Napping Strategies for 2-1/2 Year Old in Toddler Bed

Hi J., I am fairly new to the board so I hope I can help. I have a 2 1/2 yr girl and we had the same problems..we tried everything. Finally we put a babyproff door handle thingy (the plastic ones that go around the handle). It too became a game of sneaky out of her room. We did that for a week to where she couldn't get out and she didn't always stay in her bed but she played quietly for a few minutes and would always fall asleep sometimes on the ground othertimes on her bed...we took it off months ago and she didn't notice for about a week, then she made her exit, so we put it back on. We did it a couple of more times now she doesn't attempt to get out and she hasn't had the door handle on for awhile. But once she is in a deep sleep we usually open the door a crack so when she gets up she can walk right out. Hope this helps

Do you think he would respond well to a sticker chart type of reward system?
So far I can still cajole my 2.5 year old daughter into laying down to nap, but she's still in her crib. It helps if I tell her what we are going to do after and that we won't do it if she doesn't nap.
When we transition her to a toddler bed I think I'm going to have to resort to a sticker chart with a big reward at the end of the week, or whatever, an outing to the zoo, a finger painting session; something fun.
Good luck!

Have you considered putting the older one in the PackNplay for 30min before naptime to wind down with a book or a couple of stuffed animals? That gives you a chance to get the baby down for naptime and you can circle back to his room to ask if he'd like to lay down in his "big boy bed" now or not. If the answer is no then leave him in the PackNplay for another 30min and check again. One or two days of this routine will make naptime very clear. You will evenutally get to a point where you can just ask if he'd like to sit in the PackNplay for a little while before naptime or get himself ready for bed and he'll choose the "do it myself" routine every time. Any exiting of his room after that and he goes back into the PackNplay.

Good Luck!
Stef:)
MaMa to 2004 & 2006 Boys (balls of energy!)

Hi J.,
At that age, my son started skipping naps sometimes. Our pediatrician suggested we just let him play quietly in his bed when he didn't nap. The break still helps. Also, from all the research I've seen, 9:00 is very late bedtime. Our son (now 4.5 years) still goes to bed at 8:00. At your son's age, he went to sleep at 7:30. Sleep begets sleep, as the saying goes. You might want to slowly move his bedtime earlier (about 15 minutes at a time and wait a few days before moving it back 15 minutes again). People seem to fear that your child will then start waking up earlier in the morning, but apparently that's not the case, especially when you move his bedtime slowly and in small increments. Perhaps he will nap every day, but he should be able to sleep another 1-1.5 hours per night. The literature claims that he should nap more as well, but I can't make any promises! Our son still sleeps from 8-7. For a 2.5 year-old, 9-6 really isn't enough nighttime sleep. Also, your son will likely start to eliminate his naps (not necessarily all at once) before he's really ready. Our son and his preschool classmates all seemed to go through the same thing where they would stop napping but would be exhausted. When he did nap, the naps were for 3+ hours. For a few months it was a nightmare. It does seem to be what most kids go through. It's such a bummer when the naps start to disappear! Anyway, try moving his bedtime earlier. Even the 8 year-olds I know go to bed before 9:00, at least on school nights. Good luck!

My son is about the same age and goes through the same issues. Sometimes at nap time he is more than ready to go down, other times he isn't. I have a gate at his bedroom door, so what I do is put him down and tell him it's nap time. I turn on his 'sleepy music' and leave the room closing the gate behind me. On the days he's not ready for sleep (even though I know he's tired) I just let him play in his room for about 15 minutes then go back into the room and put him back in bed to nap. It usually just takes one time of me going in to put him back to bed, but there are time when I have to go in a couple of times. After this he usually stays in bed and falls to sleep. With the gate, I don't feel too guilty 'locking' him in, because I can still peek around the corner and check on him and hear what he's doing, whereas you can't do this with a closed door.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.

J., with my son, on days when he would protest napping, I would tell him that he didn't have to "nap", but that he had to stay in bed and play quietly with his book, toy, etc, and that he had to be very quiet because mommy (or younger sister)was napping. He would fall asleep within minutes. Also, since he sleeps well at preschool, make sure you put him down at the same time that he naps at preschool.
good luck.

Boys are different than girls, that said we have 3 girls and the 4th is on her way. What has worked when the girls have not wanted to nap is to just have quiet time in the room on their beds they can read a book (look at pictures really) and have their comfort item, be it a blanket or stuffed animal, or binky. The rule is they have to stay in the room quietly for their "rest time" just like at preschool. I do encourage them to try to sleep and they end up falling asleep most of the time.

I'd say punish is a poor word, discipline or correction of a behavior is better, and there are many strategies to do that. The question I always ask myself is... what does your child get to do when he doesn't want to nap? Does he get to play with you or with toys? What is the pay off for him? Is there a consenquence when he doesn't nap at home? It can be something as simple as a quiet time with mom for napping or not getting what they want when they continually get up. I've read it say "Choice or Consenquence" and setting limits. I believe 2 years olds can make wise choices and they feel pretty good when they can choose one, but set the limits on choices like 30 minute rest time or nap time.

Also you can ask what they do at preschool. It seems that he naps well at preschool but not at home so it leads me to believe that there is something different happening at home than at preschool. Check it out.:)

Well at 2 1/2 he should definately still be taking a good nap during the day! I have three and my oldest napped until he was 6. I would sugest getting a cool night light, let him pick it out and tell him the he gets to turn it on during nap time and night time. My daughter is 3 and she is also in a big girl bed and she has a fairy that she loves to watch all lit up during nap time and night time. It works well for me and then you don't have to deal with any realy punishment, it makes naps fun. Good luck.
Happy Holidays.
A.

I also have a 2 1/2 and a 5 1/2 month old. My older has been in a toddler's bed since he was 1 1/2. He is starting to reject his nap sometimes. He also sleeps 3 hours when he does take a nap, so I'm also convinced that he still needs it. What has worked for us is that he knows that even if he doesn't sleep, he has some time down. He can stay up and play if he wants, but it's down time and he has to stay in his room. He often plays with his cars or reads books and then goes to sleep. Some days, he just plays. The days that he doesn't sleep, he is usually fine until bed time - no bad mood or anything that makes me thing that he is too tired. Some days, however, we won't take a nap if he is overtired. If this happens, I try to remove everything that can be used to play from his room. Books stay. I sometimes try to reason with him and if my young one is napping, I sometimes stay in the room and lay down in bed with him. If he doesn't sleep, down time is about 1 1/2 hrs. He always comes out of his room in a better mood after napping or playing in his room for a while. What helps us is that he has always slept with his door closed. Even if we leave it open, he closes it. We did that at the beginning because my dog footsteps would wake him up, but now he is so used to it that he won't sleep with the door open.
I would mostly try to reason with him. I believe there are some days when my son doesn't need a nap (even if the other days he sleeps 3 hrs). I believe that may happen to your son too.
Another thing I have thought of doing is get him to sleep earlier. Move his sleep time by 15 minutes every 3 days until he goes to bed at 8 or 7:30. I haven't done it because then he wouldn't see my husband most days, but I guess I'll do it if his naps keep getting worse. I have heard of many kids that sleep longer in the morning if they go to bed earlier. Strange, eh? I think it may be worth a try at some point.
We also have a video monitor, so we know what's going on inside the room.
Good luck!

One thing that has worked for us was to offer an incentive for him when he wakes up, but only if he does nap properly. Like a favorite snack, or an episode of blue's clues, or a sticker. Or a favorite toy that only gets to come out after a nap.

Something like that, that he can focus on and "try to get to sleep" for. You want to make sure it is something you would already normally give him, but just gets pushed to after naptime, and only if he naps.

Good luck! :-)

Well, it may be that your child is getting past naps. Now, I know this is somewhat of a horrible thought, given the activity level of that age, but it does happen. It may be that he doesn't need them every day. And probably is a lot more stimulated at day care than at home. Home tends to be more peaceful. You can see how he is controlling the situation already and that won't work. Can you just let him determine when he needs a nap and not press the point for awhile? Then he will look at sleep as a good thing, not a battle to be waged.

FWIW - my oldest was DONE with the entire nap thing by 2 and wasn't sleeping all that much at night - waking up several times. I waged major wars with the kid over naps and finally threw in the towel. He made up for it as a teenager, though. Funny how you wish like mad for them to sleep as babies and when they are teenagers the part where they can sleep until 2 pm makes you clinically insane and you are determined to wake them up. Hmmmmm.

My partner has the same issue with his 3 year old. She hasn't napped properly since being moved out of a cot and into a bed. However, one thing that has worked consistently is when we put her to sleep in our bed with a movie on that she's seen 100 times. She can lay in bed, watch the movie but because she's laying down she'll usually fall right to sleep. If she doesn't actually sleep, then she's had an hour and a half of quiet time watching a movie, which is sometimes as good as rest, as she is normally very active physically and mentally.

Hope that helps.

I'm not sure if my answer is right or wrong, but it works best for me. My daughter is 2 years old and she too won't ever lay in bed for a nap. It started when we took the crib down and switched to a toddler bed. She would have nothing to do with it and slept on the floor for MONTHS. (Even at night!) A cousin passed down a twin size bed and now she will sleep in that at night, but as far as going into her room & putting her into bed for a nap...ya right.

So...this is what we do. She plays until she's so damn tired she goes into the room herself and takes a nap. Sometimes, it's "funner" for her to bring her pillow and blanket into the livingroom and have a nap on the floor or couch. I will sometimes bring my pillow and blanket out as well, and we will lay together. She doesn't always take a nap..and in a way, she's controlling me seeing as how she naps when SHE feels like it..lol. Anyway..works for us..hope it helps!

There isn't a 2 year old out there that hasn't had the "outgrowing their nap" pains. The other advice you got is great-- an after-nap incentive works well for me too. And just being flexible. It is normal for your son to want to stay up. Even as adults we don't always fall asleep immediately when we hit the pillow. I lay down with my daughter in a darkened room. Doesn't usually take more than 15 minutes. I really love the cuddle time. Then I slip out of the room, or fall asleep with her if I'm tired too. If he won't nap, maybe experiment with how things go with him. My daughter usually gets quite crabby in the late evening and has to go to bed early, but then sleeps longer. And the next day, she almost always naps. It might just be coincidence that he began this stage as you transitioned him into the toddler bed.

When our older son was 3, we took away the binky & had the same problem at naptime. I had no idea that no binky meant no nap. So, I put him to bed about 2 hours earlier, the length of the nap he didn't get. We also have a 2.5 year old who only naps if he falls asleep in the car & when he doesn't nap, he goes to be by 6p or so instead of the usual 7:30p. Sounds to me like you've done a lot to get him to sleep & while you still want him to nap, he's at about the age some kids stop napping. Not want you wan to happen w/a new baby! So, maybe try putting him to bed earlier to make up for the nap he missed. Hope this helps & good luck!

Maybe you need to put him down a little later. My son just turned 2 in November and we got the twin out for him, it went well for a while the he decided he wouldn't go down, even at night it was a bit of a problem also, for a short while we even lay down with him but that is not a good habit to get into either. I have found with day time naps that you need to wear them out in the morning,go to the park let them ride their trikes, kick a ball etc, I think they also go through stages. just be firm and let him know who is boss!

I had a very similar situation with my daughter and nap time. Our solutuion was to have her nap every other day. We found that some days, she just was not tired enough at nap time to actually sleep. This solution proved to help her sleep habits at nap time and my sanity. There were days where I knew she was tired and would put her down for a nap two days in a row, there were other times when she would lay in bed and not sleep. I just had to let it go and aim for an earlier bed time on those nights that she did not take a daytime nap. The peditrician told me that some kids just stop napping earlier than others. Fortunately, our new routine has kept her napping about 4 days per week for 2 hours and she is almost 4 years old. Good luck.