The younger your child, the more hours of sleep they need. That way they can manage their energy throughout the day. When they grow and reach four or five years old, a dreaded afternoon arrives when they refuse to close their eyes and take a nap. Just like that they abandon the habit, which can often lead to mood changes, irritability, or falling asleep in the late afternoon, affecting their night’s sleep.
We have the information you need to help your child rest enough:
Children should have routines, schedules and constant activities. At this age, little ones cannot yet tell the difference between the days of the week, so we can’t ask them to take a nap on the weekends if they don’t do so during the week. It is necessary to plan daily activities thinking about an appropriate nap time. Before naptime you can employ routines or toys that the child associates with sleep, such as offering a favorite toy, reading a book or giving a relaxing massage. There are a variety of useful apps for naptime to help your child get to sleep more easily. For example, Storybook is an app that combines the benefits of massage and stories that creates a special bond between parents and children.
This routine done every day, around the same time, will lead to your child associating them with sleep.
Defiance: Another reason why your little ones refuse to sleep is because around 3 years old they are finding their individuality and are dealing with difficulties with independence and power. Which often means doing the exact opposite of what Momma and Daddy say.
In addition, children are interested in exploring the world so taking a nap is not an interesting idea. You should not impose a nap hour but instead make it sound like an attractive idea that they will agree with.
Learn when to give in. If your child does not want to take a nap and seems active and happy during the day, and gets enough hours of sleep at night, there’s no problem with not taking a nap.
In any case, the transition to staying awake all day may take a few months, which requires a lot of patience and practice. Maybe taking a nap can be too much for your child, however you can push up the dinner hour and bedtime.
Another great strategy is changing naptime for a “quiet hour”…during which children that don’t nap can read a book, color, or do some other calm activity.
