Naps question

[alison]

Dd is 2.5. Naps all but disappeared a few months ago. I'd still offer her one every day, but most of the time I'd see her doing somersaults in her bed or playing quietly for about 30 minutes. I'd pull her out again and we'd go straight to 6:30-6:45pm, at which point, I'd give her a bath and she'd be asleep by around 7:15-30.

She would wake up between 8:00-9am completely well rested and happy.

When there were no naps, by 5pm, she'd cry or have a tantrum at the drop of a hat.

Fast forward to about a week ago. Naps are back. She sleeps for 2, almost 3 hours. She wakes up disoriented and pissed off. The disorientation goes away of course, but the pissed offedness stays until she hits the sack at 7:45-8pm.

And then she's up again at 6:45am for good.

What's going on here? She obviously tired enough to take a nap during the day, but I feel like the rest hasn't been restful and she wakes up super bitchy. And I'm bitchy as well, because I used to sleep in till 8:30 most mornings!

[alison]

My first thought was teething or allergies, but she tells me if she's in pain or her eyes are itchy. This one has me baffled!

[v-girl]

Hmm...maybe not having a restful sleep at night and then too much sleep in the afternoon? What happens if you wake her after an hour?

[alison]

I think I'll try that. I do like that the nap has come back, but do think she may be getting too much sleep during the day and not enough at night.

How many hours of sleep should they be getting?

[Ladybug]

She might be growing. I interrupt the nap after 1.5-2 hours and let them slowly wake up to a Disney movie and snack. Usually they're in a better mood after the movie (plus you get more productive time). Outdoor walks are a generally successful way to slowly wake up too. It's just another phase and growth spurt.

[alison]

That makes sense, too, Ladybug. She has been eating much better than normal. It feels like shes gaining weight!

[TigerLily]

Ayla goes through these phases too. I don't really have any advice, but I understand! She goes through times where she wakes up a total bitch. Sometimes if I just wait a few minutes she'll fall back to sleep. But, I guess if her naps are possibly too long then that won't work!

[Pollyanna]

I find that when my kiddos nap too late in the day they wake up cranky no matter how well or long they napped.

[Thirteen]

We are going through a strange phase. DS will now fall asleep (usually in the car, regardless of time of day!) for 20 minutes. I try to keep him awake, rush home, etc., to put him into bed. A good nap for him is 2 hours - anything less, and he's grumpy.

Anyway, the problem is, for the past week, he won't nap for me. At all.
I finally resorted to putting him into his bed, to encourage napping. Yesterday, it took him 30-40 minutes of quietly resting until he crashed. I guess I'm just wondering if that's mean? Putting them in their cribs for "quiet time" - even if he won't sleep, he needs to rest.

How long do you keep them in their crib? The whole length of what used to be the nap? I'm not sure how to proceed. Thank you!

[MrsK]

Provided that they are quiet and are not howling, I keep my boys in their cribs for the duration of naptime. Most days, they both nap. Occassionally, K1 (2.5yo) will stay awake most of naptime but he is content to play quietly in his crib and falls asleep eventually even if it is for the last 30 minutes of naptime. Amazing considering that he is fully able to climb out of the crib and he is otherwise incapable of being still. K2 (1yo) is a different story. He sometimes screams and yells until he is released and will skip the nap all together; K1 will beg me to take K2 away so that he can rest. I hate that because I get stuck at home if they don't nap at the same time. Then there are the days when they are both just obnoxious and take turns calling me into the room every 15-20 minutes for the duration of naptime. Of course, then we have a very unpleasant dinner later because both babes and mom are exhausted.

[ladymoreta]

How many naps is he taking? What time are his naps normally? Previously, when he fell asleep in the car, did you stay in the car for the whole nap, or did he transfer inside well? Where does he usually nap, and where does he usually sleep at night?

I don't think he is ready to drop all naps yet. I believe the average age is about 3.5, while some will drop them at 2, and some need an occasional nap up to 5 years old (or older).

I definitely don't think its mean to leave him playing quietly in his crib if that works. You know best! The rule in our house is that beds are for sleeping. I don't generally let them play in their bed/crib during naptime, and I don't let them play until they fall asleep. Of course, DS will occasionally play on his bed when he's playing in his room, or I will put DD in her crib if I need her in a safe place to go do something quickly (like answer the door or go to the bathroom). I think that rule made transitioning to a toddler bed easier on DS.

[alison]

I'd be rich if I had an answer for you... I have a video monitor, so I can see what dd is up to, and if she's doing headstands/jumping up and down/somersaulting, then I know I have to go in and tuck her in again. If she's lying down or sitting up, then I usually just let her be. She usually calls out for me after 30 minutes or so if she's not going to nap. That's a new development for us, and neither of us wastes time with forcing a nap that just isn't going to happen.

We don't have the rule that bed=sleep, because dd has always made associations between things (high chair=they're going to try to make me eat, for instance) that set her into escape mode. She's always been good at falling asleep, I sort of take her word on whether on not she will.

[Michele]

I don't have crib nap advice. But Bean is too young to drop a nap. Especially if he used to sleep 2h! It sounds like a developmental milestone is just around the corner. And the sleep regression is just a marker for that.

If my kids would rest/lie quietly in a crib for 2h I would be all over that! Mine throw fits if they aren't all three touching me in the bed. Again, I'm probably not the one you want sleep advice from. . But D at almost 6y still naps 45min-1h 4/7 days. K at 3.5y naps 2-3h daily. P naps even more.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Why does my 5 month old nap 20 mins maybe 3x a day when all of your much older children are napping for hours??? Omg, I get nothing done because you can't even gather laundry and start it in the time she's asleep. If I hold her, I can occasionally get an hour.

[Michele]

I wore my kids for their naps until they were almost 1. And all of them mapped randomly until about 7-8 months old.

When I'm home, we all wake up around 6am and eat and play a bit. At 9 ish, boys have quiet TV time and Phedre goes up on my back for a nap. She will sleep about an hour. After she wakes we play, prep for lunch and eat lunch around noon. After lunch is nap time for all three. Everyone is awake by about 3-4pm. Then we play, prep for dinner and eat dinner around 6. Bedtime is around 8:30-9. It's what is working right now.

Mine didn't organize their naps until over a year. And before that I would wear them a lot and so they slept when they wanted to. But I've always been with them when they nap. So except for at school/daycare, they nap with me. That's not ideal for a lot of people. But it works for us.