Should My 3 Year Old Still Nap?

Try putting her down right after lunch as a routine, like about 12:30-1:00 or so. She should wake earlier then and still be ready to go to bed at 8:00. I would give her a nap at this age still. When I have my twin grandsons I use this schedule for them ( they're soon to be 4 ) and it works so well for them even if they say they aren't tired. :-)

I still nap at 29 :). My 5, 7, and 9 year olds will nap on occasion...the 5 and 7 year old more often than not.

I think you can try to cut out the nap and see how she does. My 3 year old niece quit napping months ago and my daughter, now 9, stopped regular naps around 3 also.

Our son napped through kindergarten and on weekends through 1st grade.
He was growing very fast.
At 4 yrs old he sprouted up 4 inches and he did it again when he was 6 yrs old (and again at 8).
His growing pains were awful!
I had a horrible time keeping him in shoes and clothes.
He just needed to nap.
Occasionally even now (he's in 8th grade) he'll come home from school and take a nap.

Put her to bed earlier. You would be surprised at home much extra sleep they get when you move the bedtime up and not back. Personally, I would not mess with the nap time at age 3, especially if she is still sleeping. I might even move the nap up earlier too, like around 1230. I would wake her around 330, because any sleep after that is going to mess you up. But be prepared, my daughter was an absolute horror when we woke her from naps.

It depends on your child. My 3 year old still naps. He usually goes down at about 1 p.m. and is up at 3 p.m., bedtime is 8 p.m. I tried cutting out his nap, and when I did, by 5:30 p.m., he was delirious--crabby, loud, whiney, falling all over, etc. What you may want to try out is to take your daughter for a walk or to the park in the afternoon or even after dinner. Try to have her work off some of that energy. Toddlers have an incredible amount of energy that they need to burn off. If you have her burn some of it off, it may make it easier for her to fall asleep.

I think when you see a disruption in nighttime sleep, the late afternoon nap is the culprit.

Could you try a half hour nap? I find if my son sleeps past 3 his night sleep is affected.

Have you tried no nap, does she get extra cranky?

Some kids at her age nap only a few days a week.

May son went down to a short nap at 3, but at 3.5 bounced back to a longer nap. I also realized his 3 year molars came in without my noticing. I wonder if that is why sleeping was harder for him. My suggestion to yu is if you get rid of the nap, just stay aware that it might come back. Perhaps substitute with quiet time for now.

My son is 3.5 and he started doing the same thing around 3. I started with just doing naps every other day then every 3 days and now only when he falls asleep in the car. Whenever he does nap it's so hard for him to fall asleep at night. Up till 10 or 11.

our school district requires "naptime/rest time" for the 1st semester of KG. With my daycare, I adhere to this policy....making sure the kids are on a nap schedule until the summer of KG. Then they can do "quiet time" if they like. This makes for an easier transition for the kids.

Up at 6:30-7 means naptime should begin right after lunch....by 12:30. Let her sleep until 2, & then she'll be ready for bed at 7:30.

The most important key is routine. Stick to the timing, & make sure she has plenty of interaction with other children & with playing outside. Wear them out & they'll sleep!

My youngest is 5, my oldest is 8. They all still nap on command. It goes like this, "Hey guys we're all taking naps today." Usually after about 2 1/2-3 hours later, I have to wake them. Of course that means they go to bed a little later that night.

I guess your actions will be determined by your priorities. If it's more important to you to be in bed at 8:00 pm, then by all means, cut out the afternoon nap. If you'd rather have a peaceful afternoon and maybe push bedtime back by an hour, then make her nap. Whatever you do decide, sleep and lots of it, is very important for her little growing body, so make sure she is getting enough of it!

Most kids I know stop napping by three. My boys stopped around two, and were going to nursery school in the afternoons at three. Three year olds need ten to twelve hours sleep a day. If she can get it all at night, then forget trying to get her to nap. Let he have a quiet play time instead.

My son was done with naps at right around his 3rd birthday. Some days he could still use one, but he wouldn't hear of it. He sleeps at night wonderfully though.

Check out Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child. Great resource book. Per the book at years 3 to 6 naps start to disappear and by their 3rd birthday 91% of children still nap daily and at age four about 50% of children nap 4 days/week.This exact scenario happened with my daughter about this age. Nighttime became a nightmare. I would recommend cutting her nap to 1 hour and see if that helps. If not I would skip the nap and put her to bed early Probably around 6:30 or 7:00. She may need to nap every other day or every couple of days at first and then she will drop that. She will probably nap in the car and that will be enough for her. I would require she has quiet time in her room. She doesn't have to sleep but quiet time she she can rest without a nap. It will be a heard transition at first, tire meltdowns but move their bedtime around and that should help.Good luck.

If the child needs it, then yes.
If not, then no.
But, everyday will be different. So know and go by, your child's cues.

Both my kids still napped at that age. They needed it. It was not a battle.
My son even napped at 5 years old, but then since he was in Kindergarten, they had a nap time there. But at home, he did not nap because once in school, after school is busy and there is homework etc., so no time for nap.

With both my kids, their napping in the afternoon, did NOT affect their ability to sleep at night and it did not interfere with it.
My kids napped anywhere from 1-2 hours. My son routinely napped for about 2 hours. It is just his rhythm.

Then, about night time: just start the bedtime routine, EARLIER than their actual bedtime. ie: if her bedtime is at 8:00pm, don't start the bedtime routine AT 8:00pm. Start the bedtime routine, like 1 hour PRIOR. ie: make things dark, wind-down (kids this age need to, wind down), make things quiet and not all active. Brush teeth, change into jammies etc. So that, BY the 8:00 bedtime target time, she IS ready for bed. And then, by starting the bedtime routine AHEAD of time, it is not all rushed and then, prolonged and then the child sleeping later.
That is what I have always done, with my kids.
Kids, this age and onward, need to, wind-down and deflate... before bedtime. Not AT, bedtime. But before.

Or, if on non-nap days...have a QUIET time. I also did that with my kids. It was routine. In the afternoon. I told them it is quiet time for MOMMY, too. It was not something where I made them only be in their room. It was anywhere in the house, but it was quiet things. And it was fine. And sometimes they'd fall asleep and nap. I did not make it like a punishment thing or something negative. It was just a routine.

It is really hard on kids in kindergarten when they have to lay quietly for hours for nap/rest time.

Research shows that kids still need to rest until she 6, which for most is after Christmas break.

So keep the nap for as long as possible.

Each kid is different my daughter was done with naps by the time she was 2. If she took a nap she was up to midnight. Instead of a nap why dont you just give her a quiet time instead. Maybe a movie mid afternoon something disney to watch in her room. When the movie is over let her get up and move on with her day.

It really depends on the child. Most of the time when it starts to interfere will the night sleep the afternoon nap is phasing out. I would still have her lay down to rest, even if she doesn't sleep and perhaps wake her after an hour and see if that helps. Many times kids don't need quite as much sleep and then fall back into a nap routine with growth or a new change in schedule like the beginning of school.

It's good to have a little break to have quiet time and let her recharge though. An hour of quiet time whether she naps or not will still eb good for her.

We're in the same boat with our 3 yr old. We take 2 approaches:

Option 1 - Run 'em ragged--active play, and TONS of it between the nap & dinner time. That should help her fall asleep easier at bedtime.

Option 2 - Nap every other day; or as we're now doing it, every 2-3 days