Hi everyone, it's me, begging you for help and advice again. It's just that I have not found this one in the parenting books and I don't know what exactly I should do.
Daughter is about 14.5 months old now. She has been merrily taking 2 naps each day, at approximately 10 am and 2:30 pm since forever. Usually these last anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, allowing me to get a break, take a shower, eat something, clean, sew, etc. Of late she is not so much falling asleep in the afternoon. She sleeps for at least a good hour in the morning, which is cool, but then just plays and sings and talks in her crib for as long as I leave her in the pm.
Last night by 5:00 she was literally careening into furniture, crying for no reason, smacking me, throwing books and toys, and just generally being miserable. So I stuck her in her bed to rest until Hub came home, figuring we'd grill burgers and cook and then wake her to eat. She fell asleep in 2 seconds and slept soundly until at least 6:30. But then she was awake until after 10. Gaaaahhh!
So this morning I tried keeping her awake from when she got up (about 8) until after lunch. By 11:30 she was obviously tired, and by 12:30 she was unbearable. Wretched, even. She was so tired she could barely eat her lunch and much of it ended up in the dog's stomach rather than her own. So I washed her up as best I could what with all the smacking and crying she was doing, and plunked her in the crib. She's zonked now, of course, and will probably sleep for a good 3 hours.
My question for all you more experienced moms is this: when did your kids drop a nap? How did you handle this? Was there misery throughout the land, like we have here? I don't think my poor kid can survive the whole morning with zero rest, but she also can't make it from lunchtime to bedtime with no rest either. Help me, please.
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7 comments:
my now 3 y/old was the worlds worst sleeper so i can't offer advice about naps, cuz she just didn't--except at the sitters.
my ds just turned 14 months and i'd watching him for signs of going to 1 nap. (he's like your daughter, sleeps around 10 amd and 2:30pm).
one thing a mom told me which i will try--is to maybe make lunch early and naptime early in the afternoon.
for example: feed her around 11am have her in bed by 11:30am and let her sleep.
if she slept 2.5 hours and was up by 2, then you could put her down at 7pm for the night.
i am goign to try that with my son when he goes to 1 nap, since he goes to bed a 7pm now, it wouldn't change his bed time.
the days i have tried only one afternoon nap, he doesn't sleep longer and then is over tired by dinner time...
the mom who told me this said "never let them sleep past 2pm and then they will go to bed by 7pm".
glad that you are doing okay.
I think you're right. It sounds like she's ready to drop a nap.
You might try moving her afternoon nap up a little to right after lunch, maybe 1:00ish. The combination of being both tired and having a full tummy at naptime might replace two moderate naps with one good, long afternoon nap.
My kids were/are both clockwork nappers. When they dropped the morning nap they made up for it in the afternoon and still go to bed nicely at 8:00pm but that's just our experience. I know it doesn't work that way for every child.
It's a huge adjustment for moms when the kids start messing with the daily routine!
Ruth just dropped her morning nap a couple weeks ago, and she's a month younder than your girl. Marianne's timing was similar. It's a huge disappointment to lose that personal time!
I concur with the suggestions to try moving lunch up. In my experience with daycares, they often feed children that age at 11:30 (or even 11:00), followed by a nap as early as noon. We do something similar at home. Lunch is usually around 11:30 because if it's any later Ruth is too tired and distracted to eat, then the girls are napping by about 12:15 or 12:30.
It's still rough some mornings with Ruth because she's generally ready to sleep by about 11:00, but since I'm trying to balance her schedule with my other daughter and have them nap at the same time, I keep her awake a little longer. If she does crash out in the car or something, then she will often sleep from 11-12:30 eat her lunch after Marianne is napping, then nap again from 3-4:30. She still goes to bed alright around 8:00, but it means no peace and quiet for mommy, so I'm working toward the one nap from 12:30 to 2:30 or so.
Good luck working through the adjustment! Just when you get it worked out, you'll get to add baby#2 to the mix! :)
I agree ... it sounds as though Daughter is ready to go to one nap.
It is a rough transition, there's no two ways about it. I remember my Eldest, in particular, took a while to go definitively to one nap ... even after he'd been napping once a day for several weeks, there were days when we just KNEW that he needed a nap by 10A or so.
Feeding lunch at 11:30, followed by a nap, sounds like a very good plan. I think you will find, though, that her bedtime moves up ... my Young'un went to bed for the night at 6:30P for a year or so. It was just the way his body clock worked.
Dr. Weissbluth talks about this transition in his book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Lots of good stuff in there about the science of sleep.
Drop it! Start with the one nap earlier in the afternoon and just slowly move it until the time you want!
We are working with this same problem, actually. She wants to drop a nap. Our BIGGEST problem is that ever since we have been back from Japan, Lil bit has been going to bed late... it started out at 1am, and we got it to 10:30pm now. I am a little bit reluctant to get it back to 8, because this actually fits our lifestlye a little better. (we don't have to rush home if we go out to dinner with her, and I don't have to get up at 6, when 9 has always been my perfered wake up time.) SO, when in the WORLD should her nap be????
when the little ones want to drop a nap or not take them anymore either then it does get hard. My 3 year old doesn't take naps anymore just because if he does he won't go to bed tell after 11 pm. No thank you! I also have a 8 mo. old, but that is a whole nother story. The best thing I can tell you is that do what you did when you kept her up tell 12:30, ( this is a good time to get her to go down when you want, ex. everyday at noon ) with only one nap she will sleep about 3 hours with no problem. Just be sure to make nap time about 5 or 6 hours from the time she wakes up. Good luck, it will be hard for a couple of days and then it will be cake.
P.S. I love reading your blog...you are very inspiring....I hope all goes well with your pregnancy. My thoughts are with you.
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