Help! 2 Year Old Dropping Naps??

LOL - ah yes!! The dreaded nap-drop! It could be a stage she's going through...could it possibly be her 2 year molars coming in and giving her problems to make her cranky?

Hope it's the molars - those naps can be a saving grace!!
J.

She still needs her naps. Her naps stopped probably because you skipped a day or something and she is not able to fall asleep.

I would be consistent with the nap time put her down for her nap. She is not going to like it ...at least at first. She might scream and complain. Be strong.

In the end if your consistent with the naps you will have your sweet girl in no time.

Good luck. Trust me this will work. Denise

We are in the same boat. My daughter has cut her naptime in half. And she stopped listening to me. She gets into mischief, and has horrible screaming fits when she doesnt get her way.

We had been giving her 2 minutes in the timeout chair. If I ask her if she wants a time out. She replies, YEP. And runs to sit in the time out chair. Not very effective. lol

She is still my sweet little baby girl most of the time. But, its amazing how quickly she can become a terror. lol

We have added a minute to her time out time. Now she must sit there for 3 minutes. 2 minutes was just not enough time to be punishment. By 3 minutes she is dying to get off the chair, and doesnt want to go back.

So, its been working to give her a warning, if she continues her behavior she will end up back in the chair. Most times, she will stop the screaming, hitting, biting or whatever.

And, I have been much more consistent. Every time she screams or throws a fit, or hits, or bites. She gets a warning, and then a time out, if she doesnt stop. And it seems to be working.

As far as the naps go we are down to about one hour a day. And by 7:00 she is miserable.
Welcome to toddler-hood. lol Best of luck to you!

i would say she is starting to try and gain independence. but at that age, she probaly needs the nap. if you cannot get her to take a nap, instead develop a quiet time where she either lays on her bed, or goes to her room and looks at books for at least 45 mins. if you are consistent, there is a good chance she will fall asleep, but by not demanding that she sleep, she still feels independent. you must be consistent though.
as for the time out, at 2 is when you just start, and by 2 1/2 she should have an understanding. before 2, the cause and effect is still not fully understood, so the message is not being learned. her actions are normal, but are much worse because of the lack of nap. either she will start naps again as it may just be a phase or molars or overstimulation, OR she is giving up naps at a very early age but is in the transition stage(which is the worst) where for a few weeks she will be difficult at night, but eventually adjust. thats what my daughter did when she gave up her nap, she was horrible for a month or two, then fine.
no offense to the other poster, but todays pediatricians would highly advise against time outs at 9 months old. there is no understanding of consequences at all. the poop probaly started out as natural experimentation and "fun", then once the child saw attention, positive or negative, he did it to get the attention(bad attention is better than no attention). and as for the biting, to threaten a child with violence exaggerates the problems, i cant imagine any pediatrician advising, let alone saying it themselves. my niece when 3 was bit 2 times at her daycare by the same child. when the father happened to be there at the same time, and was told about hte biting, he said" oh yeah, how does this feel, and bit the 3 year old". needless to say, everyone was taken back but as the same time, we then all understood why that child bit in the first place.
stick with the time out but make sure you give one warning, then if it continues put her in time out. dont allow her to get up, dont talk to her. after one minute(one min for each year), go back to explain why you put her in, and ask her to say sorry. then say i love you and hug. there is a good chance sometimes she might even like to be there, or think its fun, but as time goes on, 90% of the time, she will view it negatively. just be consistent. once she is 2 1/2, they can understand much more. good luck, we have all gone thru this testing phase!

Hi I feel your pain.My almost 2 year old has dropped her nap also.I hear its normal but very painful for us moms.I cant get anything done till early evening then I am exhausted.Dinner time is awful.I am with you all the way.K.

My 3 year old daughter still needs naps. I've noticed if she doesn't get a 2 hour nap, then she's the crabbiest person in the world. Yesterday, she didn't get one because my mom was watching her (and she's never consistent with her!), and she was not playing nice, throwing things, crying, yelling. Why can't kids just fall asleep or tell me that they're tired?! :)
Her pediatrician still recommended naps at age 3.

So, every day after lunch - if she doesn't want a "nap" - fine. She still needs to go to her room for "quiet time." Most of the time, she'll fall asleep - she just doesn't want to be told that she needs to go to bed. :) Otherwise, she'll play in her room quietly and after an hour or so, if she's still awake, she can come back downstairs.

Remember, you're the parent and the boss - kids need a lot of sleep and you need to guide that process...

My son stopped napping altogether when he was about your daughter's age. She is also at that age where she is discovering her independence! Sometimes spending quality time with her and showering your toddler with praise and attention for the good behavior, and and completely ignoring the bad behavior works. It is not easy, but it is often effective. For instance, my son went through a really whiny phase around 2. My husband and I pretended like we did not understand him at all and either ignored him or said I don't understand until he would speak in a regular, non-whiny voice. The whiny phase lasted less than a week and he has never whined since (that was 3-1/2 years ago)!

Try to consistently put her down at normal time every day for a couple of weeks to see if she gets back in the nap routine. 18 months is a bit early. My daughter did drop her nap at a bit over two and I could not get the nap back. My twins, though, tried to drop their naps at about that age and I managed to get them back into the routine until recently and they are now turning three. Good luck!

Hi A.,
Every moms dread. Very normal. Every child is different when they drop the nap. My Melanie dropped it at about 18 months. Napped at the end of the week only. Thurs. or Fri. To cure the crab, I made sure that she still had the quiet time listened to soft music, looking at books or pictures, sometimes educational TV. She sat and relaxed maybe a snack. The terrible twos is their test the parent time to see what thier limits are. I felt like all I was saying was no all the time didn't even get the chance to tell her why it is a no. I like to explain why she can't do something. Melanie is 4 now and doing well, she knows mostly what she cannot do now and is sensitive now when told no, especially by someone that is not mom or dad.

Mom of 5

I went through that about two weeks before my daughter turned two, (she is now going to be 3 in October). I shortly realised, you can't make a kid nap if they don't want to, but you can offer enough down time to make it last throughout the day. Quiet relaxing activities during teh time she would normally nap work great. For quite a while she was adjusting to no nap so in the afternoon we would either read for about and hour or put in a movie to watch together and that was relaxing enough for her to be refreshed until bedtime. I try to limit TV time, but the bonus with TV as opposed to the reading is that she would fall asleep about 50% of the time.

My daughter is two and is definitely a crabby toddler when she doesn't get her nap. At first I thought she was ready to drop it, but then I realized that she was cranky and misbehaving since she was so tired. So I've been very insistent that she still take her naps, and once she falls asleep she'll still sleep for 2 hours. Even if she's not asleep, she has to stay in her room for quiet time, during which she usually falls asleep anyway. Good luck.

My son gave up his nap, at home, just after he turned two. He would sleep at daycare because there was so much going on. I couldn't get him to sleep on the weekends. I think this was partially because he got to sleep in later on the weekends versus getting up at 6:30 to go to daycare. If you are unsuccessful with naps, you can try this. For my son's rest time, I let him watch a movie. That way, he gets his down time, and comes back more energized. My son is also a solid sleeper at night and will sleep 12-15 hours each night. He gets all his sleep he needs at that time.

I swore with my second child, that I'd want him taking naps until he is three. But, even at 5 months, there are days that he is awake all day long. My mom said that I was the same way when I was little. Some kids just have a lot of energy. Don't we just wish we could bottle up all their energy for ourselves?

A.,
Welcome to the Terrible Two's. Stand your ground, Time Outs will work eventually, she is just pushing your buttons, most kids do starting about now. Mine painted his walls with his poop when he was 9 months old and all because I followed the pediatrician's advice and put him on Time Out in his crib. He took his diaper off, painted the window, track and all, walls, crib, and himself with it. I was so upset I called my pediatrician, who stopped over just to see for herself. Another time, when he was 2, we were in her office and he was being fresh, he told her he would bite me if I didn't give him what he wanted, she told him if he bit me she would hit him so he bit me on the inside of my thigh and let me tell you he wouldn't let go and I was bleeding so bad. She had to pry his jaw open and then get one of the other doctors to help stop my bleeding. He did tons of other things as well, but now 19 years later he is a wonderful 21 year old man who will be graduating from the University of Hartford with his bachelors in Business Administration in the spring with Honors I might add and he has the most wonderful girlfriend in the world. I now look forward to grandchildren who will do to him what he did to us. LOL So just be consistent with your daughter and she will be fine. Let me know if I can be of any other help.
Hugs,
T.

Hi A.,
Both my kids stopped taking naps at around age 2. And yes my sweet little boy turned in to the terrible two's around the same time. I used to put a gate in his door way and make him say in his room for "nap" time anyway. Needless to say it is a phase and you will make it thru. My son is now 13.