Well I don't think I'll be much help. My daughter just a few weeks ago stopped taking naps....and she just turned 4. Up until then, she was taking a 1-2 hour nap every afternoon. I did like your brother - she had to have quiet time. She could play, sleep, whatever. She would talk or play for a little bit and then end up napping. We did this for the better part of the past year I would guess. It's good for them, and I think teaches them to sleep on their own. It also gives you some time to relax yourself.

I think it really depends on the kid. I would try the quiet time. If she's happy gabbing to herself in her crib, then she's resting and getting her second wind.

I agree that it depends on your kid. One of my 3 kids napped up through kindergarten (he'd come home from morning kindy and take a nap and still go to bed at 8). My middle son stopped napping by age 2. My youngest who is 3 naps at the sitters but not so much for me. He sometimes sleeps, sometimes not, just depends. Nothing wrong with a quiet time, but if she ends up sleeping and goes to bed way late, if she's just happy staying up, then I personally would let her. Her being happy is the key - obviously if she's not happy, she probably needs that nap.

My dd (who happens to be the exact same age as Marlow) is really struggling with naps too. Last week she didn't nap at all, I forced an hour of quiet time in her room reading books or playing. This week weve had two naps both only after a long morning and she fell asleep in the car ride home, I have a feeling had I tried nap time at home I doubt she would have fallen asleep
I'm in no way ready for nap time to be over, especially since I'm due April 23rd but I've accepted what we are now calling "nap time" and am hoping soon she'll start to nap again

I'm finding the days she doesn't nap she is cranky by seven and it's a battle the last hour to keep her awake and occupied. She has started to lay on the floor or snuggle with someone for that last hour.

Her main naps are in the car too :). She turns 2 on Aug. 20th, and I was hoping naps would last until at LEAST then! lol

My MIL informed me that all her kids stopped napping at a year, and a mother who naps her kids longer then that age is lazy and just looking for a way to put the kid out of the way so they can do nothing. But, my MIL knows nothing I'm pretty sure!

Yes I can't say I agree with your MIL at all. All kids are different and some just need more sleep than others. Mine happens to be one of those kids. Until she was 2-2 1/2, she would go to bed at 9, sleep in till 11 and still take a 2 hour nap. She just likes to sleep.

If your child is cranky in earlier in the evenings then she probably is a little on the tired side. Might as well try putting her in her room for quiet time and see how she does with it. It can't hurt really.

I'm clueless..are we supposed to stop the naps??? I have never heard such a thing..they nap in preschool..?? My daughter is almost 2 and takes 1 nap a day..when she misses it..it's awful at night. So I plan to continue until she is pleasant without her daily nap! Some days she gets by with a power nap in the car but still moody at night time. Ive heard some stop napping or "never" nap but I'm blessed to not know from experience;)

Ok guys, sorry to bump this, but I've been trying 'quiet time' for naps, and the only thing it's doing is driving me crazy!

Marlow lays in her crib and alternates between talking and, well, not really crying, but crying. It's this noise she makes between an angry sound and a wail. It's completley forced, she's not hurt or anything, but it irritates me endlessley! She does it when she's awake and doesn't get what she wants, and even then it irritates me. But to listen to it for two hours? It's torture!

She is also taking 'quiet time' to teach herself how to get out of her crib quietly. She hasn't mastered it yet, I can hear the thump from anywhere in the house, but I get nervous if she is actually quiet in quiet time! lol

She neeeeeds her nap, and she just isn't getting it, and I'm finding myself getting cranky after her down time and then neither of us has a good evening. Any more suggestions? :)

My son used to have two naps (morning for an hour and a 2 hour afternoon nap). That morning nap is now non existent now unless he's up a lot at night and then it's just a 30 minute catnap (we call it the attitude adjuster nap). The afternoon nap was pushed back to 2pm by my son's natural clock and it runs anywhere from 1 hour to 2.5 hours.

I gear the naps around what my son needs. If he's up late or up alot at night, he gets that morning nap. If he sleeps really good and we are doing well we won['t nap at all until 2. SOMETIMES if he's REALLY wired, I'll take him to our play room or to the park etc from 2 to 3 and let him REALLY play but then -- NAP TIME COMMENCES!

I say all that not to showcase my inconsistency, but rather to just demonstrate out he needs different things on different days. Maybe Marlow needs a different nap time....later in the afternoon...or perhaps she needs an EARLIER wakeup time in the morning for a few days to get her clock reset....or move around the snacks/food times etc. I know if Jackson sleeps too late, it'll ruin our whole day so we will actually go and WAKE HIM UP around 9:30 if he's been down quiet all night. Sounds nuts, but makes the day easier.
I hope this helps a little...sorry I don't have better answers for you.

Uh, 19 months is way early to stop naps from my own experience and that of people I know. That morning nap tells you she needs more sleep. Here is our schedule and mind you my son is far from a child that loves sleep so with him everything is about schedule. In bed by 8, asleep by 9, up at 7 and nap 12-2. We had a few days when he napped just half an hour and he was super cranky and hard to put down at night that day. I suggest you quit that morning nap. One day just get her up at 7, take her running and playing hard and at 12 - quiet time = sleep time. I think one day may be all it takes to reset her schedule but in the worst case you may do 2-3 days. For us it usually resets in 2 days tops when we mess it up due to travel and such.

I forgot to say - my older son is 25 months old.

I should mention our schedule a bit better I guess.

Due to the fact that Joey works two jobs, and I work as well, sometimes Marlow doesn't get home from the sitters until 9. By the time she is wound down, teeth brushed, given a drink and laid to bed, it's almost 10.
For awhile I tried getting her up when she first woke up, but she would be ridiculously owly, and then she wouldn't nap in the afternoon at all because she was so wiped.
So we get up at roughly 930 on average, we eat, we watch Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then we usually read. Then we eat lunch. And then we play for about two or three hours. Sometimes we go somewhere. Lately we have been walking, and she walks, no stroller. She can go ten, fifteen blocks without slowing down! Then at closer to 3 I try and lay her down. And that's where we hit the snag.
I do wonder, with Joey working two jobs she doesn't see him much. And he get's home at about 4, then goes to the second job at about 5. She is a daddy's girl, and I wonder if she knows that by going to sleep she is missing seeing daddy for the day?

My kids bedrooms are upstairs and my hubby works 3rd shift. So the kids don't have many toys in their rooms. My DD goes to preschool in the afternoons so she doesn't nap if she has school (she is 3 1/2) my DS still naps (28mos.) We encourage quiet time. DS has a wooden train set in his room that he plays with during nap time. DD has her favorite stuffed animals and a few of her favorite books.


Maybe this would be a good time to transition her out of her crib. Get her a toddler bed for nap time. This way she can get up and play a little but encourage her to stay in the room for about an hour. It can be called big girl time. but put her in her crib at bedtime. Just be sure to stand your ground, when she comes out of her room, walk her back kindly and remind her that its big girl time. Sometimes I will walk into my room and tell the kids that I am going to take my big girl time as well. (which sometimes i do.lol)
It helps. They all stay in their rooms for at least an hour and it gives me a few to myself.

As far as your mil....Idk what she is thinking. I need that time because I am a good mom...a little rejuvenation goes a long way, especially to have an enjoyable day with the kids.

Another thought....when your little girl gets tired at nigth, try to lay her down for bed. See how the next day goes, she might stay awake when she wakes the first time and be more apt to nap later. Just a thought.

Her crib transitions into a toddler bed, so when I take the leap I have to take it permenantly :(. I'm terrified of that day! lol. I have to find a way to Marlow proof her dresser, since she uses the drawers like a ladder and thinks the fish in the fish tank atop it exist soley for her eating pleasure! Until then, I need her to be crib bound lol.

I did put a soft doll and another soft-ish toy in her crib, plus her big bird thats always in there, for nap time. And then I take out the two toys during night time.

Yesterday her 'quiet time' ended up lasting for four hours! I let her be for the two hours, then when I went in to get her she was FINALLY sleeping! But it meant she slept into supper hour and when she wakes up it takes her at least half hour to be food ready. I'm like that too, so I understand her there. So technically she didn't go to sleep until almost 4!

This morning I got her up at 8, and she sat in her room beside her bed and cried, holding on to the crib railing. So I took out her blanket(she has a special attatchment to afghans, any one will do) and she clutched it, then curled up in a ball on her floor and whimpered. I tried to take her into the living room to play but she just wanted to snuggle and clutch her blanket. She refused food until 10. But I'll try it again tomorrow and see if it get's any better. We couldn't go out since I was waiting on company, but maybe tomorrow we can before I have to go to work.

My son is 3 now, and he has not been wanting to nap since he was 2 and ahalf. But i still lay him down for quiet time. Sometimes he will go to sleep for an hour during quiet time but usually he does not. He mostly plays up there and talks to himself and his toys hehe. My daughter will be 2 on April 26, and she still naps, she may play in her room for about 45 mins, then falls to sleep for a hour or hour and half. Both my kids are in toddler beds. My son will get out of his bed and play with his toys during nap time. My daughter will bring a toy to bed and stay in her bed until she gets up. My kids get up around 8am-8:30am in the morning, and usually go down for a nap around 1pm, they get up around 3pm, sometimes 3:30 depending if they sleeping at 3pm. They then go to bed at night around 8pm. My son will play for about an hour before he falls to sleep at night too. He does get grumpy sometimes by dinner time cause he is tired. I think he needs his nap still but he refuses. My daughter is pretty tired by 8pm. Anyway i think quiet time is good for them, if they dont sleep they can atleast relax, and have some down time. I plan to let my children have "nap time" until they start school.. My son starts next year. So i guess till age 4 :)