Signs that your child is weaning from daily naps; he needs a nap on some days, but just a rest period on other days:
- Usually has a consistent personality from morning until bedtime
- On very active days tends to become fussy in the evening
- Is generally in good spirits, but can be grumpy or whiny on busy days or when his routine is upset by visitors, play dates or errands
- When put in a dark, quiet room for a nap your child lies in bed a long time before falling asleep
- Seems alright missing one day’s nap, but after a few days of missed naps starts to become whiny or cranky
- Usually goes to bed at a reasonable time and sleeps well all night long
Signs that your child no longer needs a daily nap, but still might benefit from a daily quiet rest break:
- Has a consistent personality from morning until bedtime, even on busy days
- Is generally in good spirits, with normal ups and downs throughout the day
- Learns new things easily and has an appropriate attention span for his age
- Goes to bed at a reasonable time and sleeps well all night long
- When she is put in bed for a nap, she rarely falls asleep
- On the days when he naps, takes a long time to fall asleep that night, or goes to bed much later than usual
- Is typically healthy and doesn’t suffer from many colds or other ailments
- Generally wakes up on her own and in a pleasant mood
Handling the transition from nap to no nap
Children aren’t good nappers one day and suddenly non-nappers the next. There will likely be a transition period of several months (even as much as half a year) when your child clearly needs a nap some days, but is fine without one on others. You have a number of options during this transition time which are explained in the next chapter.
NOTE: This article is copyrighted and taken from The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime Problems by Elizabeth Pantley.
Elizabeth Pantley is a mother of four, grandmother, and author of the bestselling book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution, plus 8 other books in the No-Cry Solution Series which helps Mums and Dads through all key stages of parenting. Visit her at nocrysolution.com.
My very active, strong willed 2year old took at least an hour to get down for a nap (around 11:30/noon and would have 1/2hr nap) and then in the evenings would take sometimes 2 hours to fall asleep at bed, around 10ish… he typically wakes up naturally between 8:30 and 9:30am. When he didn’t nap he was tired in evening but if we got him down by 7:30 he would immediately fall asleep and still sleep to 8:30/9:30am. I felt like either way he was getting his hours but the later was waaay less struggle. I disliked creating issues/struggle around sleep.. Is it so important to have a mid day nap or does the priority lie in getting in the needed hours of sleep? This has been a new experience for me as my first kid took effortless naps thru age three. Thank you in advanced! I love and gain so much support and wisdom from reading The Natural Parenting Magazine!