nap help please!

*Amy*

I am in nap hell!  Anthony will not stay in his crib, will not lay down beside me and nap, nothing.  How do I get him to sleep?  We are on day 4 of no nap and it is terrible! He isn't ready to give it up b/c he is irritable and rubbing his eyes.  What do I do?

AWD

I don't have any personal experiences with that YET. However my BIL and his wife have twin girls and they began climbing out of their cribs about 4 months ago (right when they turned 2) and they had to buy those crib tents. They still use them b/c they are not ready to try the "big girl" beds.

abpdjs

do you have a bedtime routine that you can slightly mimick for naps?  if you read a book before bed, do you have time to read a book before naps and have some downtime right before?

winery

This scares the mess out of me!

Try a crib tent?

That's our plan if/when J starts getting out of his crib.  Ugh.

katie277s

My DS still takes a nap (thank goodness!) most days, but there are some days that he just isn't sleepy.  A compromise we have is that he doesn't have to sleep, but he must rest in his room for 1 hour.  I usually find that within that hour, he is asleep. 

One thing you could do is let him nap on the floor.  My DS has a little tent with a sleeping bag and LOVES to sleep in there.  I have gone in to wake him in the mornings and have found that he climbed in there himself to sleep. 

luckiestwife

My DD is about 6 months older than Anthony, and she's been in a twin bed since her 2nd birthday, so on the days when she doesn't want to nap, she will absolutely TRASH her room. ?I've tried everything I can think of to "force" her to sleep, and it really boils down to this: you can't force a kid to sleep. ?You can give all sorts of prompts and encouragement, but you can't make them do it. ?So what I'd suggest (and what we have the most success with) is:

1. Establish a consistent nap/bed routine. ?Do this every time he goes to bed.

2. Be consistent. ?Don't let him sometimes nap and sometimes stay up. ?If he's not napping, he should still be in his room having "quiet time."

3. Don't give in to the mind games! ?Give an inch and they'll take a mile, so no "just one more" anything (snack, story, song, etc). ?

4. Be firm, not harsh. ?Remind him repeatedly that it's naptime, don't let him do other activities instead, but don't try to force the issue. ?A kid who's traumatized because he's "in big trouble" isn't one likely to sleep! ?

?

I totally feel your pain. ?We're just coming off a month-long nap strike. ?I think it's winding down (she has taken naps 4 out of the past 6 days) but it's horrible KNOWING she needs the nap and just won't take it! ?Good luck!?