End of naps - I want to cry :(
monalua
member
Hi ladies,
My son will be 3 in May and it seems he is giving up naps. He has been napping up to this point, but only because I rock him to sleep or lay down with him. If I don't, he doesn't nap. This last week, he has just refused to nap and rock or lay down with me no matter what I do. He also doesn't really seem to need it - he's fine without one and doesn't seem tired as the day goes on. I am just panicking because I totally cherish his naptime to get things done and have time to myself. I'm a SAHM with no family around and my husband works really long hours. I'm pregnant and due in a few weeks so I know everything will change then anyway, but I'm having a hard time reconciling this. I do put him to bed earlier when he doesn't nap, but I'm usually so tired by then myself that I crash too lol.
Has anyone had any luck implementing a "quiet time" with your 2-3 year old? Where they stay in their room for a certain period of time? If so, any tips, and how long? My son is very social and I haven't had much luck with this so far, short of locking him in his room (which I'm not going to do), I need some advice!
Thank you!
Re: End of naps - I want to cry :(
My sister insisted on quiet time with her kids. She would set a timer for an hour and the kids had to stay in their respective rooms for one hour after lunch. She'd supply some craft/art supplies, plus all the books and toys that are normally in their room. Her kids seemed to be happy enough with the arrangement, but I didn't watch the first couple weeks of it.
She's a SAHM with little support, as well.
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I did "quiet time" with my kids and it worked well. My kids took long naps -- like 2 to 2.5 hours. You can't expect them to hang out and play quietly for that long. But you can still get 45 minutes.
Everyone hates when the kids give up naps, but there are some really nice things about it. It's especially nice on weekends when you can sort of get up and go right through the afternoon without having to worry about whether you'll be home for nap, whether the child will be cranky, banking on "maybe he'll nap in the car" and stuff like that.
On the first beach vacation after my youngest stopped napping, my DH and I both felt like we got "vacation" back. No longer were we tied to the house and the need to nap. Aaahhh!
I started quiet time when DD2 was really little and started to need naps in her room vs anywhere in the house (probably 4-5 months). I just told DD1 that she needed to play quietly so I could but DD2 down to nap. Then once DD2 was asleep I freed DD1 from her room. I gradually increased the time. Now if she doesn't fall asleep, she will play in her room for an hour. It's not always quiet but at least I get things done and more importantly, a little me time. DD1 will be 3 in June.
DD has done the same many times. She'll go on a 2 or 3 day nap strike and just hang out in her room. I watch on the video monitor and she'll get up, get a book, get back in bed, rearrange her stuffed animals, get a different book, drink some water, repeat. She's perfectly happy so I just let her stay up there for her normal nap time.