Arlo has stopped napping. It seemed to happen all of a sudden, but really it had been creeping up on us for a month or so.
Much to my dismay during what was a very busy November and December for my business, his naps (which have never been super reliable) became very erratic – attempts at getting him to sleep were starting to waste more time than the length of his nap (if he’d actually taken a nap), and more times than not, there would be no napping at all. “No nap today, mama!” Then on days when he did nap, bedtime was heading towards 8.30pm, leaving an hour-long evening for Sam and I as I’ve been averaging a 9.30pm bedtime myself these days.
So when Sam finished worked for the year on the 13th, I thought “Fuck it, let’s just not bother with naps. Sam’s around now to entertain Arlo. I can still get my work done. We can all eat dinner earlier because we don’t need to wait for Sam to get home from work and that means Arlo can be ready for bed by 7pm.”
And so it was. There were a few days of early evening grouchiness as a result of losing his nap, but Arlo adjusted really quickly and soon it wasn’t a problem at all. In many ways it was easier. We could plan afternoon activities, and Arlo started sleeping in until after 8am (before we dropped the nap he was waking at 6.30am).
He’s not even two and a half, but it doesn’t surprise me that he is (mostly) ready to stop napping – this is the boy who dropped his morning nap at 13 months old and, well, never really napped properly anyway.
The person who is having most trouble with the adjustment is me. Nap time was my time. Without it, the days seem to last a whole lot longer. There is more entertaining to be done, more activities to find, less time to fit in my work around my toddler. And when I’m not working to a deadline, I’ve lost my blogging time, my ‘watching crap TV’ time, and the time I would usually be using to browse the January sales online (currently trying to resist buying Arlo shoes for summer in the Brantano sale as his feet are growing at such a rate I’m not really sure what size he’ll be in a few months!)
Another bad point to losing the naps is that Arlo has been waking once or twice during the night, which is just brilliant. I think he really does still need a little power nap in the afternoon, but if he flat-out refuses to take one there’s not much I can do except put up with the increased night wakings and hope this phase doesn’t last long. 
Despite the temporary downsides to losing the afternoon nap, I think In the long run it will be easier this way. Arlo has never been a reliable napper, and it still takes quite a bit of time and effort to get him to nap (I can’t just plonk him in the cot and leave him to it). Naps have long been my arch enemy, and with a new baby on the way, I’m happier knowing I only have to concentrate on getting one child to nap. Plus, it will mean I have the flexibility to use Arlo’s cot as a napping space for the baby during the day (I don’t think this baby is going to have his/her own cot for a long while unless they turn out to be a super sleeper from early on, but it would be good to get them used to occasionally sleeping in a cot for when the time eventually comes to make that transition).
So, we haved waved a reluctant goodbye to naps, but part of me is secretly hoping that it’s temporary and that we might see a return of the nap if we manage to get Arlo a pre-school place for September (not looking likely, but that’s for another post). 
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11 comments
I have a four year old who is still having an hour nap each day!
I think I still napped at around that age too, but no such luck with my son!
I’m so worried! I thought she would be out of naps just like your son. Although, i do like it now im pregnant, means i can sneak a nap too haha
My wee man still needs his but he does get up at some un godly hour, praying he still sleeps for a while as we’re expecting no.2 soon
I found it a struggle when Alex suddenly stopped having naps in the day around last Christmas, selfishly the main thing I hated most was not having that hour or two to do what I wanted with no interruptions, but it did make our bedtimes much easier in the long run as if he had a nap some nights it would be 9.30 before he’d go down! At least you have time to adjust to it before baby comes along, but bet you wish you could have a nap in the afternoon now instead!
Yes exaxctly, I’d rather adjust to it now than he dropped the nap JUST as the baby arrives!
I have a 4-yr old who still naps every day! He’s a much nicer person when he does 😐 I guess all kids are different 🙂
I found myself nodding along to this post. My son has always been a terrible napper, and at 14 months we now get about 30 minutes a day most days, and often battles for three times as long to get him to have that! Longer naps are a major cause for celebration. I constantly wonder what I’ve done wrong, so I’m always glad when I hear he’s not the only child in the world who hates to sleep. Fingers crossed for you that you get some naps and “you time” back though!
You have my sympathies! Sounds very much like Arlo.
Found myself nodding along to much of this post. Allegra is coming up to 23 months and over the last month she’s had the odd day where she’s completely dropped her nap and then been ready to crash for bedtime at 6.30/7pm (which has been great!). On the days she does nap – which is still the majority of days – it is becoming increasingly difficult to get her to go to bed any time before 8/8.30pm and quite often that creeps over to 9/9.30pm, which is a bit of a nightmare not least because it completely leaves you with virtually no evening time. I’m hoping to cling on to naps for a little while longer, given baby number 2 is imminent, but I suspect that she may want to drop them completely in the near(ish) future. We’ll see… x
It’s the BEST timing when a new baby is on the way, isn’t it?