My daughter is turning 2 in 2 weeks and she's not napping at all anymore during the day, even though she gets up at 6 in the morning. Is that normal or am I just not trying hard enough? At daycare it seems like the other kids are more flexible with it.
Most 2-year-olds still need a nap, but there's really big differences between kids - some give it up earlier than others. If your daughter gets up at 6 in the morning and just can't wind down at noon, she might just not be tired enough or her rhythm has already shifted. I'd say try it for a while longer, but don't force her into it - some kids manage without a midday nap if they go to bed earlier in the evening.
The other kids at daycare are just all different, that's totally normal.
At 2 years old, a midday nap is definitely still normal and lots of kids need it too. With my own daughter it was similar - there were phases where she slept really well during the day and then phases where she had zero interest. But if she's getting up at 6 and active all day, she should actually be pretty tired.
The problem often is that you wait too long or the routine isn't right. For us it helped to actually put the midday nap at the same time every day, so not to mess around trying different times flexibly. Maybe try it between 12 and 1 pm with a set routine - that could be a few minutes of reading, blinds down, super calm. And it's also important that she doesn't have too much action before nap time. Some parents don't even realize how wound up the little ones are. For me it was always a question of quiet time beforehand and a dark room.
But the kindergarten thing is real too - some kids are more flexible, yeah. It depends on the kid and also how much you work at it. At 2 years old your daughter is still pretty young for her to have completely stopped needing sleep. Keep trying, but without pressure. If it still doesn't work after a week, it could also just be that she's in a phase. That often changes again.
Hard to say without more context, but waking up at 6 and no nap - that's really long for a 2-year-old. Some kids do drop their nap at that age, yeah, but usually more like 3, 3.5 years old. Two is still pretty early for that. Though of course there are kids who just need less sleep than others, that's genetic.
Have you tried making naptime different? Not necessarily in a dark room with the whole bedtime routine, but maybe a quiet time after eating - a chill period without much stimulation, maybe even lying down for a bit, even if it's just half an hour. Sometimes kids get knocked out of their rhythm and it takes a few days before things "click" again. And yeah, at daycare things can be different because there's a group and a routine, and some kids do better in that kind of structure.
The main thing: watch for signs that she's overtired - if she's still bouncing around on the floor at 7 pm or starts whining for no reason, then she probably still needs that nap. But if she's balanced and can fall asleep normally in the evening, then maybe that's just her normal right now. I wouldn't force it too much, but some kind of quiet rest time at midday is still worth doing, even if she's not actually sleeping.
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