Toddler Naps

[brandiewine11]

I'm going nuts. 

R has napped 1 out of the last 5 days. Last week was no better. He's gone through phases or had the occasional day of not napping before, but this is the longest stretch. It's horrible.

He still definitely needs a nap. He's tired, says he is, but then gets wired as soon as I put him in bed. If he'd would be still for 1 minute he'd fall asleep, but he keeps playing. Not with toys. Just singing, playing with blankets, looking out the window, whatever.

Then he's awful all afternoon - he just can't listen or focus. He throws things and is just not a fun kid to be around. If we go out at all, he'll fall asleep in the car. So I KNOW he's tired and needs a nap.

When he does sleep, he sleeps for 2 hours and is great the rest of the day.

I thought maybe it was because we had been inside too much lately, but we went to a trampoline park this morning. He was exhausted! But no nap. 

What can I do to fix this??

[ovenrack]

Mar 31, 2017 16:28:45 GMT -5 brandiewine11 said:

I'm going nuts. 

R has napped 1 out of the last 5 days. Last week was no better. He's gone through phases or had the occasional day of not napping before, but this is the longest stretch. It's horrible.

He still definitely needs a nap. He's tired, says he is, but then gets wired as soon as I put him in bed. If he'd would be still for 1 minute he'd fall asleep, but he keeps playing. Not with toys. Just singing, playing with blankets, looking out the window, whatever.

Then he's awful all afternoon - he just can't listen or focus. He throws things and is just not a fun kid to be around. If we go out at all, he'll fall asleep in the car. So I KNOW he's tired and needs a nap.

When he does sleep, he sleeps for 2 hours and is great the rest of the day.

I thought maybe it was because we had been inside too much lately, but we went to a trampoline park this morning. He was exhausted! But no nap. 

What can I do to fix this??

H stopped napping for a month or so right after M was born. It was awful. Just awful.

I ended up having to physically hold him in bed - put him back, time after time. I asked what he wanted me to do to help him sleep and that's when he said he wanted me to sit with him. Spoiler: I ended up sitting with him to fall asleep for... a long time. I still do it at night.

Anyway. Good luck! H is still a disaster without naps too. Though I know when he drops it it'll be a final push of bad afternoons until he transitions.

[Stringy]

Just keep pushing through. Tell him he doesn't have to sleep but has to lie and rest quietly. Even when he does eventually drop naps I recommend keeping that practice up for your sanity. M almost fell asleep on the couch during her quiet time today. She still naps 1-2 times a week. Keep at it. Most don't really drop naps at this point.

And for future reference I always Time her quiet time with Ps afternoon nap so I have some sanity. Though lately it's mostly involved her asking if she can get up yet.

[CurlieWhirlie]

My mother's solution to this is to take M on "a ride" at naptime every day, and then let him sleep for two hours in the car while she and my dad putter around the garage or the garden. Obviously that's not an option for most people who need to get things done, or where the weather isn't conducive to sleeping in the car (too cold or too hot). It actually drives me nuts that she does this because it makes napping M in his bed on the weekends a challenge, but we just *can't* do the car thing with three other kids and things that we need to do.

Sorry, that wasn't helpful. I would do what Stringy suggests and just keep at it with the "you don't have to sleep, but you do have to rest quietly" line, and hope that while resting quietly he falls asleep.

Godspeed.

[MapleMe]

Oh you folks who have kids who will do "quiet time." I went through a phase of trying for that and M was so defiant about the idea that I got so frustrated that I locked her in her room and she got so upset that she was practically hyperventilating. It wasn't my proudest parenting moment. *Most* of the time if M won't nap she isn't a bear in the afternoon so I finally just gave up making quiet time happen. If she seems tired I try for a nap (she likes the nap routine). If she refuses to nap, I just go with it and move on. I can actually get more done with her around and not napping than I can with the nap fight. What bites me in the butt is if she needs/wants to nap and I didn't plan accordingly so she can't nap and then ends up with an evening meltdown. That happened a couple times on our trip because we basically didn't schedule her any naps (most days she didn't want one).

[Stringy]

Is there a question there maple?

Nap time is still part of her routine. Some days she just has to sit on the couch with books for a half hour or so. Some days she actually asks to go to bed. Since it's part of the routine I always plan for it. Unless it's one of those out and about days but then I'm usually figuring P will car nap and therefore a car ride for M serves a similar purpose (and she sometimes falls asleep in the car).

[Stringy]

But the good thing is she can't tell time much so sometimes it's at 1 and other times not til almost 3. Usually dependent on when P needs to go down.

That said I'm only in charge like 3 days a week so many other people don't seem to do this with her.

[MapleMe]

Mar 31, 2017 23:42:04 GMT -5 Stringy said:

Is there a question there maple?

Nap time is still part of her routine. Some days she just has to sit on the couch with books for a half hour or so. Some days she actually asks to go to bed. Since it's part of the routine I always plan for it. Unless it's one of those out and about days but then I'm usually figuring P will car nap and therefore a car ride for M serves a similar purpose (and she sometimes falls asleep in the car).

No, it was more of a statement about what doesn't work for my kid. For the most part it's pretty easy to get her to play independently while I do something else for a half hour (get C down for a nap, answer an email, or even rest on the couch, for example). But physically confining her to a space is a big ol' giant no go. Telling her to sit quietly on the couch for a half hour would be a thirty minute battle of wills, constant vigilance and probable yelling (perhaps on both of our parts - and it takes a lot to get me to yell). But telling her that I need to do xyz for a half hour and that she needs to find something else to do is usually successful with the standard toddler caveats. I had every intention of having designated quiet time for years to come, but it turns out that achieving that with my kid requires authoritatively "breaking" her. Even my much more authoritative husband was all, "this is nuts, I just can't do this."

She's definitely not done with naps and still naps about 1/2 the time, but I just have stopped mandating the down time. I'm envious of those for whom it works, but freed greatly by stopping trying for it.