My 2 Year Old Wont Nap!!!

My older daughter didn't want to stop playing to nap either. After nearly pulling my hair out, I let her pick a few books and a doll and told her she had to stay on her bed quietly looking at her books until I came to get her so her sister could nap. A lot of times she did fall asleep but not always.

All I did with my 2 year old and toddler bed... was tell him he needed to sleep and lay down at various times during the day (which weren't naptime) the night before, the morning off during lunch etc... gave him a waring in 5 minutes we are going to take a nap etc...

I only went back to the room once.. and that's it...

I don't recommend going in several times... go in once after you've already laid him down...

Then if he's still awake around the time he usually gets up let him out...

Is he new to his toddler bed... It may take a little while for him to get used to...

I would also talk to him in the morning about your activities for the day... One of them will be nap... so then tell him how when it's naptime he is going to lay down and rest... If he wants to be strong like daddy, then he needs to rest... explain to him in toddler words why he needs to sleep and how you will lay him down and will not go in again... He can only get up to go potty... etc...

You may have already tried this...

I feel your pain. My daughter is 24 months and she is already starting to fight the naps. Some days she takes them but it seems like more often than not she doesn't. We put her to bed early, usually starting bath around 6, and she'll sleep to 7 or 8 the next morning. When she gets a good nap, we put her down a little later. Honestly, I'd prefer that she napped and went to bed a little later, but since I can't force it . . . . Anyway, you aren't alone, but if you find that magic "nap" pill, let us know!! I would recommend "quiet" time, I do try to do that with my 2 year old, and I did it with my oldest until she started kindergarten and it is a wonderful thing - I just had her play in her room quietly for about 45 minutes or an hour.

is his room dark? my girls wouldn't nap either, so i place a blanket over the window to make the room dark. it helps!

I would set up a routine- stay consistent. Perhaps put on some very soft music, give him a book (one he cannot rip the pages out of), set a timer for 30 minutes to an hour, tell him he can read his book, but he has to stay in bed and "resting" until the timer goes off.

That way if he goes to sleep then he does, if not then at least he has rested.

On the days he does not take a nap then you may just have to put him to bed a little earlier. just be careful because it can become a battle of the wills. Just make it rest time, and you rest too.

You are not alone... my 2 year old (31 months) is doing the same thing. He stays home all day with daddy... I don't mind him not having his nap if he gets up late, however, he's been falling asleep around 5:30-6:30 PM and most of the time sleep all night long getting up shortly but falling right back to sleep until I wake up around 7 or before then. I don't mind that at all, as long as I get a good night's sleep.
If my son doesn't get his nap, I try to keep him up as long as possible at night.
Good Luck, you aren't alone...

My oldest quit taking naps at about that age. BOO!! She is 6 now and VERY active. She's just a person that does not require a lot of sleep. I still made her have a "quiet time". As far as him being fussy goes, it's kind of like when they are little bitty and they drop a nap. It just takes a while to adjust, and some days he probably still will nap for awhile longer. Don't stress out about it too bad. It's just part of them growing up :( Also, maybe try putting him down for the night earlier (like 6) on the days he doesn't nap. Good luck!

my 21 mo id doing the same thing and i have not figure3d out what works best for her but with my other 3 kids i made sure that they played hard in the morning ate lunch between 1130 and 12 and were layed down by 1200 1230 and i just let them be untill 230 300 that seemed to work sure sometimes they played but they never really seemd tierd i hope that this help\s i will be keeping an eye on you request for ideas with my 21 mo if any thing works i ll let you know

I have a program called Sleep Sense. I used it when my DS was 5 months. It worked great. Then I never messed with it again. Until I started having the 2.5yr old problems...won't go to bed & don't want to nap. I just was going through how to get him to sleep again & I was going to be doing the super nanny way, but i remembered that I had this Sleep program. I read it last night & it has a section for toddlers. I will be starting the program again Saturday night. I know it will work. It did before. So if you want it let me know your e-mail address & I will send it to you.

I felt your pain. One son stopped taking naps by 29 months and the other one stopped a few months older than yours. My schedule was for my son to lay down in his bed and rest. It was understood that it is rest time and if he fell asleep that was good. However if he was not tired he still needed to lie down and rest. He was not allowed to get up and I did not go in either. Soon enough I realized that they were ready to stop taking naps when they would talk to themselves for a long time (with no distractions around) and never fall asleep. Unfortunately some kids are ready to give up that nap before we are!