PNP escape artist... Ideas needed!
lexusolsen
member
One of my daycare kids is almost two and very much still needs a nap. He gets whinny and irritable if he doesn't get one or is off schedule. Yesterday, he started climbing out of the PNP he has been napping in since February. I found him wide awake and playing outside of it when I went to check on him. The kid is very stubborn, so laying him on a mat or even my couch won't work because he wants to move around. I would literally have to hold him down. Apparently, he started doing it at home too. They bought him a big boy bed but he won't stay in it.
Should I just consider him done with naps? Should I put him in the PNP and let him sleep or climb out and play (I am afraid that he will hurt himself if he continues climbing out. I am giving them my two weeks notice on Monday but I want to help him transition. WWYD?
Re: PNP escape artist... Ideas needed!
Would he fall asleep with someone in the room either in the pnp or on a mat and then you could gently wean him from that? They started transitioning kids at 18 months to mats at my DS's daycare. With DS they said that they'd just rub his back some and he'd fall asleep and after a week or two was more than happy to go to sleep on his own.
I know there is a huge difference with my DS if I try to vary his schedule or nap routine. If I try to cut even one book or change it even 15 minutes it makes a huge difference in him very nicely wanting to take a nap and fighting it. He could either be overtired or not wound down enough. Since it sounds like he still needs a nap I would focus on that because if you hit the right time and give him enough time to wind down and accept sleep he will gladly do it (or so the books and my experience with DS say, just so I don't sound like a know it all).
Maybe he needs nap pushed back a few minutes? I recently had to push back DS's by 15 minutes and then a few weeks later by another 15 minutes, so now it's at 1:30 instead of 1, but we start the routine at basically 1 and I leave the room around 1:20. Sometimes he will talk for a few minutes but mostly he goes right to sleep. 3 weeks ago he was screaming bloody murder when I would leave the room at 1 and only had a 10 minute routine. He's playing harder these days and I think just needs more time to block the world out and relax before sleep.
I spoke to his mother about the nap situation today when she came to pick him up. We decided (since they are having the same problem at home with the big boy bed) to take the mat out of the PNP and let him rest on that in the living room. She doesn't mind if he doesn't nap while we work on it since he will probably fall asleep on the way home (he gets picked up around 2 so still pretty early in the day).
I plan to give notice on Friday. Contractually, I am obligated to give them two weeks notice and this will give them that plus a few days. I wish I could give them more but my DH just lost his day job and I can't risk losing more income just yet. : / thanks for the advice!