3 Year Old Ready to Skip Taking a Nap?

I'd try shortening the nap and putting her to bed earlier and see if it helps. Getting more sleep before having to get up so early would be a good thing.

Hello M., Don't skip the naps completely, just shorten the amount of time she naps. When a child is overly tired they have a hard time fallilng asleep and staying asleep. Do you have a night time ritual? Warm baths, quiet voices, dim lights, slow activities, etc. are great ways to prepare for bedtime about an hour before actually going to bed. Warm milk really does work for all ages. Good luck.

i know you've had a lot of responses to this, and i've wondered it myself. i have a 3yr old daughter and 2 yr old son. they both nap after lunch for about 2 hours. i would try waking her up earlier, maybe 1/2 hour to let her nap an hour and a half and see how that works. the only other advice is that she may just be going thru a phase or maybe there's been other changes (even small) in her life that are making going to sleep at night more difficult until she adjusts. i know with my kids whenever their daily routine gets changed in any way their sleep patterns will change temporarily. but personally i cherish nap time! it's when i clean up around the house, have some quiet time for me, and just get geared up for the afternoon's activities! plus they're much happier with proper sleep.

I would suggest definitely trying to put her to bed earlier... If she's a bear in the morning, there's a good chance she's not getting enough sleep at night. Like some other posters mentioned, you can try to cut her nap down to an hour and then just put her to bed a little earlier... Good luck!

I don't know if I would skip her nap altogether right away. My suggestion would be to wean her off the nap. So go from two hour nap to one hour for a week or two and then not her have a nap at all. Every child is different. At age 2, I eliminated my daughter's nap so that she would go to bed at 8:30 pm.

Hope this helps.

M.

We used to have a similar schedule. I was changed it. My 4.5 year old and 10 mos old now go to bed btween 8 and 8:30 (usually closer to 8). I have noticed that the baby actually sleeps longer and my son gets up around 7ish. I have noticed that he no longer takes 2-3 hour naps, but will go to to his room for 1-2 hours of quiet time.

Hi,

The best ways to tell if they don't need a nap are, they will start fighting you at nap time and refuse to calm down or when there is no nap they are extremely cranky and fall asleep as soon as there still. Like in the car or at the table.

Like other moms mentioned everyone is different, so you're the only one who can say for certain. It is very important that they get enough sleep so if you're going to cut out naps, move everything earlier by 15min at a time. Wake her up 15 min earlier from her nap and then put her to bed 15min earlier for a few days then do it again.

It will take about 2 weeks to adjust so try and be patient :)

Good luck and God Bless
K.

I really think it depends on the child. I know that my 3 year old would be the biggest bear there is if she stopped getting a nap, and would likely find a place to fall asleep (or pretend to go play in her room and go to sleep). Our oldest daughter is in PM Kindergarten, and tries to take a nap when she gets home at 3:30 because she is so tired.

I would also talk to your day care provider. My mom works for a day care, and I know she has talked many times about kids that have seemed to outgrow their naps, but they are still required to put them down to rest on the nap mats for a certain period of time. It sounds like it is a state mandated rule in day cares. If you're trying to break your daughter of the nap, but she still wants one - she could end up sleeping either way. However, there may be a way to shorten it to only one hour. Your day care provider should be able to help aid in the decision a little bit.

M.,

Each child is different. My daughter gave up naps at a very early age. Now, at 6, nearly 7 years old she is our alarm clock at 7am every morning. :)

Our son is now 4 1/2 and gave up naps last summer when they kept getting interrupted while house hunting. If he's been especially active he may doze off while playing or watching cartoons for a hour of so in the afternoon. We try to avoid this because he then has trouble going to sleep at bedtime (8pm).

I would suggest stopping the afternoon nap for a little while and see how it goes. Put her to bed a little earlier to compensate for no nap should help. She may even be ready for bed at 7pm. Keep in mind the time change is coming up soon. That always sends my kids into a tailspin trying to keep them on the same time schedule.

My son sleeps from 8pm - 7am each night. Hang in there and trust your instints.

At our house naps run like this: mandatory until 5 at 5 they become fewer and fewer throughout the year and from 6 on they are entirely on behavioral basis. My 3 and 4 year olds take a nap at 11:30 or 12:30 sleep for 2-3 hours and go to bed at 8pm every night. They go to sleep just fine. Naps are this way at my house becuase (A) Adequate sleep is important to little ones and is the time they do their growingl/healing (B)It keeps everyone happy in the evening (no bad attitude slumps around dinner time) (C)It gives me more personal time to spend with the older kids away from my "mommy!"-crazy toddlers. (D)A little time to myself ain't so bad either.

I know many parents that give up naps early on, but I don't think it's necessary nor indeed always best (a few of them have admitted to giving up on naps because the child was fighting them on it and they didn't feel like dealing with it - even though the kids were cranky/tired during the day) but only mommies know best. I just thought I'd chime in and say that naptimes work great for us.

I have a 3 year old also and struggled with this decision for a long time. She is so terrible to put to bed at night... and I finally decided that it was because she isn't tired. I stopped giving her naps, it takes about 2 weeks for their bodies to adjust. We do quiet time in the afternoon when the little one is asleep. Now, she goes to bed like a dream, still doesn't want to, but she goes and stays in bed and falls asleep. I am so relieved not to be running around trying to get her to stay in bed until 10 or 11 every night. She will sleep, for 8pm to 8am now. If she isnt' gettting 12 hours, even with a nap, maybe she just needs an earlier bedtime.

If you give up the nap, make sure that she can have an uninterrupted 12 hours of sleep... sometimes we put ours to bed at 7pm and she sleeps until 7 or 8. They need that much sleep, if they don't get it, make sure to keep the naps going.

One person said that the state requires daycares to give naps, they are required to provide a quiet place for children who need naps to get them, but I don't believe that they are required to give them to children who are taking naps, my daycare will provide a quiet activity for the older chilren to do when the younger ones are asleep. Sometimes it's a movie or sometimes it's a craft or reading books with them. Good luck.

mine just turned three, she rarely takes naps. It started when I'd put her down for a nap and she would spend an hour reading then say she was "all done sleeping". and like your daughter, it wasn't always easy to get her to go to bed early. now she is in bed by 8:30 every night... as a working mom, you may want her to nap so you can get some extra time with her in the evening... as long as she is getting 10-12 hours of sleep a night, she's fine.

Our 2.5 year old sometimes skips naps already. But when she does nap it is for 3-3.5 hours in the afternoons. It all depends on how she is, whether she naps or not. If she's tired and cranky, down she goes.
Her going-to-sleep time varies. Sometimes she'll be in bed by 8:30 and chatter until 10:00 p.m.! 9:00 seems to work well for her, so your daughter is similar to ours in that regard. And she's awake about 7 a.m. usually.
There are exceptions: yesterday, no nap, to bed around 8:00 p.m., fell asleep quickly, and slept in until 8:30 a.m.
She shares a room with her almost 5 year old sister, and that works well, by the way. The older one was always up late, too. We're working on that, since she's in school now. :)

My Niko will be 3 in October. He will only take a nap for me maybe once or twice a week. Other times, he will just lay in there playing and refuses to nap. We usually put him to bed at 9pm and he'll sleep 12 hours until 9am. Most of my friends tell me that their little ones stopped napping at around 2 1/2. She'll let you know when she's ready to stop. Until then, enjoy!! Maybe try putting her to bed a little earlier if she's still tired in the mornings. Good luck!
R.

Maybe you should cut her nap time to just an hour or 45 minutes. That might make all the difference. She'll soon be needing no nap, so this might be a good way to wean her off completely. My daughter gave up all naps at 2 1/2...sad day...hehe...

Another thing I have found that works is cutting out anything that has sugar in it after 7pm. Ava will be up forever if she has a "special treat" or even sugary fruit after 7.

Hope this help!

M.,

It sounds to me like she is ready to stop her naps. My daughter is 5 and gave up her naps this past year too. She will take an occasional nap on Sunday or if she's acting pretty cranky, but for the most part doesn't nap anymore. Yesterday she did take a nap for a couple hours and it was really hard to get her to sleep last night and she woke up at 5:30 this morning. I bet you'll find if you cut out the naps you can get her to bed earlier and she will sleep better.

Hope this helps and God Bless!

My son is three and a half and has been done with naps for at least 6 months. It got to be a huge battle to get him to take one. He'd play and stall and get up etc. and finally I said "forget it!" He's been done ever since with no problems. He does sleep better at night and doesn't have any issues during the day. So, I say if you think she's done then she might very well be done with them! If she is getting a good full night of sleep then she will be fine. Good luck!

I would try an earlier nap and then a much earlier bedtime (7p probably. She could sleep as long as she wanted if her nap were earlier. How about 11a or 11:30?
Our daughter is two. My schedule (sahm) completely revolves around her sleep schedule. She takes a morning nap at 10 and sleeps 1-2 hours. She has started not taking an afternoon nap, but is in bed by 6 to 6:30. She gets up at 6-6:30. That gives her the recommened amount of sleep for her age and it's the schedule that works for her. We've adapted to it. I can't imagine her being up past 7 by the time she's three. On the other hand, while 9p seems very late to me, I do know a few people who have their infants up that late and their toddlers go to bed when they do-regardless of the time. Good luck!

a 3 year old is not ready to stop taking naps. Sure every child is different. But look at the long run: 2 more years and kindergarten starts for her. That starts the change that there won't be nap times anymore during her school career.

Why push it now?

M. -

Have you tried waking her up after an hour and then putting her to bed at 8?

We are also up early to go to daycare and my 3 year old daughter also takes 2 hour naps on a regular basis - but she is usually in bed by 8 every night. There are nights that she doesn't fall asleep until 9 or after, but those are few and next morning on those nights she's a bear as well. The days that she only sleeps for an hour or so, she is often ready to go to bed by 7:30 and has even put herself to bed a few times! :)

Good luck -
J.

I too work full time and need to get my son up in the morning. He still takes a nap at preschool and it is limited to 2 hours. He goes to be about 9 pm and gets up at 6:30 am. Weekends he gets to sleep in so he doesn't nap. It really depends on what your day care provider thinks. It might be beneficial to shorten but not remove the naps. Good luck!

My daughters 5 and still takes naps. Kids at this age are still growing so much! I think its healthy for them to take naps. Maybe try to let her sleep for 1 1/2 hours max instead of two hours and see how that works out. I don't think 9:00 is a bad bed time. As long as she gets 9-10 hours, I think thats good.

I know that there may be moms that do not agree with me but I personally stopped giving my child naps at the age of 2. He is now 3 1/2 and still doing great. It also depends on your childs personality too, I think.
My youngest son and his brother go to bed at 8pm and wake up around 7am. I was noticing that my youngest was staying up late at night and waking up in a bad mood so I went ahead and completely stopped giving him naps. The evenings tended to be a little rough because he was a extra tired but what I found is that it was worth it, for a couple of hours worth of fussing and maybe a minnie nap from time to time, he would fall asleep alot faster at night and wake up alot more rested in the morning.
I hope that this helps you to know that my son survives not taking naps so maybe your daughter might. It may seem rough at first but worth it in the end.