My 22-month-old absolutely will not go down for a nap. I try rocking her, but she screams and fights me. I try laying her in her crib like she does for bedtime, but she either plays and laughs in there or starts crying hysterically. I just had another baby, so I can no longer go through a 2-hour ordeal of trying to get my toddler down for a nap every day. But she can't skip a nap because then the whole evening is one big long tantrum. And I know she is tired because she is rubbing her eyes and acting irritable. Can anyone help????
-
No advice but my LO started dropping naps at 19 months. She is almost 2.5 and she naps 3-4 times a week.
I hope things improve. Congrats on your new baby!
-
@FabG: will she hang out in the crib with some books or toys so she's at least having quiet time? Or can the three of you have a nap together?
-
How long do you leave her in her crib? On "off" days it can take my 24 min old an hour to fall asleep...
-
@Kemma: she probably would hang out in there with books, but I just don't think she would get enough rest that way. I still think she needs the nap, even if she doesn't want to do it. I tried co-sleeping with her for naps, but that didn't work either. She just played in the bed for like three hours (even though she was exhausted) and we wasted a week's worth of afternoons doing that.
-
@Mrs. Confetti: I've tried letting her stay in there for an hour - that's the most my nerves can take. I go in there to comfort her if she gets upset but she just can't calm down and go to sleep.
Should I try black out shades?
-
@FabG: we do blackout shades- with summer sunny days, I can't imagine my guy winding down without. We also use white noise (but we have used both since he was an infant ). Good luck !!!
-
Also on days with no nap, I would move up bedtime super early (even like 530/6 pm early)
-
Thinking more on this - could this be in reaction to new baby? Is there something special you could do at nap time that would make her feel like the big girl taking a "special" nap. (since possibly she is just vying for attention in any way she can)
-
@Mrs. Confetti: Thanks for the advice. I will definitely look into the black out shades. And I will definitely try to move up bedtime on no-nap days - otherwise she will be impossible to deal with!
I can't blame the new baby because she's been throwing fits over naps since she gave up the pacifier (on her own) at 13 months. It seems like ever since then, she hasn't been able to figure out how to go to sleep on her own. I rocked her for a long time, but she finally got to where she wouldn't let me do that either. It took me two months to get her to consistently go to bed at night on her own without a fit. We only achieved that monumental goal a few short weeks before the baby came - thank goodness! So now naps are our last sleep hurdle.
-
My daughter went through a stage like that at exactly the same age, and now seems to have settled back into napping like a normal toddler most of the time. I'm honestly not sure what worked, but a few things we tried were having her lay down for "quiet time" even if she wasn't napping, and flat out bribery. She often made a proper attempt at napping if I told her that something exciting was happening *after* her nap was over. That could backfire though if your child gets so excited that they don't nap at all.
On days when DD didn't nap at all, we allowed her to have some TV in the afternoon as some extra down time. That seemed to avert the afternoon meltdowns.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
10 comments