Anyone else wish their 3-year-old did NOT take naps?

Stephanie - posted on 09/22/2009

Holy wow. I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only one having problems with this. My daughter (who will be 3 this week) has recently had to have naptime eliminated. I've found that a really good alternative -- for both mommy and sweetpea!! -- is instead of a nap, about noontime, I sit her down with a pillow and blanket on the living room floor, and let her watch cartoons for an hour and a half or so. She doesn't sleep, but she has a chance to relax, and she stays pretty quiet. It makes for bedtime (usually about 8) that goes ALOT easier, and she tends to sleep a little later in the mornings (usually till about 7)...

Inga - posted on 09/12/2009

hmm well with my bg i have her in bed for a nap just after lunch at 12pm shes up by 1am if not i wake her so she can go to be at 7-730 you may have to give your lil one set times for sleeping and stuff but keep ehr very occupied so she does fall asleep like get her to run around or physical activities

Erin - posted on 09/10/2009

You know, I started waking my son up @ 8am every morning, no sleep any later then 8:30, to get him tired enough to want to nap, because like your daughter he doesn't want to sleep until 7 hrs after nap time, which means for a 10p naptime (which after this midnight crap I'm ok with!) he can't sleep after 3pm. Well due to whatever activities during the day there may be he may or may not take his nap? Like today, no nap, yesterday he oddly enough napped from 12:30-3 when I woke him up... I also realized that he was dinking around in bed for about an hour and a half or so, so I started setting him up for bed @ 8, bath 1/2hr then lay down and watch movies (we always watch tv b4 bed...) This gives him the 1 1/2 hrs in bed to wear down to sleep @ 10p. Pain it might be, cuz we usually have a late schedule it's better he gets a good routine going cuz once this baby comes all hell will break loose! And I'm still not ready to give up his nap! He is such a terd w/out one!!! Another thing that helps mine fall asleep w/no prob is the activity level for the day! I had a g/f that would take her daughter on a walk to the store b4 bed (and make her WALK the entire way) and then she was so exhausted she'd crap right out... I of course am not prepared to walk that much, but maybe get her playin real hard for an hour or so and run all her energy out before bedtime, couldn't hurt :)

Laura - posted on 09/10/2009

Thanks for all the great comments. She only takes one nap but it is often too late. Fortunately she is not too grumpy if she doesn't take a nap. I should try waking her up at 9 in the morning. I think she is in that in-between stage. Sometimes she just can't fall asleep at nap time. Other times we are out and about with a friend or on a trip and she can't get to take a nap on time.

Dawn - posted on 09/09/2009

It sounds like you are in the awkward couple of months between napping and not napping. Both my older kids stopped napping all together at 2.5 years old and went through that awkward phase where a nap was too much (hard time going to bed at night)...and no nap was not enough (CRANKY!). When they dropped their naps, we had to move their bedtimes earlier to get through this phase.

You did mention that when they are skipping the nap they are not sleeping as well at night either, so you might try moving their bedtime to be a bit earlier...1/2 hour or so...maybe even an hour. It sounds weird, but it may help as they may just be getting too overtired to be able to calm down and sleep. Also, a consistent wake-up time will help. My 3 year old goes to bed at 7:00pm and gets up about 6:30am. If she is particularly cranky, we'll put her down at 6:00pm or 6:30pm. Good luck!

Melanie - posted on 09/08/2009

I wake my 2 year old up no later than 9am... then we have lunch at noon then right after lunch I put him down for a nap... he'll sleep for a couple of hours... then by 9pm he's ready for bed... I take care of all my erands and appoints either before or after his nap...If he doesn't have a nap we're all in for it!

Nicolette - posted on 09/04/2009

My LG doesn't sleep during the day.She refuses!Sometimes im lucky and she does fall asleep but then she goes to bed at 9/10pm.Without the nap she is fulla kak and falls asleep 7:30.With nap i get a break but she goes to bed 10pm.My LG does'nt sleep well either way at night!She in our bed at 12am!

Maybe ur LG just needs time to get used to going to bed earlier.

I no this might sound like a stupid question but when do u bath her?

After a warm bath and a full tummy they fall asleep in minutes!

Ive personally found it easier to bath her then feed her dinner.She falls asleep alot quicker!!!!

Erin - posted on 09/03/2009

My son also has this problem, and then sleeps in until 10 if I let him... because of his late wake up time he maintains his late nap/night time! But frankly I WISH he took a nap every day, just at a reasonable hour, because his sh!tty attitude at night drives me and my husband UP THE WALL!!! He also gets pissy during the afternoon when you can totally tell he NEEDS a nap but refuses to take one... ugh... this is all really annoying to deal w/@ 9mos preg. If he would be an angel all day he could give up naps and I wouldn't care, but I don't think we'll be soo lucky!

Sandy - posted on 09/02/2009

If I read this correctly, your daughter has 2 naps? If so, cut back to one nap and that would help a lot.

My daughter (3 in July) takes one nap from 1-3 each day and her bedtime is 9-9:30pm. (wakes at 6:30) On the weekends, if she doesn't want to take a nap, or if we have something going on, she usually is ready for bed at 9!

I, too, hope that naptime never ends simply because it gives me a couple hours to myself to get housework done, read, relax, whatever...

Angie - posted on 08/30/2009

Well, my 3 year old sure goes to bed much easier without a nap during the day, but the last 3 hours she is awake is very interesting to say the least. She is emotional and likes to talk back when she is tired. My vote is still for short naps, but mostly because I like to have a little mental vacation:)