Do you think 2 year olds need a nap

[polly0]

One of mindees is 2 and yesterday i told mum he would'nt have a nap:angry:
She said "oh, hes stopped having one":panic:

Then why did he fall asleep on the way to school:idea:

Do you think 2 year olds should still be napping, maybe I'm just missing that hours break in the afternoon:laughing:

[sarah707]

It does depend on the child but my 2 year old naps for me... he doesn't for mum though :D

[Gizmo]

Yes I do, my dd is 2 1/2 and mindee has just turned 3 and they both have at least an hour after lunch, very grumpy girls if they dont get it :thumbsup:

[miffy]

It does depend on the child but my 2 year old naps for me... he doesn't for mum though :D

I agree with Sarah.

I have an almost 3 yo that still needs a nap!

Better they have a sleep after lunch than fall asleep at tea time or, worse, are just crabby then!

Miffy xx

[littletreasures]

Yes, my 2 year old mindee fell asleep coming home from the morning school run at 8.45 this morning. Slept for about 3/4 hour then slept for 1 3/4 this afternoon as well!!!!!

[AliceK]

My own DD aged 2yrs and 3mths NEEDS a nap but she refuses to give in and go down for one so she usually falls asleep in the buggy on the school run in the afternoon.

xxxxxx

[charleyfarley]

It really depends on the child, all three of my own children gave up their naps before they were 2, they just didn't seem to need them any more.

2 1/2 year old I have at the moment still needs one, anything from 30 mins to 2 hours, even the 3 1/2 year old has one some days

Carol xx

[carebear25]

My own ds is 2 an he still has 2 hrs afta lunch and mindee who is 2 also has 2 hrs with me but I dont think she does at home... She wil tel me no bed for me but wil got with ds an go in her cot xx

[Ellen]

Hi
my 2 1/2 year old says ****** sleepy needs a sleep, has about an hour but will not go for mum funny things are kids

Ellen x

[TheBTeam]

I look after 3 boys of between 2yrs 3 months and 2yrs 5 months and all three of them still need a sleep after lunch and they sleep for around 1 hour 45mins sometimes over 2 hours if we have enough time after lunch and before the school run.

[amanda1309]

I mind 2.5 yr old twins.
1 only needs an hour every othe day at the most the other needs 2 hours every day.

Mum says they don't nap at home, but i strugggle to keep them awake here.

The one that doesn't need as much sleep is asked to lie down, we have 15 mins quite time then he gets up and plays.

It really does just depend on the child

[Tired]

All children are different. My dd stopped sleeping during the day as soon as she hit 2. A mindee still slept after school till he was 5.5

[Blackhorse]

mt dd has dropped her naps a couple of weeeks ago and will be 2 on friday

she wont fall asleep on the school run nor is she cranky in the evening.
but she will go to bed earlier in the evenings now and it wont take her as long as it did when she went down for a nap. I didnt want her to drop her nap that early coz I thought it is too early but having tried it for 2 weeks now it is working out better.

she will now sleep for 12 hours at night and will only wake up maybe once...(roughly 7-7) and it will take her max 10 -15 minutes to go down

vs going to bed at 9 and later and waking up 5-6 times a night...it also took a good 40 minutes to get her down at night...sometimes even longer.

but I am constantly re-assessing to see if she should go back to lunch time napping but so far the answer to that is no.

one mindee i have will be 4 in a couple of weeks and still needs her nap. if she doesnt get it she will fall asleep in the car or sitting somewhere...

so I dont think it is only age that needs to be looked at but each child as an individual to see what is best for them.

[Pudding Girl]

My new mindee is 2.5 and started Monday, Mum said oh mindee doesn't nap, dropped it a while ago - so why did they crash out on my sofa fast asleep then? :rolleyes:

IMO most children 3 and under would benefit hugely from a wee nap in the afternoon but for some reason most mums hate it :rolleyes:

[helenlc]

Last year I had a 2 1/2 yr old who used to sleep on the school run for about 30 mins.

One day Mum brought him and said he was a wotsit to get to sleep last night so can I not let him have a sleep during the day. So that what I did - kept the poor thing awake all day (I had him 9.30 - 6pm). By half 5 he was trying to lie on my bottom step and fall asleep.

When Mum came I said I have kept him awake and she said Thanks.

Anyway, the thing that made me laugh was that they were living in temporary acomodation at the time and her journey home would probably take her 40 minutes at least. The fact was LO was so knackered he would have been asleep in the car by the time they got to the end of my road!!

Surely it would have been better for him (and Mum) to have a sleep just after lunch or even at 3 on school run that sleep at 6 oclock!!!

My DS didnt really like to sleep (day or night!:angry: ) so gave up naps about 2 1/2. But my DS loves her sleep and was still going to bed after lunch when she started Reception for mornings only!!:laughing: Even now, aged 9, if she is really tired she wil doze off on the sofa - only once in a blue moon but will still do it. :laughing:

My 19 mth old mindee has 2 hrs sleep every afternoon. New mindee (2 at the end of Feb)who started yesterday fell asleep on the way back from school about 3.30 - spoke with Mum and she said its fine for her to sleep at any time, she is not fussed. But I would like to her to lie down after lunch, so am going to invest in some large floor cushions for her to lounge on.

They are all different - and some days they may need a sleep and other days not.

[caz3007]

A LO I look after goes home at 12.30 but if I see his mum on the school run, he is always asleep and he is 2.5. Personally I feel 3 o'clock is a bit late and know she was having trouble getting him to sleep at night

[loocyloo]

i have had a few LO who wouldn't/don't sleep for the parents, but as soon as lunch is over at my house ask to go to bed! and then sleep!

[Chatterbox Childcare]

It does depend on the child but my 2 year old naps for me... he doesn't for mum though :D

Same here but parents forget that at weekends they can lie in and maybe get up an hour to two later than during the week when the have to get up to get to us.

It also depends on what the parents do with them as to how tired they get, mine always sleep for 2 hours and they are nearly 3

[Carol M]

Individual needs ! Definately depends on child. I had a 2yr old that did alternate days with me and a nursery. She arrived tired and fell asleep on morning school run. Parents told me that as she didn't sleep at nursery and then went to bed at a time acceptable to them she should not sleep at mine, or at least not in the afternoon. Fair enough but by afternoon school run she was falling asleep and became very grumpy! Fell asleep at table at tea time. I found it almost impossible to keep her awake!
She would then not eat tea , just want to sleep, cry, scream , whinge etc.
Discussing this with parents and after keeping a sleep/behaviour diary I could see she was catching up on missed sleep from the day before. Poor thing was always tired and grumpyand if I let her sleep it caused hassle for parents!
Anyway after dad telling me that they were very busy holding down full time jobs and running an internet business from home and could not accept that she would not go to bed till 9pm if she slept here.
I offered to work with nursery, talk to them and try and see what sleep routine could be established at settings and at home.
Nothing forthcoming but parents eventually came up with a routine and i kept to.Nursery not able to get her to sleep tho! don't know why!
Its so hard when you try to put the childs needs first whilst taking the parents wishes into account.
Carol:(

[greanan]

one of my mindees is 2years 4 months. He has a sleep with me every morning. he used to go down for a couple of months but over last 6months have gradually been cutting it down.he now go for between 30mins to an hour. think it really depends on child tho xx

[The Juggler]

some of my two year olds don't any more. but I always close curtains, get blankets, do a story and they are allowed to look at a book. Then if they are tired, they will go to sleep. one of my lo's sleeps maybe 1 out of 3 days but I know she's rested.

[LittleVoice]

I think it depends on the child and what kind of day they're having and what the day before was like. My daughter is 2yrs 4 months and she still has a sleep of anywhere between 1-3 hours every day.
It doesnt affect her bedtime sleep, she still goes to bed at 7.15pm has a story and is asleep by 7.30pm and normally wakes up at 7am the next morning. Im guessing she was a cat in her past life!! :laughing:

[uf353432]

Its got to be determined on the individual child. All my 2 yr olds sleep still - one is starting to challenge sleep now and thats ok. The diffeerence also between my home and their homes is they are full on busy at mine - school runs, running in the garden, role play, none stop from the second they are dropped off - its no wonder they want to sleep they need down time to process all those learning experiences.

[chez]

you may find this useful. Im planning to print it out and have it as a resource in my parents/minders bookshelf. Handy for parents who do not share the same nap thoughts as yours.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/howmuchsleep.aspx

1 week
•daytime: 8 hours
•night time: 8.5 hours

4 weeks
•daytime: 6.75 hours
•night time: 8.75 hours

3 months
•daytime: 5 hours
•night time: 10 hours

6 months
•daytime: 4 hours
•night time: 10 hours

9 months
•daytime: 2.75 hours
•night time: 11.25 hours

12 months
•daytime: 2.5 hours
•night time: 11.5 hours

2 years
•daytime: 1.25 hours
•night time: 11.75 hours

3 years
daytime: 1 hour
•night time: 11 hours

4 years
•night time: 11.5 hours

5 years
•night time: 11 hours

[mr man]

i have a 3 yrs old and he still has 2 hours in the afternoon.

dad is happy to go with if he needs one then fine, :)

i have a parent who is too into her text books, and researching the interent, its so annoying. so the info above may jsut tip her over the edge :laughing:

i queried a rash once and mum said it ok its just........ i seen it on the internet, and its not contagious. :eek: erm NO.
i will stop there cause once i start it'll be a right long rant. :)

[The Juggler]

i think all kids are very different hon. I've had children who napped until the week before they started reception for over an hour.

I've had 2 year olds who hardly needed one at all. So, we had quiet time for these older ones on sofas. Story, curtains shut, blankies, cuddlies. Those that needed, napped, the 2 year olds who didn't just lay quietly and read books whilst others were sleeping - they maybe fell asleep 1 day out of 6 and I woke them after 45 mins (as requested by parents) so they would sleep/go to bed at night-time.

All of them were up by half two which I don't think interferes with bedtimes. Like everyone has said if children are not allowed to nap and then fall asleep on school run or in car on way home, this will cause far more bedtime disruption.

[snufflepuff]

Depends on the child. My son stopped napping (apart from if he is ill, or if he's had some late nights like when we were on holiday) not long after he turned two. I really miss his nap times! If he sleeps in the afternoon, even just for 15 minutes, he can be wide awake until 10 or even 11pm! If he doesn't nap he is in bed by 7.30pm.

Mindee is the same age and stopped napping at around the same time, but on Mum's say so rather than her own development. She is generally fine without it- and if she does ever nap she is still in bed by 7pm no matter how long the nap was, lucky Mum!

[Coco]

My daughter will be four in feb and she still sleeps if we are at home for at least an hour and then is still in bed by 7.30. She takes after me - I love my bed!

[Mamma4Ya]

All children are different and have different needs, so if the child is wanting a nap I can't see why not. :)

[Vickster]

Some do, some don't. Both my children stopped napping at 2, yes on their birthdays. My daughter went from a two hour nap in her cot to nothing. If we go out in the car in the afternoon then she may fall asleep, but she copes fine without one. Other children have naps up to age 4.