Nap Facts in Older Children

Nap Facts: 5-6 Years

February 14, 2011 by weissbluthmethod At age 5, 27% of children are napping one nap/day about 4 days/week. Among those who are napping, 80% nap between 1.5-2.5 hours.
At age 6, 12% of children are napping one nap/day about 3 days/week. Among those who are napping, 90% nap between 1-2 hours.
Napping is less influenced by genetics than parenting practices.
Marc
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

Nap Facts: 4 Years

January 24, 2011 by weissbluthmethod At age 4 years, 57% of children are napping one nap/day about 5 naps/week. 80% of children who nap are napping between 1.5-2.5 hours.
Napping is less influenced by genetics than parenting practices.
Marc

Nap Facts: 36 Months

January 10, 2011 by weissbluthmethod At 36 months of age, 92% of children are napping one nap/day. 80% of children who nap are napping between 1.5-2.5 hours.
Napping is less influenced by genetics than parenting practices.
Marc
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child


The above are posts from Dr Weissbluth's blog.  Note that in these ages he states "Napping is less influenced by genetics than parenting practics".  So that is an important distinction.  In younger ages, despite best parental efforts, he believes genetics play a role.  BUT at these ages it is more parental efforts.  I agree that parenting practices plays a large part in napping at these ages.  So many times you hear "My child gave up napping at age 2...."or whatever figure you want to put in here.  I am not sure that is entirely accurate.  The child may have had some napping issues at that time but it was the parent who chose to stop giving the nap instead of really troubleshooting (timing of nap, physical and mental stimulation, adequate winddown before nap, etc)or just pushing through the phase and consistently giving a nap.  I don't think that can be underestimated.  A consistent day and sleep routine sends clear messages to children and signals the body it is time to rest.  That is where the parental role plays a big factor.  I think it can be easy to "schedule out" a children's nap as they get older and involved in extra activities (such as classes, preschool programs, sports, daycamps,etc).  But I think many children can benefit from daytime naps (or a minimum resttime), especially as they do tend to be involved in more activities and are exposed to more which make them tired.  So it is kind of backwards to schedule out their naps before they are really ready.  I think a good option is to schedule alternating nap and no-nap days when they are clearly dropping their nap (or some variation of that).  So their bodies can get used to no-nap and not having a "cold-turkey" approach.  I think that would be a drastic change for their bodies and could lead to overtired creeping in.

Also a crucial key when dropping nap (or weaning,etc) is to have an ultraearly bedtime.  As Dr. Weissbluth has said many times early to bed can mean LATE to rise.  It may not be convenient and it may not be "fashionable" but a bedtime of 5:30 PM on no-nap days can have children sleeping til 6:30 AM the next day and being well rested.  (Or 6 PM, etc).  It is funny how it works.  I know a friend who put her daughter down no later than 6 PM on skipped nap days and she'd sleep 12.5 hrs.  But if she put her down late at 7 PM, she woke up the same time on her own at 6:30 AM, having only 11.5 hrs sleep.  So early bedtimes can really work wonders many times.  It may take a bit of trial and error to see which times work best for your little one.

One thing that his studies do not state is  the average length of night sleep for these children.  I suspect as they get older (especially the 5-6 range), if they are napping long during the day it will mean a shorter night.  Or it could be that the nap days are a catch-up from a  busy week.  For example possbily children in kindergarten,etc who can't nap/rest during the school week and nap on the weekends.  But I think it gets to a point where if they get older and they nap they may have trouble falling asleep at night at a reasonable hour and that is when you would go to no nap and an early bedtime instead....but it's a long process to get there! And don't rush it:)