Your toddler suddenly refuses the afternoon nap that used to be sacred. Your preschooler fights sleep during the day but melts down by 4 PM. Your neighbor’s same-aged child still naps two hours daily without complaint.
What is going on?
Researchers at the University of Western Ontario published findings that might surprise you. The difference is not only about your child. It is also about what you believe.
The Research
Dr. Adam Newton and Dr. Graham Reid studied over 900 Canadian families with children aged 1-5. They developed two questionnaires to measure parent beliefs about napping.
The findings were clear: parent beliefs predict how often children nap, how long they nap, and when they stop napping altogether.
What Your Beliefs Reveal
Parents who believed naps were beneficial had children who napped 6-7 days per week, for longer durations, with structured nap times.
Parents who believed naps were problematic had children who napped less than once per week or not at all.
The pattern was consistent across both studies.
Why Parents Encourage or Discourage Naps
The research identified five distinct reasons that influence parent decisions:
Child-related encouragement: Your child gets cranky without rest or asks for a nap. You see they function better after sleeping during the day.
Parent-related encouragement: You need a break during the day or time to get household tasks done. The research confirms this is completely normal and legitimate.
Child resistance: Your child fights the nap routine. Forcing them creates more stress than benefit.
Child functioning: Your child seems to function well without napping. They are not cranky or overtired and sleep well at night.
Scheduling conflicts: Naps don’t fit your family’s schedule. They interfere with activities, school pickup times, or bedtime routines.
Parents who scored high on encouragement reasons had children who napped more. Parents who scored high on discouragement reasons had children who napped less.
The Bedtime Myth
Many parents worry that daytime naps will ruin nighttime sleep. The researchers tested this specifically.
They found only small correlations between nap beliefs and actual nighttime sleep problems. This means that believing naps cause bedtime problems doesn’t necessarily match with actually experiencing bedtime problems.
The takeaway? If your child naps and sleeps well at night, the nap probably is not the problem. If your child does not nap but bedtime is still difficult, removing naps probably will not fix it.
Why This Matters
After age 2, environmental factors (including parent decisions) influence nap patterns more than genetic factors. What you believe and prioritize starts to matter more.
Some 3-year-olds genuinely don’t need naps anymore. Others still need them. Your beliefs influence how you interpret your child’s signals.
When Professional Guidance Helps
Sometimes the nap transition gets complicated. Your child shows mixed signals. You a’re not sure whether to push for naps or let them go.
This is where trained sleep consultants make a real difference. A qualified professional can assess your specific situation and help you figure out what is actually happening versus what you fear might happen.
If you are reading this research and thinking “this is interesting,” you might be drawn to this work yourself. Sleep consultant training teaches you to understand studies like this Newton and Reid paper, translate them into practical help, and support families through transitions like this.
The International Institute of Infant Sleep offers evidence-based sleep consultant training that goes beyond generic sleep schedules. You learn how to assess developmental sleep patterns, understand the research behind pediatric sleep, and work with families on what makes sense for them. Their training shows you how to spot when parent beliefs are blocking progress, when a child needs different support, and how to guide families through changes like nap cessation with confidence.
A well-trained sleep consultant does not simply hand parents a schedule. You help them understand their child’s actual sleep needs, look at their own beliefs about sleep, and create plans that work for the whole family. That is the kind of work that changes lives.
If this research speaks to you, that is worth paying attention to.
What You Can Do Now
Track patterns before deciding. Keep a simple log for two weeks. Note when your child naps, how long, and how they behave on nap days versus non-nap days. Look at the actual data rather than your assumptions.
Separate your beliefs from your child’s needs. Ask yourself: Am I resisting naps because my child does not need them, or because I believe they should not need them?
Consider your own needs honestly. If you need that nap break to function as a parent, that is legitimate.
Test changes gradually. If you think your child might be ready to drop naps, try it for a few days. Watch what happens to mood, behavior, and nighttime sleep.
Reference:
International Institute of Infant Sleep. (2024). When should children stop napping? What Western Ontario scientists found about parent beliefs. https://iiisleep.com/when-should-children-stop-napping-what-university-of-western-ontario-scientists-discovered-about-parent-beliefs/
Newton, A. T., & Reid, G. J. (2024). Parents, preschoolers, and napping: the development and psychometric properties of two Nap Belief Scales in two independent samples. Frontiers in Sleep, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsle.2024.1351660
