Refusing to nap at 22 mos.

[PrincessFiona]

I will try a onesie! She's outgrown most of the ones we have, because she's so long, but I imagine the snaps will give her some trouble. Although, I will say that she's mastered the ability to remove diapers WHILE leaving the leggings covering them intact!

Cut the feet out of a 1 piece sleeper and then zip it on her backwards.


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[ladymoreta]

Hehe thanks Alison! I love the looks I get from my friends when I tell them they can always come to me for sleep advice. (I can almost hear them thinking "No way! You can't get your kid to sleep!") I promise them I can quote them any sleep book they want and save them the time.

Unfortunately, I've always been ready to drop naps long before DS was, so I welcomed it when he started. My best suggestion would be to lengthen your nap routine a little, to maybe include a lullaby or special nap time book with cuddle time. But I think the onesie to remove the temptation to take off the diaper will probably help the most. Good luck! I hate when they're clearly tired and just won't sleep. It's awful!

[Michele]

You can order Gerber onesies up to size 4T on Amazon. But if M is persistent, she will open the diaper anyway. I needed to use the footed sleepers for Kai, because he just stuck his hand through the leg hole to get to his penis.

For us, naps work best if the boys are well fed and have pooped. I know M doesn't eat well though. But could you restrict liquids for an hour before nap time to limit her peeing? Am I horrible for suggesting this?

[diggitydot]

I wish I had some helpful advice. Each of our three stooges stopped their naps at vastly different ages. DD1 stopped completely at about 22 months. I finally just told them that they had to have "quiet time", meaning in their beds looking through books sans toys.

[migirl]

You can order Gerber onesies up to size 4T on Amazon.

DS3yo is in 5T onesies (he's a big kid!) that I got on Amazon. It's ridiculous 'cause he's potty-trained (but still wearing a diaper at night), but just can't leave his penis alone. He started going through the side of his diaper too, so now he's in a onesie and a pair of long PJ bottoms at night.

I told you, it's ridiculous.

[TigerLily]

I'm not sure why this worked, and it was a total accident. But in case there is something to it I will share. Ayla stopped taking naps at exactly the same age and it made me CRAZY. I was so tired, and she was too. Anyway, we bought her a toddler bed since we found out we were expecting another and she started taking naps again literally immediately after we put together the bed. She crawled in, said night night, and slept. And she's napped fine ever since. Maybe something about feeling like she has a choice? I'm not sure. Anyway, just an idea. Good luck!

[MrsK]

Alison, I don't mean to frustrate you. I have a kid that sleeps and eats. But he also bites, pulls hair, hits, screaches, and laughs at me when I tell him "no". Imagine my frustration when the kid leaves me with bruises and the only advise offered is to just wait for him to grow out of it. I do my best to be consistant. I don't battle with him over naps but aggressive behaviour and defiance get me crazy.

[SuzySunshine]

Zoe may be on to something, that is about the age we moved A to her toddler bed and she naps and sleeps like a champ! She LOVES having the responsibility of a big bed.

[diggitydot]

I say do whatever you have to do for your own sanity and if that involves liquor and duct tape, so be it.

[alison]

She ended up taking a 3.5-hour nap...
In desperation, I took a cardboard box, flattened it out and darkened her room. Soon after she fell asleep.

I went to an art supply store and bought foam core and cut it into the size of her largest south-facing window.

She's having a hard time settling down for bed, but we'll see how this goes!

[ladymoreta]

Yay!!! I really hope that's the solution! I have blackout curtains in our room and in DS's room. I definitely sleep better with them.

[SuzySunshine]

I think I'm going to have to get the blackout curtains for A's room - we had blackout shades in MN and while she always goes right to sleep at nap (so I know she needs it) she still up tonight and last night didn't go to bed until 10pm.

[alison]

I think you mentioned, C, that it was noisy with the fireworks last night. We had that problem too. We live right in the middle of town, and people were doing their own firecrackers until 3am. I didnt sleep well, but M did.

Ug. All I know is that I'm not ready for her to lose her nap!!!

[poky]

I say do whatever you have to do for your own sanity and if that involves liquor and duct tape, so be it.

Heh. A friend had to use duct tape on her daughter's diapers because she *always* wanted to be completely naked. That actually might be worth trying if she keeps taking them off.

[v-girl]

We had to do that to K. He'd remove his diaper and then practice aiming from his crib.