Hi
i have a 3 year old ds who is getting ready to turn 4 in sept. The last 2 days or so...I am fighting him to take a nap. I am constanly nagging(yelling) to go to sleep or stay in his room. If he does sleep he is sleeping only about 1 hour or 1 1/2 hours.

Then when we put him down to bed he will generally fall asleep around 9:30 and that is us putting him to bed at 8:30.

I also know that if he misses a couple of days worth of naps he will just fall asleep on his own somewhere in the house because it catches up to him.

Part of me thinks he is not ready to give up a nap, not sure I am ready for him to give up nap.

how do i know when? What should i do?

My kids all gave them up between 2 and 3. They just did not want to sleep anymore and would not go to bed at night if they napped in the day. I think I would try your son without a nap.

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~Happiness is a large family~

maybe try a set nap time 2-3 times a week, say mon wed fri
that way, he gets a bit caught up, and you can say today is tuesday, you get quiet time today, but tomorrow is wed and that is nap day

it is a struggle, my dd is 4 and still I like her to take a nap a couple days a week

I also understand then the frusteration of them when they do take a nap, not going to bed as early. I give dd 15 minutes after I put her to bed to "play" then I turn lights out, she thinks she is getting extra....lol

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well my kids all stopped naps at around 2 years old my youngest dd only takes a nap a couple times a week and she will be 2 at the end of september.

when my kids seemed crabby because they were tired i instituted quiet time wich meant on the couch with a pillow and blanket and i would put on a kids cartoon or movie they had to just be still and rest for one hour. if they were really tired they would fall asleep if not when the hour was up they were done resting. that worked the best no fighting becuase i said nap.

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fALL SEVEN TIMES STAND UP EIGHT!

Ds gave up his nap at around 2.5, I fought it until around when he turned 3. I 'knew' when: He started waking up crying; Fought going down and wouldn't fall asleep for about 30 mins., would only sleep like you said and hour/hour and a half, and would wake up cranky and miserable. Also he wouldn't fall asleep until 10:00 pm. It was torture for ME but it was the best thing for him to give up his nap. Besides, no nap means early bedtime!! What a concept!! Personally I think he (your ds) did Great because he is almost 4!! Although I know some moms that their kids will be 4 and their moms are fighting tooth and nail not for their kids to give up their naps. Heck I know some kids that were in K and still took a nap! Now to me that is pushing it unless they really need it. And not really need it because they stay up until 10 pm either!

I am having a similar problem with my 28 month old. He seems way too young to give up naps and has never been a good sleeper anyway, so it's so hard for me to tell. He does get sleepy during the day (about 1:30) and will sleep three hours if I let him, of course I don't! But when we put him to bed at 9:30 he won't sleep until about 10:30 or 11:00, sometimes waking for the day at 6:00. If I don't make him nap he's cranky then falls asleep at 7:00 and wakes for the day at 4:00. It's very frustrating and like you, I am just not sure I'm ready for him to give up his naps but the super late bedtime definitely isn't working for us. I am going to try reducing his nap time from two hours to one and see if that works before giving up on naptime entirely. If that doesn't work we're going to bite the bullet and try eliminating naps a few days a week like some of the other ladies suggested.

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My youngest just turned 3 this month and we have been dealing with this all summer. If he naps, he won't go to bed until 9:30 or 10 at night. However, he can't make it more than 2 days in a row without a nap. It is such a pain. He will fall asleep on the sofa (or the car, or the floor, or wherever he happens to be ) and when I go to wake him up after an hour or an hour and a half he will just be in a foul mood. I have been letting him have quiet time on the loveseat in my room after lunch - he watches a couple of shows and relaxes - and then every third day or so he will nap for a couple of hours (and stay up late that night). I guess it just takes a while for some kids to adjust. He starts preschool next week 3 mornings a week and I know he will be exhausted on those days. Last year it was all I could do to keep him awake on the 5 minute drive home on school days! I will probably just try to let him take a short nap on those days and stay up on the others until he can phase it out completely.

This is my kids as well - 2 seems to be the magic age for naps ending - and exactly how we handle it once naps have stopped. And if we find one of them asleep on their own, we try to make sure they only sleep for an hour or less or else they will be up all night.