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The great nap debate
Oh man, what to do!!!! Harper is entering that in between nap phase!! You know what I'm talking about, right? The, if you give them a nap they stay up til midnight but if you don't nap them, they act bipolar and sometimes fall asleep on the kitchen floor at 5 pm phase. It's pretty brutal. From 2 o'clock til bedtime, I am dealing with a crazy person. I am looking for advice /opinions/ pity on this. How did you get through this? Are you going through it now?
I am so going to miss naps. I lived for nap time.
Oh man, what to do!!!! Harper is entering that in between nap phase!! You know what I'm talking about, right? The, if you give them a nap they stay up til midnight but if you don't nap them, they act bipolar and sometimes fall asleep on the kitchen floor at 5 pm phase. It's pretty brutal. From 2 o'clock til bedtime, I am dealing with a crazy person. I am looking for advice /opinions/ pity on this. How did you get through this? Are you going through it now?
I am so going to miss naps. I lived for nap time.
33 comments:
Ahhh! Going through it now myself! And I'm soooo tired right now...
It is such a bummer when the naps go away, especially if they get grouchy and you still have four hours before bedtime.
Yup, we do have one of those little people in our house right now...I just bought some Visine to treat my "red up all night" eyes. Good luck..it's SUCH a tough stage!
I'm going through that stage right now with my two eldest kiddos and it can be down right scary around here around 4PM. I start watching the minutes ticking by, waiting for my hubby to come home. I've found that most days at this time of year I can send them out to the backward when they get grouchy. On rainy/colder days though I sometimes resort to 45 minute "quiet time" in their rooms....
I'm LOVING the earlier bedtime though. Good luck!!!!!
My little one will be 4 in June and we are in the nap-no-man's-land too. The added complication for us is that he's a little pipsqueak who doesn't eat and if he skips the nap he is usually sleeping through dinner. I have no good ideas, just commiserating. We'll get through it, right?
We are just entering it now ... can occasionally swing an early nap (if he's been late to bed the night before and we got up early anyway) or can occasionally swing no nap, but the late nap is well established unfortunately. My advice is keep them awake when you can, by being outside, early dinner, long bath, bed! We had an early night last night after nearly midnight the one before and it was ACE!!!
I have an 8 year-old and can't really remember the fine points of how his napping ended, but I do remember that it was the saddest day of my young parenting life!! Good luck!
When you find the secret, let me know!! I'm bouncing around in nap limbo land, too....missing the good ol' dependable nap days!
Oh I am so there with you. My Carver is right there. Oh and we're also potty training. If I ever needed an hour or two nap time mommy break, its now. I deal with it by still usually having "quiet time" where we sit together in his room with the lights down and read stories together. Sometimes he still falls asleep but if he does I wake him up after about an hour so he's still tired at bedtime. If he doesn't take a nap, I put him to bed at 7:30 right after I put my 10 month old to bed. So far its working (most days:)
Good luck!
Feeling your pain. No great advice, I've been testing out the every other day philosophy but nothing's perfect. I live by routine and it seems like I'm just going to have to give in and play the nap/no nap thing day by day, depending on how tired my little guy seems.
Living it right now as we type. Seriously can suck balls sometimes. Here's what I do...if we are having a good day, I will let you stay up. If we are having a every moment must be a melt down day your taking a nap. I have no shame in letting my almost 4 year old cry herself to sleep either. Boy, I sound horrible right now. I have been know to let her fall asleep at 5 and not get up until 8...boy do those nights really hurt. No bueno on the late naps. I think I am going to start phasing them out completely though she hasnt had a nap for two days and seems to be doing pretty well. If I really want her to take a nap I lay down with her for 10 or 15 and she is usually out in no time!
How old is he? I make my kids take naps until they're about 4-5 years old. After that, they have "quiet time" in their rooms. They can color, play Leapfrog video games, read books, play QUIETLY by themselves. That way I still get my downtime (I work at home so it's not really downtime!) and they still get their resting time. Sometimes they will even fall asleep if they're tired enough!
Ugh, yes, we have been going through this for about 6 months. We finally decided to stop napping my then almost three year old because otherwise she stayed up until 9 or 10 at night. She is a cranky little thing in the afternoon, but we are putting her to bed earlier. I feel your pain!
my second child is about to turn 3 in June...and he just in the last month started this. So we have gone all out no naps. It seems to work better for us if we stay consistent...and he is in bed by 6 pm and ALWAYS asleep by 6:30 pm or earlier...then he sleeps a good 12 hours. He was napping too late and would only get to sleep like an hour before i had to wake him to go get his big brother at school...then he would be in a horrid mood and stay up till like 9 or 9:30 pm but be in a bad mood b/c his later nap is cut so short with school pick up.
Hi... i have five kids 12, 9, 7, 5 and 10 mths...ive been through exactly what you've going through and its soooo hard..my suggestion is..entertainment...it might take every ounce of your strength, but try going two days without him napping, its brutal i know....then on the 3rd day let him sleep, and start process over again..after about a week and a half, you'll find the crazy "children of the corn" behaviour will slowly disapear..i used to have to find then falling asleep randomly around the house, once my daughter fell asleep half way down a play slide in our lounge room..(hilarious)..oh and one last tip...FOOD...keep feeding them.. soft drinks or jelly snakes...(only if desperate lol)..transition is hard...
p.s love your blog :-)
kelly
Going through it with our youngest of 3 boys and it is exhausting. I'm not sure who is more tired; the kid or me!
My almost-4-year-old boy alternates between nap days and no-nap days. I usually let him make the call, but on days when he doesn't nap, I have to keep him out of the car after 4 pm, or else he will fall asleep too late and wreck bedtime!
With my 1st, this phase lasted two weeks. Yep, two weeks. Going through it now with #2. What a slap in the face this has been, compared to my first! SIX MONTHS AND COUNTING!!! Doesn't help that I have a 10-month-old that is also phasing from three naps to one or two already. Can't go anywhere in the car or stroller after about 1:00 or bedtime is sometime between 10 and midnight. Sigh. This too shall pass, no? Good luck!
I'm doing that right now too. My three year old is right there, does NOT want to take a nap, but sometimes just can't make it and is asleep at 6:30, up at 10 and then screaming and not wanting to sleep the rest of the night. It sucks. My friend SWEARS that melatonin is awesome for helping with sleep problems, I haven't tried it yet. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.
Do an earlier nap maybe?
oh sweet love do i know what you mean! tristan and jenna were perfect and napped till kindergarten and sometimes even when they got home...perfect i tell you! tatum and addie NOT SO MUCH! hopefully this next little dude has a bit of what my first 2 did. my advice? give him drugs! hahahha! don't do that you'll end up in jail. :) hang in there!
We are going through this right now as well.. Some days he gets too "busy" to nap, and others he begs for a morning one. I love how you describe the behavior as bipolar.. lol There are those days where you feel like you are living with a mini hot mess! I have the no naps after 2 rule.. if he's not down by then, he has to stay up... which doesn't always work if I am not watching close. Hang in there, it eventually get less crazy.
My advice will sound good typed out but only you will know if it works for your kid! Our youngest went through the naptime horrors a couple years ago. I had two home schooled kids also, so we had "quiet reading/nap" time in place early every afternoon. The key is EARLY. Right after lunch. No later than 2 pm!
My boys have no toys in their rooms. We are lucky enough to have a playroom. They can choose four books for naptime and have a stuffed animal. This minimizes the potential for playing all naptime long.
I kept checking on him and when he finally fell asleep, I'd set the timer for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes were up I'd go in with a stuffed animal and have the stuffed animal "wake" him up with cuddles and tickles.
It usually worked out toward a good mood and no crankiness, but there were those days when he didn't fall asleep and was still a grouch.
Good luck!
I say lock him in his bed at nap time and again at bedtime...and shut the door.
I hope you still let me babysit
Mu little guy is in that phase right now. He is almost unbearable during the "witching hour".
I make him lay down in a darkened room with kid shows on tv with the volume turned waaaayyyyy down. That way he has to lay very still to be able to hear the tv. He falls asleep almost every time.
After reading all the previous comments, I have to say "Every child is different."
My oldest (now 15) stopped sleeping during naptime at daycare when she was 5, but would fall asleep on the 45 minute drive home. Bedtime came about 30 minutes later then.
My middle child can fall asleep, anytime, anywhere, if he sits still long enough.
My youngest...well she's a completely different character,
I had her taking naps until FOUR, then found that laying down with her for "quiet time" and rubbing her back would make her fall asleep most of the time. (Not saying that's an option for you, I don't know) And just like my mother, lots of times I fell asleep, and woke to her doing SOMETHING she shouldn't do.
BUT, you'll get through it, I promise.
Boy, do I know what you are talking about! If my son does crash like Harper did then I only let him sleep for 30 minutes. I wake him up so he will still go to sleep on time and he does seem much more pleasant after a tiny nap. I hate waking him up though but I really hate him going to bed at midnight.
We went thru that a few years ago when my youngest was 3! I found that if I let him just fall asleep on the floor of the living room around 2pm or a little later, my older son would come home, make the dog bark and wake him up! Worked great! Then he got a bit of a nap and I didn't have to fight with him to get him to wake up!
My 3 yr old is RIGHT there. He's my youngest and I always said, "Naptime is Golden..." and will sorely miss them.
A few ideas:
My SIL put a latch on her kid's door so he couldn't let himself out of naptime. Sounds horrible, but it worked for them. He could still peep out and she could go in at anytime. Worked like a charm.
I work as a nanny for a 3 and 5 year old. Both are in the "in between stage." Their mom wants them to have at least a "quiet time" for an hour and half. (And they are really good, obedient kids for the most part.) So they go in their rooms and I rub their backs after having read stories to both of them. I tell them to try and close their eyes for at least a few minutes. MOST of the time- they fall asleep. But if they don't, they play quietly in their room. HOwever-- in working with lots of kids- this doesn't always work. It really depends on the child and how stubborn he/she is :) I agree with another person who commented that if he can't do the above suggestions, maybe put him to bed earlier than the other kiddos. Good luck! I love your blog and I think you're an AMAZING mother!!! :)
this post totally scares me. bobbi says her boys came home from kindergarten and took naps. i'm hoping my kids get that from ryan's side of the family.
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When you find the secret, let me know!! I'm bouncing around in nap limbo land, too....missing the good ol' dependable nap days!
Yup, we do have one of those little people in our house right now...I just bought some Visine to treat my "red up all night" eyes. Good luck..it's SUCH a tough stage!
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