Little Man has been trying to give up his nap since his paci went bye-bye 6 months ago. Starting from that very day. I expected him to miss his paci, but I thought that after he adjusted he'd be able to nap without it. No.
I know that some children stop napping earlier than others, but trust me, he still needs a nap. He is whiney and crying well before dinner if he doesn't nap. But he won't fall asleep. Shortly after paci went bye-bye I made a deal with him. If he wasn't asleep by the time his sleep music stopped (about 40 minutes) he could get up and play in his room until I came to get him. This worked GREAT in getting him to lay still long enough to fall asleep. For about a week. He happened to stay up the whole time once, and then he "knew" the music. After that he would lay there just waiting for the final song.
I have sometimes gone upstairs and turned his sleep music on AGAIN (which he hates) and he has finally fallen asleep during the second go-round. But that is hard for me to be always watching the clock and trying to time it just right.
Last week my wonderful hubby burned a CD of our two favorite lullaby CD's ~ he combined them onto one CD. It is 79 minutes long. Same deal as before ~ if he's still awake after 79 minutes he can get up and play in his room until I get him. It has worked twice. He will often fall asleep if I stay in the room with him, sitting in the rocking chair, or bring him into my bed and nap with him. But I can't do this every day, much as I would love to!
It wouldn't really matter to me whether he sleeps or not, as long as he gets a rest time, but the evenings are a BEAR if he doesn't sleep.
Help! Does anyone have any other ideas? Do I just accept that naptime is over? If naps are over, how do we make it until bedtime without having a hissy fit?
Do you have access to a DVD player or whatever that has continuous play on it? My kids sometimes napped well and sometimes not. A lot had to do with how tired out they were with physical activity.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Laurie
We are facing this with our third as well. She, too, will anticipate the music ending. I put the repeat button on, but since she knows the last songs she will often turn it off herself. But, like yours, without a nap she is a bear by dinnertime. Here's what I plan to do. I will tell her that she doesn't have to nap, but will still be required to have some quiet room time. I'm going to pick a few annoying non-nap behaviors, and tell her that if she commits these on a non-nap day, then she will be going to bed right after dinner. For her, this will mean not seeing Daddy. (I haven't exactly gotten this okay'd with him yet, but I'm hoping that a week of it would help cure the problem.) My hope is that she will either start to relax more during quiet time and sometimes fall asleep, or at least learn to curb her whining on the days she doesn't. Let me know what ends up working with yours.
ReplyDeleteBlessings.
it's so tough. i face this with my K. daughter A can roll with things when she misses her nap, but not K.
ReplyDeletei typically put her to bed very early (7 or 7:30) on those days and then spend some extra time with A until 8:30.
one thing that helps K when she hasn't napped and has no coping skills is if i go in the living room and give her some rocking chair time for about 20 min or so. i force her to relax and meld into me and no one else is in the room. for some reason that does seem to help her re-boot a bit and get thru dinner and bath.
hang in.
What time does he go to bed? Do all your kids go to bed at the same time? Ours do. Not everybody does it that way but I haven't really figured anything else out. Anyway, does he stay awake for a bit after he's in bed? I mean at night.
ReplyDeleteBeth: I'm afraid his bedtimes vary a bit depending on what our evening plans were. The normal range is anywhere from 8-9. It is a little later on Wed nights because of Awana (it takes us awhile to calm everyone down after we get home) and sometimes on Friday nights because of movie night. But he is almost always in bed by 9 and obviously when he has not had a nap I shoot more for 8. When he goes to bed closer to 9 it is with his roommate. When he goes to bed at 8 is it by himself. He is almost always asleep very quickly.
ReplyDeleteI never did figure anything out for this transition stage. Pray it doesn't last long... Hugs to you!
ReplyDelete