Well Aiden is turning 4 next week. He has become virtually impossible to get down for nap in the daytime now. BUT he seems far from ready to stop them because by 5pm he is grumpy, tired and impossible to control.

Would you just let him not have his nap and eventually his body will get used to it, or would you persist?

I got him down today after 2 hours of persistance. :rolleyes: yes you heard me 2 HOURS....:shuffle: (can you tell I really needed the time out of the kids sleeping :lol: )

What age do they not nap anymore??

He's lasted a lot longer then any of my kids did. There's no way that they napped at 4. Sam is trying to give up his nap now at 2.5yrs. He naps probably 4 or 5 days a week now. My kids stop napping by 3.

Does he still go to bed at a reasonable hour if he naps? That's the problem that we have, if they nap then they're up till midnight. Personally I'd rather forego the nap and deal with the 5pm grumpies (and early bedtime :aok: ) then have an hour's peace during the day but then paying for it when they're up all night.

I'd say stop fighting it and follow his cues. 4 is a reasonable age to give up naps.

Pretty much the same as Clare. Naps died down around 2 1/2. If Aubrey (just turned 3) takes a nap, she's awful to get to bed for the night.

Can you do any kind of quiet time, where he has to stay in his room quietly, but not necessarily sleep? He could play but just have some solo downtime.

I think they do adjust to not napping too. Aubrey used to have a hard time in the evenings behaviorwise but now she's tolerable until bedtime, and she's tired and goes to sleep easily at 7:30 ish.

Ellie stopped napping at about 2 1/2. I agree with some sort of quiet time. I usually let Ellie watch a few shows on TV. If she's tired enough, she'll fall asleep, but most times she doesn't.

ETA: If you have to fight him for 2 hours, I'd definitely say it's time to stop making him nap. Sorry! :blush1:

Alyssa at 4 years 5 months still naps for 2-3 hours a day. Now if she really is not tired at all I still insist on quiet time. Half that time she falls asleep and the other I don't hear a peep out of her for at least 2 hours. She will just lay in bed, sing or talk to her carebears in bed.

Tylor gave up his nap at 6 years 2 months (Just before all day kindergarden started for him) I am very lucky that my kids really love their nap and don't even remotly fight me on it.

Heck. Alyssa asks for her nap. (Kara has heard her :lol: ) Maybe it is time to just see if he wants quiet time instead of insisting he go to sleep. Give him a book and maybe a few toys and tell him as long as he stays in his room in his bed for x amount of time then he can get up. Use a timmer. Or alarm clock :dunno:

Aden will be 4 in June and probably gave up naps a few months ago, but we still make him go in his room and relax for at least an hour. We shut off the lights, pull the shades and turn on his music, just like he was going to take a nap, and then he just sits in there and looks at books and sometimes plays, too. It still gives me a little bit of time to myself and a sanity break, if needed ;)

I would also say if it takes 2 hrs, its time..
Austin and Josh both stopped around age 2 - 2 1/2.
As mentioned, I would rather deal with the grumpiness and get them to bed early and then have my time! LOL! It does get easier too as their body adjusts.

Macie is 4 years and 4 months and still naps for 1-2 hours (unless she is in a feisty mood). She gets very whinny and miseralbe when she doenst have her nap.

Matthew is 30 months old and still naps 2 hours as well. If he misses his nap he will crash before dinner and thats not a good plan.

It sounds like he's ready to stop napping :nod: I would make him lay down for about an hour, though, to make sure his body is resting and he gets some quiet time.

Aidan, who is 4, still naps every day, anywhere from 1-3 hrs. :heee: There was a period of time a few months ago when I thought he was giving up naps (he was hard to get down and when he did fall asleep, it was only for 30 mins), so I would allow him to lay on his bed and watch a movie or read books for an hour.

Naps are done. :nod: Two hours working on it is beyond sensible - I've heard that if they don't go down in thirty minutes, you should let them up. Caroline just gave up naps in January, a month past four. And it wasn't even over time, it was like flipping off a switch. But it made bedtime much easier!

Jackson is 3.5 and still naps for at least an hour every day, sometimes closer to 2 hrs. I'm starting to wonder if he might sleep better at night if we got rid of it, though. He always seems tired and I think he's just not getting restful sleep at night. As a result, he's a bear during the day and not only does he need to sleep but I need the break. :lol:

If you're fighting Aiden for 2 hours, I'd say just institute quiet time rather than trying to make him sleep. :nod:

Anna gave up her nap at about 3 years, 2 months. She was up until 10:00 at night, and bedtime was a nightmare. Now she doesn't nap, and is in be without a fight by 8:00. Much nicer, though the days can seem long. I tried just having her take a quiet time in her room, but she always fell asleep. Even 30 minutes would result in a struggle at bedtime. I took ME about a week to get used to it, but I prefer having my evenings back over an hour in the afternoon. :nod:

Elias is still too small but in the daycare he goes to they don't give up naps, all the children have at least one hour nap a day while they are there (until they're 6)

Elias is one and he has two two-hour naps a day and he goes to sleep before 8pm.

Elias is still too small but in the daycare he goes to they don't give up naps, all the children have at least one hour nap a day while they are there (until they're 6)



That annoys me. Our daycare knew that Harry didn't nap and we told them every single time we dropped him off not to let him nap but they would still put him down. So daycare days were a nightmare b/c he'd be up till midnight b/c of the nap :tearhair: He stopped going in Dec though, so we don't need to deal with that anymore.

You see wether he naps or not bed time is 7:30pm. He happily goes to bed at night time. So that isn't an issue. He doesn't always fall straight asleep at 7:30pm but he stays in his bed reading a book or playing with his animals and he is guaranteed asleep by 8:30.. the latest 9pm.. so I don't really need to judge it on that.

I know fighting it for 2 hours is beyond sensible, but I just truly hate his grumpiness at the worst time possible, when I am trying to prepare dinner, feed jacob, do the baths etc, he makes my life hell for those 2 hours with out a nap and it is miserable!..

BUT I agree that he is outgrowing his naps.

There is the other delicate situation of the fact that he shares a room with Riley. How do I explain to a 2yr old that he has to nap but Aiden doesn't. He does get the concept that Aiden is older but I can really see it disrupting Riley's naps if Aiden doesn't go for one too.

Any suggestions?

Ooh, that's tricky. And one of the many reasons I'm holding off on putting my boys together in the same room (the biggest still being that I'd like if Gav stayed corralled in his crib until he's 18 :lol: ).

What if you do the quiet time and say that he has to stay in there and be quiet (so his brother can sleep) for a certain amount of time. Once his brother is asleep and you feel like he's probably not going to sleep, he can come out of the room but still has to have some quiet time (so you get a break ;)). Would that work?

hmmm Maybe. I can always give it a go right!! :awink: Okay well I might try that one for todays nap and see how it pans out!

AND TRUST ME! if it wasn't for suprise baby #3 they would NOT be in the same room :lol: talk about outgrowing our house faster than we bought it :rolleyes:

You won't believe this but I decided to try the "Aiden resting, Riley napping" scenerio.

I thought about it and realised it would not work with them in the same room, so I put Riley in my bed and Aiden in his own. I told Aiden that he didn't have to nap but he can just rest on his bed while he reads a book.

Riley went to sleep within 10 minutes, and Aiden was reading quietly. I got up about 30 minutes later to check on them and Aiden was sound asleep :rolleyes:

I will do this from now on and see what happens, I hope it will be like this everyday, but I highly doubt it.

I will do this from now on and see what happens, I hope it will be like this everyday, but I highly doubt it.

You're in denial, Deb :lol: They have to stop napping eventually :lol:

:lol2: Denial is a lovely place to live! :nod:

:lol:

:lol2: Denial is a lovely place to live! :nod:
That is the truth! :lol:

I hope it all works out for you, Deb! :crossfing

That's great, Deb!! Let's hope he continues to do that for you :crossfing