sleep patterns changing, need help!

davis0905

I don't know what is going on with LO. Her mood is fine--great actually--but she is sleeping less.  She is waking up really early--between 4:30am-6am and now today she is refusing to nap.  I haven't had trouble with her napping for a long time.  It's been probably a year since she has fought a nap.  Many times she would even put herself down for a nap.  Why the sudden change?  She keeps telling me she's hungry and so I give her a snack, but still she won't nap.  I think the "hungry" thing is a stalling technique but maybe she is going through a growth spurt?  Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.  I don't know if I need to consider the "quiet time" instead of a nap....but I'm not even sure that would work because she is DEFINITELY NOT QUIET when I put her in her crib! 

2-Step

My DS is going through the early morning wake ups too. Usually between 5-5:30am. This really sucks and I don't know what you tell you about it, but I will be checking back here for advice too!

One thing that works for us for nap time is just doing quiet time, which is also what they do at daycare. We do not put him in his bed, we start by telling him 5 minutes until quiet time, then it's two more bounces of the ball until quite time etc. so we give him plenty of warning. He knows the rule is he has to be laying down, he can watch a show or read a book with the lights dimmed or off and one of us usually lays with him on the couch or most of the time in our bed. He does it willingly most days because it is part of the daily routine and he is usually fast asleep in less than 10 minutes. Then he just naps on the couch or our bed. If we put him in his bed during the day he would never fall asleep on his own. This hasn't effected our ability to put him down at night in his own bed either. He seems to understand the difference in the two things at this age.

davis0905

Thank you--this is good advice!  I will try the quiet time routine if she continues to fight the naps in her crib.