Nap Transitions: From 1 to 0 Naps

Описание: When does my toddler drop his nap? Should my 2 year old still be having a nap? Should my 3 year old still be having? My toddler needs a nap but it's then impacting bedtime? If these are questions you are asking yourself, watch my video to find out more.

Dropping all day naps typically occurs from about 2 and a half but some children drop all their naps as early as 2 or continue until almost 4 years old.

Again, the only reason to encourage your little one to drop their post-lunch nap is if it’s impacting bedtime. If they are refusing to go to bed at bedtime or they are chatting in bed for over an hour, then it might be time to reduce or remove day naps.

If your little one is still having 1.5-2 hours nap time, firstly reduce their nap to 45 minutes. It might just be the nap is currently too long and waking them after one sleep cycle will put bedtime back on track.

If they are already only having 45 minutes, then I advise dropping it altogether rather than reducing it. You would be breaking a sleep cycle and that can be more disruptive. In the early days of no naps, you might find that you need to bring their bedtime forward by about 30-45 minutes to make sure they aren’t overtired. Bring dinner forward too if possible to allow for proper digestion.

There will be days in this transition period when they just need a day nap. That’s ok - they likely have a higher sleep need that day and it won’t impact bedtime. I’d still wake them after 45 minutes. When my eldest son dropped his day naps he sometimes needed a bit of a ‘reset’ day every 4-5 days. He would start to get grumpy and a bit naughty and a wee 45 minute nap refreshed him to go again. It also gave his Mum and Dad a wee rest too!