Question
Hi, our daughter is 2yrs, 10mo old. What age is appropriate for naps to go away?
Our daughter fights naps nearly every day. The problem is that if she doesn’t get a nap is she gets extremely cranky by 4-5pm and we put her to bed by 6:30pm (Normal bedtime is 7:30pm). We’ve tried telling her to lay down and close her eyes instead of saying “nap.” We’ve tried telling her the doctor says she has to nap. We’ve tried persuading her by offering to play with her favorite toy after nap or by saying no favorite toy if you don’t nap. We leave her in her room with the door closed but she screams and screams and cries and cries for 1-2 hours. She bangs on the door or walls. She pulls at the doorstep, trying to rip it off the wall. A full-blown tantrum. What can we do to prevent the tantrums? Or do we let her scream it out in her room for a certain amount of time? How long do we let her cry it out before letting her out? Is it bad to pop into her room and talk to her? Any advice you have would be great. I don’t think she’s ready to drop naps altogether because she gets very cranky in the late afternoon.
