[lizdotcom99]

and I still need my naps!! The transition time is just awful Sorry, I could not resist!!!

 

[CEDmom]

DD is almost 4 1/2 and still naps a good 2 hrs each afternoon (1-3pm) and goes to bed at 8pm. However, there is a trick to getting her to nap when she's home (3 days a week she's in pre-school). I let her nap on the couch and put the cooking channel on. She loves helping me in the kitchen so what they're doing on TV interests her enough to keep her watching but not enough to keep her awake. After about 20 min she's out cold. No other show or video works. Give it a try, you never know.

 

[Nutsy]

Well my eldest DS15 will still take an afternoon nap at weekends sometimes.

Both my boys were still napping when they were 5 & then once they started school they napped at weekends.

I know some kids who stopped napping at 2......I feel so sorry for those parents.

 

[peg2001]

Wow! I never realized that some kids stopped napping so early. I thought my first DD was early to stop around 3. Before I had kids, I had a warm fuzzy image of kids napping through kindergarten.

Thanks for all the tips. I like the quiet time suggestions so we will give this a try.

The cooking channel. . .I think that would even put ME to sleep. It's worth a try!

Peggy