When your toddler doesn’t want to take a nap
Even though your child is tired, he refuses to take a nap. If you put your child to bed anyway, there will be wild protests and loud roars. At dinner, your child’s head almost falls into the plate from tiredness, but the drama repeats itself the next afternoon and they don’t want to sleep again. Here you can find out what is going on in your child and how you can react appropriately.
Babies sleep most of the day. The older your child gets, the less they want to sleep. It is much more exciting to discover the world, to play or to be with you and your partner. Regardless of whether your child is supposed to lie down at lunchtime or in the evening, there are often fights and resistance to the prescribed rest.
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ToggleWhy sleep is important for your child
Your child relaxes when he sleeps. It processes the exciting events of the day and recovers mentally and physically. Important growth hormones are released and your child’s immune system is strengthened during sleep. Lack of sleep harms your child. Its health is weakened, it cannot recover, it is hyperactive and, in severe cases, suffers from concentration and growth disorders.
Your child’s need for sleep is changing
Between nine and eighteen months, your child needs between twelve and fourteen hours of sleep. It sleeps at night and twice a day. During this period, some children change their sleeping habits and stop sleeping in the morning. They prefer to lie down for two hours in the middle of the day. The transition is different for every child. The next change begins for a quarter of children around the age of two, when they no longer want to take an afternoon nap. They still need between 10 and 12 hours of sleep, but they get it at night. There are always exceptions. If you have the impression that your child is rested and fit even with less sleep, then you should not force them to sleep longer. You can discuss this with your pediatrician.
Why your child doesn’t want to take a nap
Your child had a strenuous morning and the many impressions are not processed. Then it is too excited to sleep. Even if it is overtired or has no fixed sleeping rhythm, it is difficult for it to go to bed in the middle of the day. Or your child sleeps enough at night and no longer needs a nap.
From when your child no longer needs a nap
It’s different for every child. As early as two years old, some children stop taking naps. The need for sleep is sufficiently satisfied at night. By the age of four, more than half of all children refuse to sleep in the middle of the day. Perhaps your child takes its nap, but is so lively in the evening that you cancel the nap so that your child is tired in the evening and can sleep. Or your child is one of the 25 percent of children who do not want to give up their afternoon nap and stick to this habit until they are five or six years old.
How should you react if your child no longer wants to take a nap?
- Find the reason: Did your child have a particularly exciting morning? Has he maybe watched too much TV or a new exciting toy? Then your child is too excited to sleep. Take time to talk about the morning and help your child relax. Or did your child doze off in the car on the way back from the shopping center? Then it is not tired, but had a microsleep and is now wide awake.
- Pay attention to the total length of sleep: If your child does not sleep enough at night either, then you should be consistent when it comes to the question of the afternoon nap so that your child gets enough sleep.
- Try to avoid fights: The nap should not become a showdown between you and your child. Remain calm and explain to your child why the nap is so important. It might help your child if he sees you lying down for a short nap. Then your child will not feel like they are missing out. And you are doing something very good for yourself, because a 20-minute sleep in the middle of the day is also very healthy for adults and refreshes body and mind.
- Bedtime rituals : Regular bedtimes and bedtime rituals help your child fall asleep. You can use the same rituals for your nap as you do in the evening. Make sure your child goes to bed at the same time if possibleadvertisementgoes, that applies to the afternoon nap as well as to the evening.
- Observe your child: How tired is your child? Do you still need the afternoon nap? Every child is different in their need for sleep. Perhaps your child is one of those who can do without an early afternoon nap.
- Force is pointless: be consistent, but do not use violence. It doesn’t help your child or your nerves if your child sits in his room for two hours, can’t sleep and cries and screams.
- Create rest periods: If your child consistently refuses to sleep, give them their favorite toy and prescribe a period of silence and rest. There are also extra toys like a wind-up music boxadvertisement, which can make it easier to fall asleep. You can see from his behavior whether he really no longer needs a nap or whether his behavior is due to his current condition.
- Ask a professional: If your child is unable to take a nap, but still feels tired, hyperactive or has trouble concentrating, then talking to a pediatrician may help. It could be due to reasons for which you need the help of a specialist. Your pediatrician can advise you or you can contact a sleep laboratory in your area.