When Do Kids Stop Napping All Together? Tips on Reducing Your Kid’s Nap Time

Sleep when the baby sleeps they say, but what if the baby does not sleep?

We love naps in our household and by we I mean our weekend family afternoon naps or rest periods. My eldest does not nap as much anymore and the baby takes one nap in the afternoons. We definitely instill afternoon rest/nap periods as a family. It’s a great energy booster to keep us going until bedtime during the weekends. When I became a mom of two scheduling the afternoon nap at the same time was key for both kids.

At birth, babies nap quite often and gradually decrease their naps as they grow. Babies need about 14-17 hours of sleep per day and toddlers need about 12-15 hours of sleep per day. Those hours of course include sleep time at night and naps combined. Now, the burning question; when do kids stop napping all together?

What Age Do Kids Stop Napping?

Let me preface with this and say that all kids are truly different. The facts that I am about to share are based on research of a group of children. Most kids drop their morning naps around twelve to eighteen months old and about forty-three percent of kids no longer take naps by their third birthday. Once again the age of when kids stop napping varies very greatly on each child as each child is different.

Both my children napped a couple times a day the first 6 months of their lives; however, gradually started dropping their naps as they grew older. Both of my children had very different sleep patterns as well no matter how hard I tried to have them sleep. You would think sleepy kids would sleep, right? Well I was definitely wrong about that, ha!

Most kids have a couple of naps a day until they are about one-years-old. The first nap to phase out is the morning nap, which turns into one longer afternoon nap (hopefully for you!) My goal is always to keep them engaged and give them opportunities to burn as much energy as possible that way when the afternoon nap hits, they are super tired and go down without a fight. Again, this doesn’t work every time since all children are so different, but as a mom I try whatever I can to help them nap.

I go into more detail on my post for Zulily on: signs that your child still needs a nap, how to extend naps and the benefits of naps during the most formative years of their lives.

Check it out for more informative information, including tips on reducing your kid’s nap time. Thx, Dris

I partnered with Zulily to bring you this post. While I may have been compensated, all opinions are my own.

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