Need Help - DD suddenly stopped napping

DD2 has never been a great napper, she appears to just not need as much sleep as her sister. She used to nap only 1.5 hrs and over the past few months has dropped to 40 minutes to 60 minutes. Some times she would talk for a while and I would have to go in and repeatedly tell her to fall alseep, and usually she would. a few times over the past few months she never fell alseep and I just got her without a nap (for fear of waking her sister up)

Saturday: she won't sleep and I"m so frustrated and end up going in and turning the light on and giving her books and telling her if she won't sleep, that's fine, but she's going to stay in this crib and rest until I come back and get her when "rest time" is over. So she reads, talks, calls for me, and then falls out of her crib hitting her head on the way to the floor. (first time she's ever attempted to get out of a crib)

Sunday: As it turns out yesterday was her brothers baptism and neither girl got a nap and only went to bed 15 mintues earlier than usual, and only slept 30 minutes longer than usual the next morning

Monday: so today, i put her down like usual, and I try leaving the door open so their is some light, she protests but is quiet for a few minutes before she starts calling for me. So i try to give her my tap light and tell her she can sleep with that if she puts her head down and closes her eyes. but it doesnt' work and she calls for me a few minutes later....

which brings us to right now: i put her in the corner of the couch with books and told her if she wasn't going to sleep she would have to sit on the couch and not talk until i said rest time is over...

What am I going to do? she's not even three yet, she can't give up naps yet, I need that time to relax, deal with the baby, eat something, etc.

Any suggestions, or tell me the story of how your LO stopped napping and what you did to fill the time in the afternoon to replace the nap time...

 

I'm so sorry you're going through this! My guys both dropped naps right before their third birthday. I did EVERYTHING I could think of because I was just certain they still needed naps. Nothing I did worked Good news was that after they adjusted to not having naps, they went back to sleeping 12 hours at night. For awhile, to save my sanity, I would put them in the truck and just drive around so they at least got a cat-nap and it gave me some much needed quiet time. I spoke with their doctor and she said it is perfectly normal for kids to drop their nap anywhere between 2-5 years old! Glad they napped as long as they did! I can't imagine if they'd dropped it closer to two!! Good luck and I hope she starts napping again for you

 

I just put my kids in their room and close the door either way. Sometimes they won't nap for 3 days but will nap the 4th day.

 

We lost naps on the weekends (they are at daycare during the week and usually take a short nap) around 26 or 27 months. We tried everything and never got them back.

 

We lost naps the four days a week that they are home. I got tired of battling them. I also would drive around to get a break after lunch when they were really driving me nuts.

They go to bed at 6 on the nights they do not nap so we have down time in the evening. That being said we only have the twins so scheduling is a bit easier. They sleep 12-13 hours a night when they don't take a nap. On the three days I work and they go to "school" where they will nap they have a later bedtime.

I make them have quiet time after lunch. They get to drink milk and look at books. Sometimes I read to them for awhile.

 

My DD doesn't usually sleep during her nap time, but I still give them a nap time. She can read books and play with her stuffed animals on her bed and have a quiet time, but she has to stay in her bed. I wish she would just sleep because she struggles some in the evening. However, a really wise OT once told me that there are two major things you can't force your kids to do : eat and sleep. You can/should provide the opportunity, but it's up to them to take it. I think we will have quiet time for quite a while longer because if nothing else... I need it

 

Just keep trying. You need that time and she needs that quiet time, as well.

 

Ditto here. One DD naps one does not. Usually once or twice a week she will sleep. You might have to do a CIO to make sure she understand it's rest time. I put my girls down and whisper "rest time, no talk" Of course she sings and talks the entire hour but I can really see a difference in her attitude from when she gets rest time and when we are out and about and don't give her the quiet time.