How to encourage a 2.5 yo to nap?

Beccaz7

We recently had a new baby and its really been hard on my 2.5 yo daughter. She has grown freakishly attached to me. She was always a mommas girl, but now its like Whoa! Plus I have postpartum depression which has made everything just crazy for both of us. Anyways, we've been trying some things, but one thing that really helps is when she naps. She has phased out naps completely since before she turned 2. But there has been the rare occasion when she fell asleep in the car, or fell asleep while watching TV and I realized that those days have been miraculously good in comparison. But she will not nap unless she is tricked into it. I really dont wanna have to go for a drive every day with a new baby and massive snowfall warning and just no. She is a very active child too and initiating a quiet time in the place of naps has failed. She cant sit still long enough to nap unless I lay in her bed and hold her and close the door and force the issue. And then the process of falling asleep would be longer than the actual nap. That's why we let naps fall by the wayside in the first place. Now with a new baby I just dont have the time to put in all that effort. Any idea about what might help? Like some sort of rewards or something? 

nrayyes

We struggle with this with my 3 year old. He naps at school but not at home - unless he falls asleep in the car or somewhere else accidentally. On the days he doesn’t nap we just put him to bed about an hour earlier than usual.  Have u tried putting on a movie she likes? Some times we’ll put on a movie , close all blinds and turn off lights and have “rest time” we bring out his stuffed animals and blanket and he can watch a movie on the couch, and often times he’ll fall asleep. Nothing else has worked for us. Sorry and good luck!