So DD is 20 months and has never been nap trained. Shes been a decent napper for a long time and rocking her just worked so never bothered to change something that was working.... Until now. I rock her ( no lie) between 30 and 45 minutes. I put her down several times only to have her wake immediately. When she does sleep she will sleep anywhere between 30 minutes and 2.5 hours. Bedtime she is put down sleepy and puts herself to sleep. But bedtime has been getting later and later for some reason. I've tried doing our same bedtime routine for naps. but she will roll around for as long as an hour and a half before I get her and she is exhausted. Any suggestions for me? Anyone else in the same boat?
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@autumn865: I was there!!!
I decided it was the 18 month sleep regression (kicked in after travel at almost 19 months for us). We got her to let us sit next to her crib until she fell asleep... then the next night we'd sit further away, then further, etc. until she would let us sit in the doorway. Then I sat outside the door with the door opened a bit so she could see my leg. In all situations every time she started to cry I'd turn my head and shush her until she stopped. And if she didn't stop, I'd get up and lay her back down and pat her back. And start the process all over of sitting as far away as possible. We'd have to do night wakeups as well this way. It was torture, but after a few weeks she let us shut the door. It's been a month or so but we still shush her through the door after putting her down and she is GREAT now.
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So hard! I can't say I've nap trained toddlers, but here's what worked for us:
- a solid nap routine (shorter version of the bedtime routine) that you do EVERY SINGLE TIME. For us, it's diapers, the same book, and a little poem that I tell them while I zip them into their sleep sacks
- commit to being at home for every single nap for at least a couple of weeks (total pain but worth it)
- not sure where you are on the CIO fence, but we ended up letting them cry for up to 1 hr (checks at 3, 5, 10, 15 mins)...if they were still crying after 1 hr, I would get them up and try again (and repeat the same routine AGAIN) after 45 minutes or an hour
- we always did a "dramatic entrance" whenever it was time to get them up from nap...I would turn on the lights, open the curtain, and act super happy, (even if I'd been in there 2 minutes earlier and they had cried the whole time)...this signaled that the nap "torture" was over
- blackout shades saved us, as did white noise
Good luck! It's hard...I can honestly say the week I spent nap training them was the most agonizing of my mommy journey so far
Totally worth it though!
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We have somewhat sleep and nap trained our 18 mo in the past month or so. At both bedtime and for naps I do the same thing: pick up/put down (when she's crying pick her up until she stops, then lie her back down) and when I put her down, I leave the room immediately. I actually go into my closet/bath area and wait until I know she's asleep, and if she cries I go back and pick up/put down. This has worked for us. I actually find it's better than sitting next to the crib which I also tried for awhile.
I decided it was the 18 month sleep regression (kicked in after travel at almost 19 months for us). We got her to let us sit next to her crib until she fell asleep... then the next night we'd sit further away, then further, etc. until she would let us sit in the doorway. Then I sat outside the door with the door opened a bit so she could see my leg. In all situations every time she started to cry I'd turn my head and shush her until she stopped. And if she didn't stop, I'd get up and lay her back down and pat her back. And start the process all over of sitting as far away as possible. We'd have to do night wakeups as well this way. It was torture, but after a few weeks she let us shut the door. It's been a month or so but we still shush her through the door after putting her down and she is GREAT now.
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