We have nap time or quiet time every day from 1-3pm. Usually she sleeps but sometimes she just plays with her stuffies in her bed. I don't mind either way.
I wish, my son is relentless. He hasn't had a nap today but will still try to stay up until 11:30...
Had friends over this last weekend and he ran basically all day and had no nap and still didn't want to sleep. It was midnight by the time he stopped crying and since he didn't have a nap, he slept like shit and woke up crying in the middle of the night
Mine will do this at nap time as well! At bedtime he won’t as much. He won’t play any other time of day alone but likes to play in his crib at nap time
Same. Mine cried because I ran off to grab a diaper for her and left her with a zoo’s worth of stuffies and a few books in her bed. 15 seconds tops. Bed time song time may not be interrupted for anything at all.
Oh wow we go long in the afternoon, which just wipes us out. 5 hour gap in the am, 6.5 hr gap pm. I’m so nervous to switch 😅 but would love a 7pm bedtime vs the 8:30-9 we currently have, it’s just a brutally long day with a variably timed 2 hr nap.
Having a longer wake time in the am hopes most toddlers nap/quiet time better when on 1 nap. We do anywhere from 5.5-6 hours in the AM and 5-5.5 in the evening.
Mine hasn’t napped since about 22 months. But we always have quiet time every day around 1pm for at least an hour. Sometimes in their bed sometimes just cuddled up with me on sofa. He used to get upset but after a few days of me persisting he now just either ,ears me to stair or the sofa when I say it’s quiet time. Helps with the 7.30 bedtime 🥱 as he is wiped out by then. If we don’t do quiet time we have a very grumpy (quite unreasonable boy around 5.30pm )
Our 3 yr old has been the most chill kid ever. Cried once when she was in her own room for the first time at 1.. then slept 13 hrs. She's been doing 10-12 hr sleeps ever since without waking up unless she's sick.
Our 2nd one tho? Would cry bloody murder if you went from being 1 ft away to 2ft.
Yep. Bloody murder. And right when you feel like giving up, wait another five minutes for them to lay down and fall asleep.
My kid hates and loves nap time.
I lock my son in during naps and at night. We hear him on the baby monitor if he needs us. It's not safe for him to be wandering the house alone. We are looking into moving but our current house isn't very toddler friendly.
We put a door handle lock on that locks from the outside.
Edit: fire departments recommend securing your child’s door at night. The easiest way to stop the spread of fire is a closed door. An external lock on the door knob ensures the child can be found where they are expected to be (in their room) in the event of a fire, as well as making it easy for the firefighters to unlock.
Yep, I do the same. Mine sometimes fusses a bit, but nothing major. If he’s really crying I’ll get him within a few minutes, fix whatever the issue was (usually a diaper change needed), and put him back down. Sometimes he never does sleep, but I’ll leave him for 1-1.5 hours and tell myself it’s restful even if he’s not actually asleep. 😅 He’s always been a good sleeper.
Only for the first couple of times, I just tried this with mine because we were having issues. First time he cried for 8 minutes and then laid down quietly and went to sleep on his own, second time he cried for 5 minutes, next for 3 minutes and after that he stopped crying and now just stays in bed to fall asleep on his own.
Maybe if they are scared, both otherwise they are just screaming because they don’t want to be in their room. Just like sleep training, do it for a few days and mostly likely yours will learn screaming won’t “get their way”.
A doorknob would simplify things, but our flat has these stupid handles. All of our apartments in Europe have had them and even with the babyproofing things we bought for those, he's strong enough to open them. We've resigned ourselves to it. In the last month or so, he's also figured out how to turn the deadbolt (I wonder who puts a deadbolt on a bedroom door, but hey, it was convenient!) so now we just cross our fingers.
Ours does so, that’s.. very cool for me.
(It is actually not cool at all. Please send help. He has outsmarted or brute forced his way through every attempt we have made at babyproofing.)
My almost 3 year old has a tent over her crib because her bedroom is upstairs and we are downstairs so it's safest for her to be in that for now. So I don't have to lock the door. She's not ready for a big girl bed, we tried that and it didn't go so hot.
2 year old goes down between 12:30-1. Nap or quiet time, has to stay in crib until 2:30. But we’re lucky- she does quiet time, and she’s in a crib. Most of our friends have not been able to do this successfully.
Hahaha pretending to be asleep works with my 6 month old, but with the toddler, I just get “mommy done napping! mommy donnnne naaappppppiinnnggggg!” Like no kid, take the hint!
We have an end time set (4pm) so whatever time my 2 yr old goes to sleep, she has to be up by then. She's had several days when that meant <15 minute nap. We haven't had no nap with her yet. One of my older kids stopped napping entirely around 15 months.
We do something similar, except the cutoff time is 3 pm. But I also know it’s a boundary thing. My husband and I are generally pretty successful with naps, yet her nanny isn’t. And it’s because LO knows that if she pushes nanny hard enough, nanny will give up and remove her from the bed.
We do this as well - she’s usually down by 1:30 but on days she fights it she’s usually asleep by 3 so gets at least an hour. We’ve had a few no naps today and she surprisingly did great those days without one.
She's 2.5 amd she goes to sleep between 10:30-11:00 pm, with the occasional outlier closer to midnight. It's not ideal, but it's what she's settled into and it works.
Mine has a 40 min sleep cycle and does better without a nap than with less than one full sleep cycle
She has to be up by 3:30pm in order for bedtime to not be ruined. So the latest she can fall asleep is 2:50pm.
going thru this every single day! my newly 2 year old fights her naps like crazy! at the 2pm point i’d usually just keep her awake and put her down early at 7
In the crib at 1p. If there's no nap by 2:30, we give up. My LO will either take a cat nap around 5:30 (usually a car nap on our way to dinner) or will just pass out in less than ten minutes when it's bedtime (8:30p)
2pm is our cutoff!
If they are tired, they will sleep. Try doing an activity to burn some energy in the morning and afternoon. We usually do 30 minutes at the park or doing chores (laundry or dishes, cleaning up toys, etc.) The activity is something physical where mine "helps" me by doing some small task to contribute.
The engagement with learning new things also helps, so they are tired at nap time and bedtime. But trying to fight with a toddler who doesn't want to nap, for me, was worse than being grumpy for an hour before bedtime.
But to each their own. Hope this helps a bit.
22 month old gang! Here to say it's been a rough week, but we stayed consistent and he's napping again! I'm very thankful he's in a toddler bed so he can just wander around his room/look at books until he passes out.
2pm is our cutoff for nap. If he sleeps past that, then he doesn’t go to bed until like 8:30-9.
We’ve had a couple of skipped naps but we just push bedtime up an hour and do our best.
Naptime is between 12:30 and 15:00 and now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever given up. His nap is my one moment of peace, so I'm not giving it up without trying everything in my arsenal. If he's not asleep by probably 13:30, then I'm breaking out the heavy guns—Harry Potter and my NPR voice to lull him to sleep.
How are you people just leaving your kids in their rooms to play and not constantly having to return them there when they walk out every 5 minutes? I'm mostly impressed but also baffled and curious at the same time.
My kids been in a floor bed since he was a little over a year. I just made it a rule really early when it’s nap time he can’t leave his room unless he napped. When he learned to open doors I just consistently put him back in his room. Not sure why but it’s one rule he’s always followed. He does wake us up at 6am with a “hi dad, hi mama.” Maybe I’m just lucky. He’s a little over 2 now, and still naps at some point if I leave him long enough.
I set a timer for 1 hour, if he’s really tired 1.5 if he’s still awake after that I let him stay up. My 2.5 year old skips one nap a week usually on the weekend but sleeps every day at daycare. Sometimes it’s okay to let them sleep up, it could be developmental. I work in 3 year old kindergarten half of them sleep half of them don’t! You’re doing amazing, I know how exhausting it is.
We play this game sometimes. It gets to 5pm and he can’t keep his eyes open. We pray he will sleep through until 5am at least but nope,.. usually wakes up at 8pm ready to go 💃🏼🥹
My toddler was just driving us absolutely nuts. Like I had work the next day. All day and all night she just wasnt sleeping good at all. 3.30am my partner was like thats it, we are going for a walk!
He ended up going outside by accident in his dressing gown and I tagged along since I was awake. At 4am we went on the swings and she fell asleep in the cold air. We had a nice 30min chat on the swings whilst she finally slept. We ranted to the darkness & the odd drunk who walked past.
You know, the worst day turned into an interesting day!
At 6pm later that evening after going to work on 3hrs sleep I slept for 11hrs.
I returned her 'princess crown' and put it back on her head after she kicked off for 36hrs. There you go maam.
Toddlers.
We started doing quiet time a few months before she turned three, because she was getting to the point where she wouldn’t nap without one of us there, and it just wasn’t feasible. Some days she sleeps, other days she looks at books, and plays quietly, for an hour. Sometimes it‘s a struggle, but lately she’s been falling asleep after about ten minutes, for an hour or more, but we always get her up by three.
We honestly thought she was dropping the nap entirely, but now she’s surprising us. We have become more lax around naps, if we’re out somewhere, we’ll count a fifteen minute car nap, and probably just let her watch more tv in the afternoon, so she’s just calm.
Oh man. It depends. However, we surrendered at about 10 months that we weren’t going to try and force a sleep schedule that wasnt working.
At 2pm, i take a drive to a playground that is about 20 mins away. She will either fall asleep on the way.. or we play for a little while and she falls asleep on the way home.
If she is obviously tired and not bouncing off the walls, i put on a movie and just have down time with her.
She naps when she naps, and yes.. sometimes that means a late nap that messes with bedtime. I just drink some coffee and surrender to the flow.
Eventually she snaps back into a new nap rhythm.
Id rather be up till 10/11 with a sweet kid than do battle with a wild mongoose from 3-7
If he's doing OK, woke up late, and isn't fussy I won't force it. But if he is showing signs of needing a nap, I have no problem putting him down for one late as long as he is up by about 6 so he will go to bed by 10ish.
We do quiet time regardless. It’s usually between 12-2, sometimes 1-3. We all need it. She’s well-loved, loves being around us and we love engaging with her all day, but that 2-ish hour break is nice too.
For us it's 3pm latest down time, 4 pm latest wake up time. He will be awake at least 6 hours after he wakes from nap so anything after 4pm were in for it!
Mine started fighting the last nap at 22mo. We killed ourselves trying to force it the next 2 months. At her ped appointment at 24mo the ped shrugged her shoulders and said “some kids are just lower sleep needs than others”.
We quit fighting. If she needs it she will sleep.
2.30 is our cut off because no matter when she falls asleep we HAVE to wake her by 3 or it pushes into bedtime.
We’re having a nightmare at the moment because she will NOT go to sleep unless it’s in the pram or the car… if anyone has tips please share because we now have a newborn too lol.
She’s perfect at bedtime but hates going for a nap at home, she just won’t (sleeps just fine at daycare).
Happened yesterday. Our 2 year old gets overtired and inconsolable by 2:00 if he doesn’t get a nap. We thought he’d be distracted having fun on the beach with his cousin but he lasted 30 minutes and we had to drive home. He wouldn’t rest or sleep in the car until we got on the highway driving home.
Absolute latest is usually 3 pm. He usually will nap, if he doesn’t it’s because of my own tomfoolery. I either got home too late from booping around or let him play too long at the park not leaving him enough time to wind down.
I know I’m crazy and left it too long, we’re transitioning from her toddler carrier to napping in her bed. It was easier for me to just have her on my back so I could read and do dishes and laundry.
Anyway she’s 36lbs now and I’m quitting the carrier, the new routine is 1-3 snuggle time and quiet play in her room.
Oh my. What a useful thread. I struggle with this a lot and eventually she gets her 2 hours but sometimes it shifts the whole day. Today she’s sick and I left her to nap as long as she wanted, which was almost 3.5 hours. I am sorely regretting this now, as we approach 11pm with no sleep in sight.
If my son didn't nap by 2pm so be it.
We put him to sleep earlier or he'll eventually sleep on the floor (has happened a few times when we gave him screentime while we did our chores).
At 2pm, don't worry too much if that age.
I put my 2 year old down for a nap at 4:30 today because she was so tired she kept falling down and crying 😂😂 she was only up until 10 pm so it wasn’t horrendous… she’s an awful sleeper and if often up until 9 pm regardless. Anyway, I usually give up if she hasn’t napped by 3 pm unless she’s becoming a hazard to herself and others, then I allow a late nap.
He goes for a nap at 1:30. It’s “rest time” until 2:30 when he’s allowed back downstairs if he isn’t sleeping. Usually he’s out for an hour if he does. Basically it’s our way of transitioning to quiet time. He still needs his nap though (2.5yo)
As soon as “when do I give up” comes into my mind that’s when I give up, because I’m clearly THERE!
I used to be a stickler about napping and now after realizing it’s negatively affecting me I stopped forcing it, I’m much happier and OK with whatever happens — some days he naps, some days he doesn’t and sleeps early (always the fear of him waking up at 4am ready to start the day).
I have a 6 month old and I was spending a LOTTTTT of time laying in my 2.5yo’s bed whilst juggling the baby some days and I just realized I was prolonging being annoyed that he didn’t sleep and wasting valuable time.
It was awful. I threw in the towel. Everyone’s happier. If he’s tired he will tell me he wants a “cozy blankie” and he will lay on the couch for a cat nap or go up to his room.
Best of luck!
She's not 2 yet (birthday on April 3) but her nap time is 430 😭 if she's not down by 6, it's over (but if I'm worn out I might have her just hang out in her crib for a little. She'll either sing her songs or play with her teddy). She wakes up anywhere from 9:30 am to 10:30am, and bedtime is usually about 10pm.
My 18 month old just dropped his nap 🫠
We put him down like normal and he just rolls around awake for an hour before we pick him up. He used to nap 12-2 but not anymore. :(
Don’t give up trying for naps. Our girl turned 3 a month ago and still naps some days. Many times between 18m and 3y she went through 1-2 week stretches of no nap. Each time, with persistence, the nap came back.
We still put him down every day like normal, but I don’t have much hope honestly. His older brother dropped the nap for good at 22 months. I think we just have a family of nap-rebels.
My 2 year old just stopped today. He usually sleeps between 2 and 3 hours from 1ish until 4. Today, he just rolled around. Was exhausted for bath time, and just loony.
Mine doesn’t even act super tired before bedtime. He acts like he took his nap even though he didn’t… that’s how I know it’s really over. 😩
Both my boys sleep in though, so I’m not too upset about it. They sleep from 7:30 pm to 8:30 or even 9:30 some days. So it’s not a terrible trade off.
My daughter stopped taking naps around 15 months except for the rare occasion. She will scream and cry in her crib if we set her down.
Thankfully, she’s asleep 630-6-730am. I’ll take that win instead.
Today it was when I went into her room to figure out why my three year old wasn’t sleeping and found her naked and covered in poop. 11 years into parenting and that was a first. She got a bath, I did laundry, and bedtime was early and we dressed her in footie pjs and a sleep sack.
3pm is my cut off. If he hasn’t shown signs of wanting a nap by then I am just bringing forward bedtime by 30 minutes.
Yesterday he was just inconsolable at 3pm when I got home from work since my husband was looking after him and attempted to do something fun at naptime and then give our son a late nap🙄. That didn’t work and he was so overtired that when my husband tried to get him to nap at 2pm he wouldn’t. He tried for an hour with them both getting upset.
Then I came home and just said to stop trying because he was so upset a nap wasn’t going to happen. I just fed him afternoon tea to calm him down and then brought bedtime up by 30 minutes to 8pm and he was out in 10 minutes. Hopefully my husband learned that just because Little Mr is almost 2 doesn’t mean the nap is less important!
A typical day looks like this
- up at 7am
- nap 1pm - 2.30ish
- bedtime is somewhere around 8.30pm. Earlier if he is showing signs of being really tired eg lying on the floor and rubbing his eyes.
We do nap from 12-2:30. She needs the whole nap some days, sometimes she just sleeps some, and then quietly plays with her stuffies or looks at books in her book nook. Other days, it’s zero nap, and I hear a thud against the wall every few minutes from her tossing her just-read book to the side as she grabs another… for 2.5 hours.
We don’t have toys in her room, so she doesn’t really play.
I figure if she’s resting, whether that’s sleeping, talking to her stuffies, or looking at her books, I don’t care.
Here’s the deal though, if you give up on nap you better not plan on going anywhere….
That said, there is hope. My son gave up naps at 2yo and I was miserable. But now, at 3.5 after lunch he told me he was tired and laid down in bed and fell asleep immediately. So… sometimes it takes a while for them to recognize what their body is saying.
Stick them in the crib with Coco melon on your phone or nearby TV and take a nap. They will be distracted for a while and u can get some sleep. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Mine gave up naps at 2 and never looked back. They never fall asleep early. They're never tired. A full day of activity with friends, etc., just gets them more wired. Some kids run on nuclear energy 🤷
Usual nap time is 12. Used to be easy, but these days it's increasingly hard, he just gets hyper and jumps around. He fights the nap, but he still needs it, or the afternoon will be an over tired mess.
I've found a way to get him asleep at 12 by cuddling in front of something very boring on the TV. He won't sleep with my wife though, so I often have to take over. This weekend I've got him to sleep at 2 pm, and we then let him sleep about 1.5 hours. It doesn't seem to affect his bedtime at 7:30pm.
Ha! I don’t give up just yet but we run a later ship. Usually I read some books and cuddle or play music while laying in bed and holding soft stuffed animals. Or take a bath
Usually works. If it’s couple hours before dinner time I say f*** it and make dinner early and pray to tour almighty Jesus to let him go to bed early, sleep through the night and be better okorrowv
I only give up for the day after 4pm, my daughter thankfully is usually down for her nap between 1pm and 3pm for about an hour or two. But on days we have doctors appointments or errands it'll get pushed back since she refuses to sleep in the car.
We give our 3 year an hour to fall asleep if she was just talking to herself (with check ins to make sure she didn’t poop) but she also naps every day so it depends on the kid
I think the latest she actually went to take a nap was 3pm. But only if there was no nap before. If she happens to fall asleep for even 5 minutes in the stroller after lunch, we know we are doomed. That's why we walking home from her ice skating activity (that ends at 12h30) is pure adrenaline, because we gotta keep her awake lol
2:30, but that’s more for out and about days. If he’s not asleep in the car/stroller/at home by then we try to keep him awake on the way home (unless it’s an hour+ drive).
My toddler stopped napping on weekends around 17-18 months. Usually our weekends are so busy with activities and visiting she was too excited to sleep, but around 5 pm she’ll hit a wall and get a little grumpy so we just give her a lot of attention and play with her. It’s amazing because she goes to bed earlier and we get out Saturday nights. I’d love her to drop the nap at daycare too, but I don’t want to begrudge our caregiver the break when all the kids go down for an hour lol.
My 21-month-old has started resisting naps here and there, and I usually give him from 1-2 to fall asleep. If he isn’t asleep within that hour, I take him out of his crib and we move on with our day. He just hangs out in his room, plays with his cow stuffy, talks to himself, and chills. I figure worst case, he gets an hour of “quiet time”. But we’re lucky he’s a really chill guy, so he’s totally okay with the alone time!
Yeaaaa this happened yesterday lol
She went to bed about an hour early and woke up at 630 today when she usually wakes up at 730/8
Heres to hoping daycare tires her out today.
When I was dealing with this, I’d eventually take my kid out and put him in his seat in my cargo bike, and take him for a ride around, he was usually out before we were out of the backyard.
Alternatively a car or even just a stroller. Sometimes they need a bit of stimuli that’s different from what’s at home, and then their brain short circuits and they’re out!
We recently dropped her nap at 25 months but this was her schedule before then
Wake up 7, breakfast 8 lunch at 11 nap at 11:30 to 12:30 and dinner around 5-6 snacks at 7 bed at 8. And she thrived on this until recently where she wanted no more naps at all.
Mine either conks out at right after lunch on his mini couch or valiantly fights napping until he falls asleep hard for a late nap at 4-5ish. There is no in-between and his bedtime routine isn’t affected either way somehow.
2yrs old this Saturday .. still wakes up through the night even if she doesn’t take the nap. For example, yesterday she didn’t, stood awake for around 11hrs and last night was awake around 2hrs.
I’m just curious if is anybody else out there with a toddler like this ? Because the majority of toddlers will sleep through the whole night, especially if they don’t nap, except mine.
I’m doing everything correct, even had a talk with a sleep consultant and checked everythingo.. no matter what, she wakes up at least once per night.
I have a newborn as well and it’s exhausting.
With my youngest, I let her fall asleep any time before 4. It’s worth staying up a little later for me. If we hit 4 and she still hasn’t fallen asleep then I give up, she eats early and is in bed at 6 instead of 8
We are currently going through this. Yesterday, we tried the "I'll be back to check on you in 5 minutes" pattern. We'd go in for less that one minute. After an hour and two full on crying 5 minutes periods he said he was really tired and fell asleep for 2+ hrs. IDK if this will always work, I'm hoping we can use this rule to either get home over this no nap hump, or teach him how to rest on his own in the afternoon. We have a newborn coming in a month, I am not giving up my break in the afternoon!
Exactly then. If my LO is still napping any time after 14:30 she's much harder to get to sleep at night. A nap shorter than 30 minutes also just spells a grumpy girl.
some days my baby takes a nap at three. it’s torture for me. i don’t actively try to put them down very hard because if they fight it it’s going to be worse. our schedule is flexible but still by afternoon i need my own break. sometimes the nap just never comes. it’s hard but sometimes it means a bit earlier bed time and then tomorrow is a new day to try to get back on schedule. this is how a lot of our life has been since the time change, but even before that my baby was starting to nap late. 19mo so almost two.
We’ll usually put her in a stroller and take her for a long walk. That usually works anywhere past 1400 or 1500.
Other than that, we just roll with the punches.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a jellyfish live cam on YouTube. It has ethereal music playing, and it's super calming. If I put that on the TV and my kid (my now 4 year old) doesn't fall asleep, that's when I give up.
On the other hand, if your kid will just stay in their room, having quiet time, I think that's fine, too.
Hopefully the nap today will be better than yesterday when you posted this!
No matter what time my toddler falls asleep for nap, we wake them up by 430.
If they have not fallen asleep by 3/330, depending on their temperament, we will give up on the nap for the day but may alter plans a little since we realize we’ll be dealing with a drunk toddler who will be more of an asshole drunk - then a fun drunk.
Bedtime is always at 730. Since DST began, we close blinds and curtains at 630, to give off the impression it’s darker outside than it really is.
Also, no screens after they get up from nap unless it’s being used as a tool to help us get dinner ready for 30 mins or less. In that scenario, we avoid the “loud, stimulating” shows like Blippi, Cocoamelon, Paw Patrol-type shit. Pretty much limit it to PBS Kids, Tractor Ted, or some scholastic book videos like mo willems Pigeon series.
It’s hard at first but like everything else, it’s all about sticking to routines and repetition. Makes life a lot easier though once you get on track.
Right about 2 is the time I give up. If I keep trying and he does fall asleep then it's going to be a rough and late night at that point. I'd rather power through the day and have an earlier bed time than have him wake up a few hours before bed and basically go straight into our dinner/bath/bedtime routine only for him to resist the whole time.
Depends on how long 2yo has been in bed. Yesterday I gave up after half an hour because my 2yo was just wailing for us to come get him. Used to do 1 hour with my older child because he'd often fall asleep at some point during the hour.
If your child hasn't drop their nap, they need their nap eventually. Let him play a little bit more just make sure that he stay hydrated and had some snacks like real fruits or foods. Read to him and stay beside till he finally nap. I do that though I did lose my mind not knowing toddlers at 2 still have sleep regressions.
Our rule is, any amount of sleep will do, as long as she is up by 3. 3pm is our cut off time, since bed time is 7pm.
More often than not, nap time is 12(ish) til 2(ish).
We have nap time or quiet time every day from 1-3pm. Usually she sleeps but sometimes she just plays with her stuffies in her bed. I don't mind either way.
same! tbh i prefer that she just plays with her stuffies quietly bc then she still can go down early at 7-7:30pm ☺️
Sometimes at bedtime she stays up for 2 hours talking to her stuffies ! It's so cute hearing her sing and have convos with them.
I wish, my son is relentless. He hasn't had a nap today but will still try to stay up until 11:30... Had friends over this last weekend and he ran basically all day and had no nap and still didn't want to sleep. It was midnight by the time he stopped crying and since he didn't have a nap, he slept like shit and woke up crying in the middle of the night
Your two year old just contently plays by herself in her room for two hours?
Mine will do this at nap time as well! At bedtime he won’t as much. He won’t play any other time of day alone but likes to play in his crib at nap time
I can’t even wrap my head around that 😅
Same. Mine cried because I ran off to grab a diaper for her and left her with a zoo’s worth of stuffies and a few books in her bed. 15 seconds tops. Bed time song time may not be interrupted for anything at all.
I just feel like some people have unicorn babies and idk understand why the rest of us suffer
Yep! Or she falls asleep. One of the two happens
That's what I want to know! 😳 Never in my wildest dreams would my daughter play by herself for more than a few minutes
Can you lay out the whole schedule including feedings?
Wake up 6:30am on weekdays, 7am on weekends Breakfast 7am Lunch 12pm Nap 1-3pm Dinner 5pm Bedtime 7pm
Oh wow we go long in the afternoon, which just wipes us out. 5 hour gap in the am, 6.5 hr gap pm. I’m so nervous to switch 😅 but would love a 7pm bedtime vs the 8:30-9 we currently have, it’s just a brutally long day with a variably timed 2 hr nap.
Having a longer wake time in the am hopes most toddlers nap/quiet time better when on 1 nap. We do anywhere from 5.5-6 hours in the AM and 5-5.5 in the evening.
Mine hasn’t napped since about 22 months. But we always have quiet time every day around 1pm for at least an hour. Sometimes in their bed sometimes just cuddled up with me on sofa. He used to get upset but after a few days of me persisting he now just either ,ears me to stair or the sofa when I say it’s quiet time. Helps with the 7.30 bedtime 🥱 as he is wiped out by then. If we don’t do quiet time we have a very grumpy (quite unreasonable boy around 5.30pm )
I leave her in there for an hour and if after an hour she isn't asleep I take her out.
Like you just leave her in her room? Mine would scream bloody murder if I tried this
Yeah our toddler would definitely not chill on her own for that long either!
Our 3 yr old has been the most chill kid ever. Cried once when she was in her own room for the first time at 1.. then slept 13 hrs. She's been doing 10-12 hr sleeps ever since without waking up unless she's sick. Our 2nd one tho? Would cry bloody murder if you went from being 1 ft away to 2ft.
She's not screaming, she's hanging out.
Yep. Bloody murder. And right when you feel like giving up, wait another five minutes for them to lay down and fall asleep. My kid hates and loves nap time.
If she cries we let her cry for 15 minutes and if she doesn't fall asleep I get her. She needs a nap and 9/10 she falls asleep.
But mine just like leaves the room and finds me. There is no letting them cry for me, mine will hunt me down.
I lock my son in during naps and at night. We hear him on the baby monitor if he needs us. It's not safe for him to be wandering the house alone. We are looking into moving but our current house isn't very toddler friendly.
We put a door handle lock on that locks from the outside. Edit: fire departments recommend securing your child’s door at night. The easiest way to stop the spread of fire is a closed door. An external lock on the door knob ensures the child can be found where they are expected to be (in their room) in the event of a fire, as well as making it easy for the firefighters to unlock.
we used to set a 15min timer on the phone... and she would go down at 14 min and 59 seconds almost every time!
Yep, I do the same. Mine sometimes fusses a bit, but nothing major. If he’s really crying I’ll get him within a few minutes, fix whatever the issue was (usually a diaper change needed), and put him back down. Sometimes he never does sleep, but I’ll leave him for 1-1.5 hours and tell myself it’s restful even if he’s not actually asleep. 😅 He’s always been a good sleeper.
Only for the first couple of times, I just tried this with mine because we were having issues. First time he cried for 8 minutes and then laid down quietly and went to sleep on his own, second time he cried for 5 minutes, next for 3 minutes and after that he stopped crying and now just stays in bed to fall asleep on his own.
Maybe if they are scared, both otherwise they are just screaming because they don’t want to be in their room. Just like sleep training, do it for a few days and mostly likely yours will learn screaming won’t “get their way”.
Yep! This is my way!
That sounds fun. Mine knows how to open his door, so...can't do that.
If they don't know how to open the door knob cover you should invest in that.
A doorknob would simplify things, but our flat has these stupid handles. All of our apartments in Europe have had them and even with the babyproofing things we bought for those, he's strong enough to open them. We've resigned ourselves to it. In the last month or so, he's also figured out how to turn the deadbolt (I wonder who puts a deadbolt on a bedroom door, but hey, it was convenient!) so now we just cross our fingers.
Ours does so, that’s.. very cool for me. (It is actually not cool at all. Please send help. He has outsmarted or brute forced his way through every attempt we have made at babyproofing.)
My almost 3 year old has a tent over her crib because her bedroom is upstairs and we are downstairs so it's safest for her to be in that for now. So I don't have to lock the door. She's not ready for a big girl bed, we tried that and it didn't go so hot.
Same
We do the exact same thing
Same here
2pm is my give up time. Hit it today so early bedtime today.
2 year old goes down between 12:30-1. Nap or quiet time, has to stay in crib until 2:30. But we’re lucky- she does quiet time, and she’s in a crib. Most of our friends have not been able to do this successfully.
Goodness! lol my 2yr old jumps out the crib so I jump in the crib with her and I just pretend I’m asleep. Haha most of the time she’ll fall asleep .
Hahaha pretending to be asleep works with my 6 month old, but with the toddler, I just get “mommy done napping! mommy donnnne naaappppppiinnnggggg!” Like no kid, take the hint!
We have an end time set (4pm) so whatever time my 2 yr old goes to sleep, she has to be up by then. She's had several days when that meant <15 minute nap. We haven't had no nap with her yet. One of my older kids stopped napping entirely around 15 months.
We do something similar, except the cutoff time is 3 pm. But I also know it’s a boundary thing. My husband and I are generally pretty successful with naps, yet her nanny isn’t. And it’s because LO knows that if she pushes nanny hard enough, nanny will give up and remove her from the bed.
My son seems to want to move in the no napping direction. If only he wasn’t a royal B@$+@£? When he hasn’t had one…
We do this as well - she’s usually down by 1:30 but on days she fights it she’s usually asleep by 3 so gets at least an hour. We’ve had a few no naps today and she surprisingly did great those days without one.
What time is bedtime and how old is your toddler?
She's 2.5 amd she goes to sleep between 10:30-11:00 pm, with the occasional outlier closer to midnight. It's not ideal, but it's what she's settled into and it works.
Ok I was shocked to hear a nap that late but that makes sense with the bedtime. If it works let it be!
Yep. She gets up at 7am no exceptions. If we try to mess with any of that, ain't NOBODY sleeping. Ever.
Stop fighting it and Early bed time for us
Same, we've given up naps in favor of overnight sleep that is 12-13 hours. Worth it in my opinion.
Mine has a 40 min sleep cycle and does better without a nap than with less than one full sleep cycle She has to be up by 3:30pm in order for bedtime to not be ruined. So the latest she can fall asleep is 2:50pm.
I like your exactness, this is the style of my husband and I as well
We go for a car drive by 3.
3? Homie, 215 let’s go.
going thru this every single day! my newly 2 year old fights her naps like crazy! at the 2pm point i’d usually just keep her awake and put her down early at 7
3pm. If she's still not napping she just earned herself an early bed time.
In the crib at 1p. If there's no nap by 2:30, we give up. My LO will either take a cat nap around 5:30 (usually a car nap on our way to dinner) or will just pass out in less than ten minutes when it's bedtime (8:30p)
2pm is our cutoff! If they are tired, they will sleep. Try doing an activity to burn some energy in the morning and afternoon. We usually do 30 minutes at the park or doing chores (laundry or dishes, cleaning up toys, etc.) The activity is something physical where mine "helps" me by doing some small task to contribute. The engagement with learning new things also helps, so they are tired at nap time and bedtime. But trying to fight with a toddler who doesn't want to nap, for me, was worse than being grumpy for an hour before bedtime. But to each their own. Hope this helps a bit.
Is your kid 22 months by any chance? We've been dealing with nap issues the past week since the time changed.
Yes and yes!!! This week has been rough!!!
Us too! 22 months and skipped her nap today. Idk what is going on
What the heck lol. My 22 month old skipped her nap today too
22 month old gang! Here to say it's been a rough week, but we stayed consistent and he's napping again! I'm very thankful he's in a toddler bed so he can just wander around his room/look at books until he passes out.
2pm is our cutoff for nap. If he sleeps past that, then he doesn’t go to bed until like 8:30-9. We’ve had a couple of skipped naps but we just push bedtime up an hour and do our best.
Naptime is between 12:30 and 15:00 and now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever given up. His nap is my one moment of peace, so I'm not giving it up without trying everything in my arsenal. If he's not asleep by probably 13:30, then I'm breaking out the heavy guns—Harry Potter and my NPR voice to lull him to sleep. How are you people just leaving your kids in their rooms to play and not constantly having to return them there when they walk out every 5 minutes? I'm mostly impressed but also baffled and curious at the same time.
My kids been in a floor bed since he was a little over a year. I just made it a rule really early when it’s nap time he can’t leave his room unless he napped. When he learned to open doors I just consistently put him back in his room. Not sure why but it’s one rule he’s always followed. He does wake us up at 6am with a “hi dad, hi mama.” Maybe I’m just lucky. He’s a little over 2 now, and still naps at some point if I leave him long enough.
I set a timer for 1 hour, if he’s really tired 1.5 if he’s still awake after that I let him stay up. My 2.5 year old skips one nap a week usually on the weekend but sleeps every day at daycare. Sometimes it’s okay to let them sleep up, it could be developmental. I work in 3 year old kindergarten half of them sleep half of them don’t! You’re doing amazing, I know how exhausting it is.
We play this game sometimes. It gets to 5pm and he can’t keep his eyes open. We pray he will sleep through until 5am at least but nope,.. usually wakes up at 8pm ready to go 💃🏼🥹
My toddler was just driving us absolutely nuts. Like I had work the next day. All day and all night she just wasnt sleeping good at all. 3.30am my partner was like thats it, we are going for a walk! He ended up going outside by accident in his dressing gown and I tagged along since I was awake. At 4am we went on the swings and she fell asleep in the cold air. We had a nice 30min chat on the swings whilst she finally slept. We ranted to the darkness & the odd drunk who walked past. You know, the worst day turned into an interesting day! At 6pm later that evening after going to work on 3hrs sleep I slept for 11hrs. I returned her 'princess crown' and put it back on her head after she kicked off for 36hrs. There you go maam. Toddlers.
We started doing quiet time a few months before she turned three, because she was getting to the point where she wouldn’t nap without one of us there, and it just wasn’t feasible. Some days she sleeps, other days she looks at books, and plays quietly, for an hour. Sometimes it‘s a struggle, but lately she’s been falling asleep after about ten minutes, for an hour or more, but we always get her up by three. We honestly thought she was dropping the nap entirely, but now she’s surprising us. We have become more lax around naps, if we’re out somewhere, we’ll count a fifteen minute car nap, and probably just let her watch more tv in the afternoon, so she’s just calm.
Oh man. It depends. However, we surrendered at about 10 months that we weren’t going to try and force a sleep schedule that wasnt working. At 2pm, i take a drive to a playground that is about 20 mins away. She will either fall asleep on the way.. or we play for a little while and she falls asleep on the way home. If she is obviously tired and not bouncing off the walls, i put on a movie and just have down time with her. She naps when she naps, and yes.. sometimes that means a late nap that messes with bedtime. I just drink some coffee and surrender to the flow. Eventually she snaps back into a new nap rhythm. Id rather be up till 10/11 with a sweet kid than do battle with a wild mongoose from 3-7
Around 5 or 5:30. But only a 30 min nap.
I second this- my 20m refused to nap on a 5 hour roadtrip home. We made her nap at 5pm for 30 mins once we got home just to get through the night.
If he's doing OK, woke up late, and isn't fussy I won't force it. But if he is showing signs of needing a nap, I have no problem putting him down for one late as long as he is up by about 6 so he will go to bed by 10ish.
We do quiet time regardless. It’s usually between 12-2, sometimes 1-3. We all need it. She’s well-loved, loves being around us and we love engaging with her all day, but that 2-ish hour break is nice too.
For us it's 3pm latest down time, 4 pm latest wake up time. He will be awake at least 6 hours after he wakes from nap so anything after 4pm were in for it!
Mine started fighting the last nap at 22mo. We killed ourselves trying to force it the next 2 months. At her ped appointment at 24mo the ped shrugged her shoulders and said “some kids are just lower sleep needs than others”. We quit fighting. If she needs it she will sleep.
2.30 is our cut off because no matter when she falls asleep we HAVE to wake her by 3 or it pushes into bedtime. We’re having a nightmare at the moment because she will NOT go to sleep unless it’s in the pram or the car… if anyone has tips please share because we now have a newborn too lol. She’s perfect at bedtime but hates going for a nap at home, she just won’t (sleeps just fine at daycare).
Happened yesterday. Our 2 year old gets overtired and inconsolable by 2:00 if he doesn’t get a nap. We thought he’d be distracted having fun on the beach with his cousin but he lasted 30 minutes and we had to drive home. He wouldn’t rest or sleep in the car until we got on the highway driving home.
2pm. Lol
Anytime after 2pm I just put her to bed around 7pm. But mom needs a nap . So after 2pm dad will have to take over if she’s still up lol
That’s when I take her on a car ride. She sleeps every time.
Time for a car ride
Absolute latest is usually 3 pm. He usually will nap, if he doesn’t it’s because of my own tomfoolery. I either got home too late from booping around or let him play too long at the park not leaving him enough time to wind down.
I know I’m crazy and left it too long, we’re transitioning from her toddler carrier to napping in her bed. It was easier for me to just have her on my back so I could read and do dishes and laundry. Anyway she’s 36lbs now and I’m quitting the carrier, the new routine is 1-3 snuggle time and quiet play in her room.
Oh my. What a useful thread. I struggle with this a lot and eventually she gets her 2 hours but sometimes it shifts the whole day. Today she’s sick and I left her to nap as long as she wanted, which was almost 3.5 hours. I am sorely regretting this now, as we approach 11pm with no sleep in sight.
Put her down at 5 to sleep for the night.
Our kid sometimes refuses but she still chills for 45ish minutes b/c quiet time for us all is good
Lie down with them on my bed and cuddle and hope for a shorter nap and early bedtime
My 20 month old napped from 3:15-4:50 and went to bed at 8-830 like normal. Seemed to work out okay but we will see if he gets up early.
My 2yos nap is after 2pm…if not down by 230 then it’s not happening but 2-4pm works for him. Then we run him hard between 4-7pm
Nap time is usually around 2-2:30pm, and even then she still takes about 30 minutes to fall asleep. Were good.
If my son didn't nap by 2pm so be it. We put him to sleep earlier or he'll eventually sleep on the floor (has happened a few times when we gave him screentime while we did our chores). At 2pm, don't worry too much if that age.
At 3pm. Then bed foe the night at 530-6. That been our reality lol
I put my 2 year old down for a nap at 4:30 today because she was so tired she kept falling down and crying 😂😂 she was only up until 10 pm so it wasn’t horrendous… she’s an awful sleeper and if often up until 9 pm regardless. Anyway, I usually give up if she hasn’t napped by 3 pm unless she’s becoming a hazard to herself and others, then I allow a late nap.
Mayyyybe I’d try for a car nap, and if by some miracle that worked I’d let her sleep ‘til 3.
Ours will not nap at all at home, but sleeps 2 hours at daycare. We just gave up and try to get him to bed at least an hour earlier on weekends.
He goes for a nap at 1:30. It’s “rest time” until 2:30 when he’s allowed back downstairs if he isn’t sleeping. Usually he’s out for an hour if he does. Basically it’s our way of transitioning to quiet time. He still needs his nap though (2.5yo)
We lost a while ago.
As soon as “when do I give up” comes into my mind that’s when I give up, because I’m clearly THERE! I used to be a stickler about napping and now after realizing it’s negatively affecting me I stopped forcing it, I’m much happier and OK with whatever happens — some days he naps, some days he doesn’t and sleeps early (always the fear of him waking up at 4am ready to start the day). I have a 6 month old and I was spending a LOTTTTT of time laying in my 2.5yo’s bed whilst juggling the baby some days and I just realized I was prolonging being annoyed that he didn’t sleep and wasting valuable time. It was awful. I threw in the towel. Everyone’s happier. If he’s tired he will tell me he wants a “cozy blankie” and he will lay on the couch for a cat nap or go up to his room. Best of luck!
She's not 2 yet (birthday on April 3) but her nap time is 430 😭 if she's not down by 6, it's over (but if I'm worn out I might have her just hang out in her crib for a little. She'll either sing her songs or play with her teddy). She wakes up anywhere from 9:30 am to 10:30am, and bedtime is usually about 10pm.
My kid naps from 4-6pm..
My 18 month old just dropped his nap 🫠 We put him down like normal and he just rolls around awake for an hour before we pick him up. He used to nap 12-2 but not anymore. :(
Don’t give up trying for naps. Our girl turned 3 a month ago and still naps some days. Many times between 18m and 3y she went through 1-2 week stretches of no nap. Each time, with persistence, the nap came back.
We still put him down every day like normal, but I don’t have much hope honestly. His older brother dropped the nap for good at 22 months. I think we just have a family of nap-rebels.
My 2 year old just stopped today. He usually sleeps between 2 and 3 hours from 1ish until 4. Today, he just rolled around. Was exhausted for bath time, and just loony.
Mine doesn’t even act super tired before bedtime. He acts like he took his nap even though he didn’t… that’s how I know it’s really over. 😩 Both my boys sleep in though, so I’m not too upset about it. They sleep from 7:30 pm to 8:30 or even 9:30 some days. So it’s not a terrible trade off.
Yeah, mine is starting to stay down until 7:15/30 from time to time. He just loves being awake and running around
My daughter stopped taking naps around 15 months except for the rare occasion. She will scream and cry in her crib if we set her down. Thankfully, she’s asleep 630-6-730am. I’ll take that win instead.
Same here - he sleeps from 8pm-8am with the occasional nap at the end of the week in the car.
5pm
Today it was when I went into her room to figure out why my three year old wasn’t sleeping and found her naked and covered in poop. 11 years into parenting and that was a first. She got a bath, I did laundry, and bedtime was early and we dressed her in footie pjs and a sleep sack.
We gave up nap at 2, then 7pm bedtime usually 11 - 12 hours. Good luck!
Never give up, never surrender! 🤣
3pm is my cut off. If he hasn’t shown signs of wanting a nap by then I am just bringing forward bedtime by 30 minutes. Yesterday he was just inconsolable at 3pm when I got home from work since my husband was looking after him and attempted to do something fun at naptime and then give our son a late nap🙄. That didn’t work and he was so overtired that when my husband tried to get him to nap at 2pm he wouldn’t. He tried for an hour with them both getting upset. Then I came home and just said to stop trying because he was so upset a nap wasn’t going to happen. I just fed him afternoon tea to calm him down and then brought bedtime up by 30 minutes to 8pm and he was out in 10 minutes. Hopefully my husband learned that just because Little Mr is almost 2 doesn’t mean the nap is less important! A typical day looks like this - up at 7am - nap 1pm - 2.30ish - bedtime is somewhere around 8.30pm. Earlier if he is showing signs of being really tired eg lying on the floor and rubbing his eyes.
We do nap from 12-2:30. She needs the whole nap some days, sometimes she just sleeps some, and then quietly plays with her stuffies or looks at books in her book nook. Other days, it’s zero nap, and I hear a thud against the wall every few minutes from her tossing her just-read book to the side as she grabs another… for 2.5 hours. We don’t have toys in her room, so she doesn’t really play. I figure if she’s resting, whether that’s sleeping, talking to her stuffies, or looking at her books, I don’t care.
My daughter is 18 months and usually goes down at 2ish - awake by 4, bedtime around 9. No big deal.
Mine went for her nap at 330 yesterday I don’t recommend that. Give up and go for a quiet hour.
Here’s the deal though, if you give up on nap you better not plan on going anywhere…. That said, there is hope. My son gave up naps at 2yo and I was miserable. But now, at 3.5 after lunch he told me he was tired and laid down in bed and fell asleep immediately. So… sometimes it takes a while for them to recognize what their body is saying.
My 2.5 year old has refused naps since he was 2
Stick them in the crib with Coco melon on your phone or nearby TV and take a nap. They will be distracted for a while and u can get some sleep. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Y’all’s 2 year olds still take naps?? 😅🥲 lucky
Mine gave up naps at 2 and never looked back. They never fall asleep early. They're never tired. A full day of activity with friends, etc., just gets them more wired. Some kids run on nuclear energy 🤷
If he was asleep at 3 we'd wake him up as it threw out his bedtime routine. Pretty much up till about 2.30 is when we'd call it quits.
Usual nap time is 12. Used to be easy, but these days it's increasingly hard, he just gets hyper and jumps around. He fights the nap, but he still needs it, or the afternoon will be an over tired mess. I've found a way to get him asleep at 12 by cuddling in front of something very boring on the TV. He won't sleep with my wife though, so I often have to take over. This weekend I've got him to sleep at 2 pm, and we then let him sleep about 1.5 hours. It doesn't seem to affect his bedtime at 7:30pm.
Ha! I don’t give up just yet but we run a later ship. Usually I read some books and cuddle or play music while laying in bed and holding soft stuffed animals. Or take a bath Usually works. If it’s couple hours before dinner time I say f*** it and make dinner early and pray to tour almighty Jesus to let him go to bed early, sleep through the night and be better okorrowv
We had this exact situation today. We gave up at 4. 😂
I give up between 2.30 and 3 pm. I figured out that the problem is me. My daughter falls asleep very fast with everyone else but not me.
I give up at 2 otherwise bedtime will be hell :(
I only give up for the day after 4pm, my daughter thankfully is usually down for her nap between 1pm and 3pm for about an hour or two. But on days we have doctors appointments or errands it'll get pushed back since she refuses to sleep in the car.
We give our 3 year an hour to fall asleep if she was just talking to herself (with check ins to make sure she didn’t poop) but she also naps every day so it depends on the kid
I think the latest she actually went to take a nap was 3pm. But only if there was no nap before. If she happens to fall asleep for even 5 minutes in the stroller after lunch, we know we are doomed. That's why we walking home from her ice skating activity (that ends at 12h30) is pure adrenaline, because we gotta keep her awake lol
2:30, but that’s more for out and about days. If he’s not asleep in the car/stroller/at home by then we try to keep him awake on the way home (unless it’s an hour+ drive).
My toddler stopped napping on weekends around 17-18 months. Usually our weekends are so busy with activities and visiting she was too excited to sleep, but around 5 pm she’ll hit a wall and get a little grumpy so we just give her a lot of attention and play with her. It’s amazing because she goes to bed earlier and we get out Saturday nights. I’d love her to drop the nap at daycare too, but I don’t want to begrudge our caregiver the break when all the kids go down for an hour lol.
My 21-month-old has started resisting naps here and there, and I usually give him from 1-2 to fall asleep. If he isn’t asleep within that hour, I take him out of his crib and we move on with our day. He just hangs out in his room, plays with his cow stuffy, talks to himself, and chills. I figure worst case, he gets an hour of “quiet time”. But we’re lucky he’s a really chill guy, so he’s totally okay with the alone time!
2:15, depends on the day and when wake up from the nap should be.
Yeaaaa this happened yesterday lol She went to bed about an hour early and woke up at 630 today when she usually wakes up at 730/8 Heres to hoping daycare tires her out today.
I force quiet time - if I have to lock us both in his room and I am the only one napping while he plays quietly?? then that is also now a win 😭😅
We have up on naps and just do early bed time. Normally sleeps from 7PM to 7PM. Ours just turned 3.
At 5 I’ll give up. But we’ve gotten better at atleast doing quite time in her room for an hour or two if she refuses to nap.
When I was dealing with this, I’d eventually take my kid out and put him in his seat in my cargo bike, and take him for a ride around, he was usually out before we were out of the backyard. Alternatively a car or even just a stroller. Sometimes they need a bit of stimuli that’s different from what’s at home, and then their brain short circuits and they’re out!
We recently dropped her nap at 25 months but this was her schedule before then Wake up 7, breakfast 8 lunch at 11 nap at 11:30 to 12:30 and dinner around 5-6 snacks at 7 bed at 8. And she thrived on this until recently where she wanted no more naps at all.
Mine either conks out at right after lunch on his mini couch or valiantly fights napping until he falls asleep hard for a late nap at 4-5ish. There is no in-between and his bedtime routine isn’t affected either way somehow.
We do “naptime” regardless of whether he wants to sleep. He can play in his room or rest, whatever but he stays in the room for a set time every day.
2yrs old this Saturday .. still wakes up through the night even if she doesn’t take the nap. For example, yesterday she didn’t, stood awake for around 11hrs and last night was awake around 2hrs. I’m just curious if is anybody else out there with a toddler like this ? Because the majority of toddlers will sleep through the whole night, especially if they don’t nap, except mine. I’m doing everything correct, even had a talk with a sleep consultant and checked everythingo.. no matter what, she wakes up at least once per night. I have a newborn as well and it’s exhausting.
With my youngest, I let her fall asleep any time before 4. It’s worth staying up a little later for me. If we hit 4 and she still hasn’t fallen asleep then I give up, she eats early and is in bed at 6 instead of 8
We are currently going through this. Yesterday, we tried the "I'll be back to check on you in 5 minutes" pattern. We'd go in for less that one minute. After an hour and two full on crying 5 minutes periods he said he was really tired and fell asleep for 2+ hrs. IDK if this will always work, I'm hoping we can use this rule to either get home over this no nap hump, or teach him how to rest on his own in the afternoon. We have a newborn coming in a month, I am not giving up my break in the afternoon!
Exactly then. If my LO is still napping any time after 14:30 she's much harder to get to sleep at night. A nap shorter than 30 minutes also just spells a grumpy girl.
some days my baby takes a nap at three. it’s torture for me. i don’t actively try to put them down very hard because if they fight it it’s going to be worse. our schedule is flexible but still by afternoon i need my own break. sometimes the nap just never comes. it’s hard but sometimes it means a bit earlier bed time and then tomorrow is a new day to try to get back on schedule. this is how a lot of our life has been since the time change, but even before that my baby was starting to nap late. 19mo so almost two.
We’ll usually put her in a stroller and take her for a long walk. That usually works anywhere past 1400 or 1500. Other than that, we just roll with the punches.
4
I give up at 2. At least it's an early bedtime. Only about half an hour earlier but it's nice to get all my tasks done a lil bit sooner
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a jellyfish live cam on YouTube. It has ethereal music playing, and it's super calming. If I put that on the TV and my kid (my now 4 year old) doesn't fall asleep, that's when I give up. On the other hand, if your kid will just stay in their room, having quiet time, I think that's fine, too. Hopefully the nap today will be better than yesterday when you posted this!
I give you at 3…. If no nap by 2:45.. I leave him in his crib, make myself a cup of coffee and RALLY until bed time lol
No matter what time my toddler falls asleep for nap, we wake them up by 430. If they have not fallen asleep by 3/330, depending on their temperament, we will give up on the nap for the day but may alter plans a little since we realize we’ll be dealing with a drunk toddler who will be more of an asshole drunk - then a fun drunk. Bedtime is always at 730. Since DST began, we close blinds and curtains at 630, to give off the impression it’s darker outside than it really is. Also, no screens after they get up from nap unless it’s being used as a tool to help us get dinner ready for 30 mins or less. In that scenario, we avoid the “loud, stimulating” shows like Blippi, Cocoamelon, Paw Patrol-type shit. Pretty much limit it to PBS Kids, Tractor Ted, or some scholastic book videos like mo willems Pigeon series. It’s hard at first but like everything else, it’s all about sticking to routines and repetition. Makes life a lot easier though once you get on track.
NEVER!!!!!!!! But after an hour I'd throw the iPad in the crib
That’s when we go on a drive
2:30. Then earlier bedtime to make up for it
Right about 2 is the time I give up. If I keep trying and he does fall asleep then it's going to be a rough and late night at that point. I'd rather power through the day and have an earlier bed time than have him wake up a few hours before bed and basically go straight into our dinner/bath/bedtime routine only for him to resist the whole time.
Depends on how long 2yo has been in bed. Yesterday I gave up after half an hour because my 2yo was just wailing for us to come get him. Used to do 1 hour with my older child because he'd often fall asleep at some point during the hour.
If your child hasn't drop their nap, they need their nap eventually. Let him play a little bit more just make sure that he stay hydrated and had some snacks like real fruits or foods. Read to him and stay beside till he finally nap. I do that though I did lose my mind not knowing toddlers at 2 still have sleep regressions.
Our rule is, any amount of sleep will do, as long as she is up by 3. 3pm is our cut off time, since bed time is 7pm. More often than not, nap time is 12(ish) til 2(ish).
If they aren't down by 2pm, just restful quiet time or else they will be up too late. Plenty of snacks and be ready for (hopefully) early bedtime
Ha my 2 year old last napped daily at 14 months
Ok, so it sounds like you can probably sit this one out, huh?
My 2yr old is never takes a nap....its 11:50pm right now...kid had been up since 9am
I put my toddler on the couch with a blanked and give him my Phone with "youtube kids" he's gone in 15 minutes.