When Your Toddler Won’t Nap
So, you have a toddler who won’t nap anymore, BUT, they are also a level-5 disaster by dinner time. Sound familiar?
This can be one of the hardest transitions in the first few years of parenthood because it is largely a battle of wills. We want them to nap. They seem to NEED to nap. But they will do anything to avoid the nap. What do you do?
You should know that MOST children will continue to nap until they are around at least 2.5 years old. Many will even continue to nap until age 4-5. However, it is not completely unheard of for low-sleep needs littles ones to stop napping around or before age 2.
It is important to think about your child’s sleep needs per 24 hours so that they can adjust to make up for the long lost nap. Most children will need bedtime to be brought up much earlier when they are no longer napping (which can be super nice for parents)!
But what happens if you feel your child really still needs the nap?
Consolidate: You may actually need to consolidate their nighttime sleep to make the nap happen. This usually happens by waking them up a bit earlier in the morning so that you have more time to build sleep pressure by the afternoon. It might also mean a bit later of a bedtime.
More sleep support: You may need to support your child to sleep more than you used to, or in a different way. Car naps are usually a great way to sneak it in. Keep in mind- this may make bedtime later than you’d like, so be sure they don’t sleep too late or for too long!
Quiet time: You can set up “quiet time” in place of a nap so that your child can still have some time to rest and recharge- and so do you! They might actually fall asleep sometimes, too.
So, how can you cope with no naps?
Avoid screens- Instead play, art, or read books. Screen time might seem like a good way to get a break, and maybe it is, but it can actually overstimulate and make those late afternoon meltdowns worse.
Do something else during normal nap times- During the usual meltdown/nap time, try getting outside, having a snack, or cuddling together with some books vs. scheduling appointments, activities, etc. during that time.
What works for every toddler is different, but, finding what works for your child can help make the transition to no naps a bit more smoothly!
For more tips on this, grab my FREE Nap Transition Guide for Birth to Age 4
Also be sure to check out my Blog Post on Introducing Quiet Time!
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