naptime: what's a good age for toddlers to stop taking naps ?

I think all kids are different and from the sound of it your daughter is telling you she doesn't need the nap! Maybe if you cut the naps out and tried putting her to bed a bit earlier it may all work out - although she may get cranky without a nap at first! My two were very different my eldest would still take a nap now if he could and he is 15 - after my daughter turned one it would have taken a sledgehammer to make her nap! lol xxx

i am a night person and, sadly, my son kinda got that habit, too, so he was not into mid-day napping, we sleep late and wake up late so there's no need to do so. he would take a nap occasionally but that's it, but when he started preschool, it all changed - he wakes up at around 6am so after lunch he's really sleepy and nods off by himself. so, i guess, it all depends on the child, when they need some rest, they will make a way.

My son stopped taking naps at around age 3. My daughter is 18 months old and she still takes naps most days. I have noticed lately though, if she takes a long nap she has trouble going to sleep at night.

Let's see...I am 37 and I still would like a nap. Right now sounds good. :) Each child is different. There is not an age. It really depends on the quality of sleep they get at night. Some of my kids never took a nap as a toddler and others took naps until they were 5. One thing you might do is limit her nap time to 1 hours as opposed to 2. See how she responds to less sleep in the day rather than just cutting the nap altogether. Once you do that try getting her to bed earlier so here sleep become more regular. Another thing that may be affecting her is the amount of sugar she has 3 hours before bed. I found that if my kids get a sweet snack before bed they have a hard time getting to sleep. I hope this helps.

I think you should leave it up to your child if they want to take a nap or not. If it makes them less cranky to take a nap then let them. But don't force them to take one just to take one.

i think it should be around 5 -6 years old as they from older .

There is really no one answer to this question. I never forced my kids to take naps. But every day after lunch there was "quiet time" They would be put into their room and most of the time they took a little nap right up to the time they went to school full days. Some days they would just play in their bed for an hour or so and then we did other activities. One of my kids learned to read when he was 4 years old. We also took lots of walk, taking the stroller along in case someone would get tired. Usually it was I, ha ha. Please don't force your daughter to stay in bed for 2 and 1/2 hours in the afternoon and at that age she should not be up until 11 at night. You need some time for yourself too.

Hi, My little girl is 2 and a half and hasnt had a day nap for ages now and i manage to get her to bed around 8pm with her saying 'nigh-nigh's' to everyone so she is willing to go and is asleep within 15 minutes.On a Thursday though,she goes to a babysitter who insists on naps so i have a hard time that night to get her to sleep.She ends up staying up with us till about 9:30 when we go to bed.At that age,i feel that they will just lay down themselves if they are tired during the day.My daughter has a sheepskin and pillow that she will just lay on if she needs a rest. Hope you have success with your little one soon.It must be getting frustrating.

It does sound like your daughter is ready to give up her nap. In fact, both my kids pretty much showed the same kind of signs before they both gave up their naps. When it begins to take much more work to put her down for a nap or for bed time, then it's time to move her out of nap time. She may need a bit of transition in order to do that. I used to have some quiet time with both my kids when they were toddlers in the late afternoon. I would put on a low-key video and have a little snack for them. There were times when they actually ended up falling asleep, but usually it would be only for twenty minutes or so. It would take the edge off the crankiness, but it didn't spoil the bed time routine.

My granddaughter is three and she hasn't taken a nap for a while with the exception if they put her in a car she drops right off! Then she wakes very crabby......but for the most part she doesn't nap anymore.

Each child is different. They naturally start to phase out their own naps. My daughter started to phase them out around 2 1/2. Then she started pre-school. Sometimes depending on how tired she was, she would still take them. Around a year later, she stopped all together.

All my sister's children are in bed by eight and can nap anytime they want unless there's something for them to do. Children need regular hours and also need to rest when needed. Nothing wrong with napping unless you have a duty to perform.

My kids are 3 and 5 (and a 3month old baby). The two boys still naps up to now. It is 3:30 in the afternoon here and they just woke up from a nap.

i really don't know what would be the exact time to cut down their naps. my 3 year old daughter still take naps & i never thought about not letting her do. being the first child its hard for me to decide what is good or bad for her. but thanx for popping this question in my head.

I am pretty sure when my son was 2 he was still taking naps at least a few times a week. If he needed a nap, I would let him take one, but I would never force it on him. My nephew is 4 and he naps all the time. Even if she doesn't nap, you shoudl try to give her some quite activity to do in the afternoons to wind down a bit because most little kids at least get tired.

I would live it up to child. If she is tired and wants to take a nap, let her do it. If she doesn't want to take a nap, than she will fall asleep at night at 8 or 9 PM.

If I remember corrrectly it was the age of 3 than they started pre school

I never really forced my kids to take naps. They did, but I didn't really try very hard to make them do it. Both my girls stopped napping around 2 years old. My middle one is 3 and she doesn't nap any more but sometimes I think she still needs it. I would say try cutting the nap and see what happens. My girls were really cranky and would fall asleep around supper time when they first stopped napping, but once they adjusted they did better. And then they were ready for bed and fell asleep quickly at 8.

my son stopped taking naps at 2....

It depends on child. Some children need and take long naps. Other children fnd it difficult to nap. Three years of age is a reasonable time to stop naps, but if the child is not in preschool and still enjoys taking naps then I don't see any harm in letting them continue. By 4 years old children should be able to go without naps.