Category: Parent Talk
Well, the titlesays it all. But here's the lowdown. We've tried reminding, "Nathaniel it's naptime. Not time to play." We've tried being firm, "Nathaniel. Lay down and don't get up. It's time to sleep. Not to play." We've tried taking the toy away that he was playing with and he'd go on to another and another. We've tried an earlier naptime and a later one. We've tried soothing music, closing his door, feeding him a good lunch and letting him have his sippy of water in bed with him. We've also tried ignoring him completely and just letting him play for the duration of time that he normally sleeps 12:30 to 2:30. If he doesn't have anap, he's mean and cranky and awful by dinner time and refuses to eat. So, I know the child hasn't grown out of his nap. He still needs it if he's mean and cranky by 6:30. Lol. Please help!
how old is your son? i am sorry but i forget.
when i was little, the house rule was feet off the floor for an hour or more. we could take whatever we wanted in to bed with us and you had to stay there quietly for at least an hour. my mom would put on talking books or music and shut the door. i did the same thing with my kids and it worked. unfortunately, i believe they found ways to get what they wanted without touching the floor as i did. however, they were quiet and i could rest. often bein g in the bed would put them to sleep.
He's just barely two and I don't think he'd understand a concept like that. Thanks though.
Consistency is the key with napping, approx same time, aprox same length.
May be you can find a way to tire him out more in the morning, does he get any sort of play outside or running around time (hard to do when you are a blind parent though), when does he get up in the morning, could you make sure he gets up a bit earlier?
This could also just be a phase.
Is there anything you can do with lighting/curtains, may be his room is too bright, although I have not noticed this having any effect with our kids.
try to get some sort of rutine going on with him. this can be, storry telling before bed. let him get interested and attracted to your story. but it is a repetative pattorn that work. maybe two to three storries might be a good start for him. ones he get attracted to your stories, he'll start to focus on you and the story instead of his toys.
as far as toys goes, it might be a good idea to let him know when is consider play time, and when is not. ones his play time is approaching till the end, try to let hin know by, asking/helping/guiding him to put away his toys, and do something else. and ones play time resume, then, he is allow to take out his toys again. repeat this in a daily bases, or as often as your time allow you to do so, it will help him in overall process
what about holding him and rocking him and singing to him? my son is going 2 b 2&ahalf and sumtimes when he fights me 2 go 2 sleep, i tell him no it is time 2 take a nap. jus outa carriousity is he sighted? does he like nick jr? it was previously called noggin. if he does which my son loves yo gabba gabba, little bear, wow! wow! wubbzie!, little bill, gulla gulla island and everything try 2 put those on and tell him i will lay with u until u fall asleep and watch tv with u but if u try 2 get up or talk then the tv is immediatlly going off and turn it off just 2 let him know hey! I, AM, NOT, PLAYING, YOUR, GAMES!, and then after a couple minutes, turn it back on.. that's what i've done with my son. it seems 2 work..
Gabbie is fighting nap time, too. I lie down next to her in my bed and tell her it's time to take a nap. I make sure the door is shut, the lights are off and the curtains drawn. She fights and screams and throws a fit, but I ignore it. I don't care if she screams as long as she stays lying down. As soon as she gets up, I gently but firmly push her back down and repeat that it's time to sleep. Eventually, she goes to sleep.
Unfortunately, this works on me, too. Seems like no matter how many times I say to myself, "I'm not going to fall asleep," it happens anyway. LOL.
Nathaniel hates sleeping with us. He always has.
I agree with WB. Tire him out real good. Get him real active to the point that he will gas out at nap time and will nap good and long. He probably is too wired up to sleep, if you know what i mean. Just thank God you did not have a child like me, though, as I went days without sleeping nap or night. I'm twenty-five and still possess my same sleep patters as I had in infancy and it freaking drives me nuts. i take sleep meds, but I eventually fight through them and have to switch to new ones. i drove my mom absolutely mad as a youngster, and I drive myself mad with it now. i wish I could sleep normal. They say it gets better, but wen it came to me, it never did for my dear old mother. When I was old enough to understand, she had to just let me do my thing like playing all night or during when I was supposed ot nap because I had a strong will, and my battles made her nuts. She stoped making me nap at around one because I absolutely refused. She felt it was no use because it was making her tired fighting with me. i just hope that I do not have a child like me, but you know what they say. What you do to your parents, it comes back twice as bad to you, and I put my parents through the wringer. Good luck with that.
Naps never helped me. They just stressed me out because I would get borred from not being allowed to do anything. I almost never fell asleep, and if I did it made it much harder to fall asleep at night, which was already hard enough for me to begin with.
Is your child blind? Perhaps, he has a biological clock that isn't the same as the sighted world. Scientists have done studies on that and they've found that those of us without light perception have different sleeping patterns than sighted individuals. Geek Woman: I'm with you on the staying up bit. If I'm really good and start disciplining myself, I can make myself tired at a certain time each night. I tried for maybe two or three weeks and it worked fine until I got off my regiment. I take natural sleeping pills and, like you, I've had to change them a few times because my body gets immuned to them. When things get really bad, I'll actually resort to taking Advil PM, but I only do that if I truly need the sleep. SunshineAndRain: I don't remember ever having a nap time as a baby though I know Mom used to rock me and sing to me. It was those times when I was actually calm and quiet and I still remember how she used to caress my face so gently, her voice was and is so beautiful... That might work and provide wonderful memories for your child too.
Wow, it sounds like he is in the stage where he is getting a mind of his own and wanting to express his thoughts and feelings. I remember my kids rebelling with naps at this age. I would say stay consistant. Put him down at the same time each day, and I am not apposed to using a movie or nick Jr for him to sleep with. This may help him to relax enough to fall asleep. Good luck.
Angela
ou know what else is good, stories! I used to have talking dolls like Teddy Ruxpin, Corky, Cricket, Mother Goose etc. and I always used to listen to a story before bed. He may not understand them, but the soothing voices might help him fall asleep.
sorry to say it but I'd say he's outgrowing the need for a set nap. I'm not saying that he doesn't need the sleep, just that he doesn't need to specifically nap at a set time during the day. Almost everyone I know with children will tell you that they dropped their nap at around age two. It's difficult because they're not quite able to go through the whole day without that two hour sleep yet but equally they don't need that two hour sleep so desparately any more.
What I used to do with Nathan was to have a quiet time. So instead of playing with toys/running around I would switch on the television and let him watch it with his favourite teddybear, the one that always went to bed with him. He would then settle and relax and if I left the room for a while so was not there for distraction purposes, would drop off to sleep for a bit.
At two you really can't force them to sleep, and letting them scream achieves nothing other than to stress you all out.
If he doesn't sleep in the day and is still too tired by dinnertime, then bring his dinnertime forward and put him to bed earlier. hth.