My dd will be three in Jan and she is about ready to kill me. I work second so I don't get to bed until after midnight. The last two days she has gotten up at 5:30 in the morning. She also is giving my dh a hard time at night when going to bed. This has been going on for a couple of weeks. She used to take about a 2 hour nap and she went to bed at 8 with no problems and would get up at 7:00. I can live with 7:00 but this 5:30 stuff has got to stop! I guess I am wondering if I should try cutting out her naps? I just dread this though because I feel like that is the only time I get to myself. I mean Im with her all day and then go to work. So maybe just cut back the nap to an hour. But like today I know she is going to be tired. Dh let her get back up last night instead of fighting with her. She went to bed at 9:30 and got up at 5:30. Just curious when you all took naps away? Any suggestions appreciated.

By Kolbysmom on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 10:40 am:

I am really dreading the day when my son doesn't want to take naps anymore. He's been going to bed at 8 pm and sleeping until 8 am since he was about 5 months old! He takes a nap from 12:30-2:30 or 3. The only time he gets up earlier than usual is if he gets to bed late. This weekend we had a family function and he didn't get to bed until 10:30 and he was up by 6:45!! Oh yeah....my son's almost 2.5

By Juli4 on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 11:00 am:

i say never!!!!!!!

By Tonya on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 12:54 pm:

I think we as adults should still have a nap time!!!! What do you ladies think?

I say try to put her down a little later if you can first then cut the time span of the nap back but not completely. Then if you have to, take the nap away completely. But only as a last resort.

By Sunny on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 01:21 pm:

All my older kids gave up naps at, or close to, 2 yrs old. My youngest (15 months) takes one 90 minute nap a day and sleeps 12 hours a night.

By Jackie on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 02:01 pm:

Its so hard to say, each child is different. My daughter is 4 yrs old. She naps 5 out of 7 days a week, for about 2 hrs. I dont center my day around her nap time if we are out we dont rush home. But somedays(most days she really needs them). She still goes to between 8 and 8:30 and is up by 7.

By Dana on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 03:02 pm:

I never "took" them away. DD forced me to accept that naps were history. She was only 2 yrs old!!! She went from a 4 hour nap to ZERO! I about lost my mind. The worst was trying to fit nap time in. *I* really needed it! When I finally accepted that there was no nap time, I was able to relax and plan differently. It was still really hard, and *I* still longed for a nap. Rest time became the important factor. She was to play in her room alone for one full hour quietly. Usually it was a video that kept her company. It really helped me and my sanity.

By Mommyathome on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 03:23 pm:

I always used nap time as "my time" too. I needed that break or I would go nuts. We did naps with my 2 DD's until they were almost 4. Then we stopped them so they could be use to staying awake all day. They were starting preschool soon and we wanted them to be able to be awake all day and not feel sleepy.

DS, however, isn't even 2 yet, and I fight with him everyday to take a nap. He mostly refuses. It was easy when he was in his crib, I could just put him in there and he would eventually play himself to sleep. But, now that he's in a big boy bed, he's up and around the room playing with everything. I was hoping for at least another year of naps for him. Oh well.

All of my kids go to bed at 8pm and get up at 8am.

By Fraggle on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 03:57 pm:

We are going through a similar thing with my 2 1/2 year old. She has been waking up anywhere from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Luckily she will climb in bed with us and go back to sleep until we get up. She fights bed time most nights-some times I just let her stay up until she ends up falling asleep on the couch and I bring her up to bed. I've tried just about everything-including eliminating naps-to get her to stay in bed at night time. She did not sleep well last night (and neither did I since she got in bed with us at about 1 a.m.) so she wanted to take a nap today.

For my DD the things that have helped over the past couple weeks are putting her in for an early nap-(around 1 p.m.) and ending it after an hour or two helps too. So I would definitely try shortening the nap.

Now that I think about it my oldest DD went through a phase where she was waking up very early at around age 3-we just let her know it was not time to get up yet and sent her to her room to play/read. She came back in a few times but eventually stayed in her room. Within a few weeks it ended and she slept again until 7.

Good Luck getting some sleep!

By Laurazee on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 07:57 pm:

I hear you all! My ds is 2.5 years old as well and is starting to rebel against his regular 2 hour afternoon nap. If I leave him in his room, he might stay in there but will amuse himself by emptying drawers, bookcases, what have you. Not so amusing for me. I guess the afternoon nap (& break) is going, going, gone.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 12:00 am:

DD11 was born when DD14 was 2 years and 8 months old. I would put her in her room and then put the baby down for a nap and I would try to sleep. While dd14 would stay in her room, she wasn't sleeping and was up causing havoc. I was very sad! I liked taking a nap, too. I think dd11 gave up naps around 2 to 2-1/2, too. It's hard to remember.

By Mommymindy on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 12:24 am:

My (almost) 3 year old takes a nap every day with almost no problem, for 2 hours. My 4 year old is a different story. We fight every day for him to nap. People tell me maybe he's too old for a nap, but if he doesn't nap when his sister does, he gets tired around 5 to go to bed, not to mention I can't take a nap! LOL He just goes to bed way too early if he doesn't nap!!!

By Nicosmom on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 01:26 am:

I was wondering about naps myself. Ds is 2.5 and will take a nap about 5 out of 7 days as well. They range from about 45 minutes to today's 2 hour nap. I love when he naps b/c I have time to lounge or get online. I plan to let him take naps for as long as he will. Sometimes he will not even be sleeping though, he will play which is fine with me as long as he is quiet. Bed time is another story, he is awake in there right now at almost 10:30 thanks to that 2 hour nap!

By Beth on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 10:07 am:

Well thanks for all the advice ladies. DD did not take a nap yesterday. Ds only had a half day of school so I let her stay up and play with him. She went to bed last night with no problems dh said and stayed in bed until 7. So I think today I will just cut her nap back to an hour or so. See how that goes. Sounds like this is a common age for these types of problems. Ds was never an issue because his preschool when he was three had to be afternoon. He had no choice but to give up naps. But everything has been more difficult with my dd she is such a stinker!!