At some point in your parenthood, you have or will have dealt with a cranky child who resists napping. Today, Parents Ask expert Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Nap Solution weighs in on the battle of the nap and what is worth fighting for:

My 3-year-old hates to take a nap. Is it worth the battle to make him sleep?

From the moment your child wakes in the morning he is slowly using up the benefits of the previous night’s sleep. He wakes up totally refreshed, but as the hours pass, little by little, the benefits of his sleep time are used up. You can tell this is true if you watch his behavior. He likely has less patience and more fussing and tantrums in the afternoon and evening than he does in the morning.

The span of “Happily Awake” time

As children grow, the length of time that they can stay awake and happy increases. A newborn can only be awake one or two hours before tiredness sets in, whereas a two year old can last five to seven hours before craving a nap. When children are pushed beyond their biological “happily awake” time span without a break that’s when they become fatigued, fussy and unhappy. The scientific term for this process is “homeostatic sleep pressure” . . .  I call it The Volcano Effect. We’ve all seen the effects of this on a child, as it is often as clear as watching a volcano erupt. Have you ever observed a fussy child and thought, “Someone needs a nap!”

Why naps help

As a child progresses through his day, his biology demands a sleep break to regroup, refresh and repair. Each stage of the sleep cycle during a nap brings benefits, such as: an increase in alertness, the release of growth hormones, repair of bones, tissues and muscles, the fortification of the immune system, regulation of appetite and the release of bottled up stress. (Not to mention a much-needed break for a caregiver!)



A fresh start after each nap

When we provide naps, we allow a child a “fresh start” after each sleep period. This Volcano concept brings to light an important point: Quality naps can make up for lost night sleep – but extra nighttime sleep does not make up for missed naps, due to the homeostatic sleep pressure concept. Therefore, no matter how your child sleeps at night – great sleeper or poor sleeper -- his daily naps are critically important to release the rising sleep pressure.