Why is it, That When Your Child Misses A Nap, They Don't Sleep Well At Night?

I too, like the other posters do believe that your child is trying to stay up all night when missing a nap because of being too tired. I decided to look into this and found an aritcle at the www.parenting.com site. The article is titled A Wide-Eyed Guide to Naps (in case you are interested in looking at it). But it also states in there that if a child who is still taking naps daily misses one that the child may experience an overtired meltdown in the evening. I wish you the best of luck with your daughter. Thanks for the discussion posting.

Honestly, I never gave my 5 children a nap time. If they took one it was because their body told them too. Even at pre-school, they didn't take naps,they'd lay on the mat and entertain themselves and wait for the others to get up. I'm just a firm believer that a child shouldn't take a nap unless tired. No one makes you take a nap, but if you feel tired you take one. But that's just me. If want them to sleep well, just keep them active throughout the day, and trust me they'll sleep very well at night.

My kids are the opposite. When they don't nap, they sleep earlier and longer. Which I prefer sometimes. That's odd though for me, never experienced that.

My daughter is 3 and when she misses her nap...around 4:00 she almost becomes unbearable. She is either whining and crying or she just can't stop talking and gets louder and louder. I don't know which is worse. But if she doesn't take the nap, it takes forever to get her to go to sleep at night. She fights it hard. I used to never take naps because they just made me feel bad when I got up, but since I'm not working right now, a lot of times I'll lie down with Anna Carol and fall asleep for about an hour. I wake up feeling better and it really doesn't affect my sleeping at night.