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jen5-03
member
Napping for 2yo+
jen5-03
member
What is your routine to get your kiddo to nap? I just don't know how I'll get E down for a nap once I have a newborn to juggle too - especially if the baby is a crap sleeper like she was as a baby.
So this question is mainly aimed at people with lousy nappers...
[Poll]
- Jena
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Napping for 2yo+
well, this is part of the reason i do not feel bad about sending truitt to school 5 days and letting him nap there... but really, it hasn't been as hard as i thought it would be.
for truitt to nap, i have to lay down with him. so, i can hope against hope that mathis is tired and i can get him to nap in his crib before i have to put truitt down and that he stays asleep. this has happened a handful of times. oh happy day.
but
what usually happens is i just bring mathis to truitt's room and nurse him when i sit with truitt until he falls asleep. this is especially easy when they are really new and sleep all the time anyway. by the time mathis was staying awake more during the day, i had a better idea of how i would juggle them.
Hmmm...mine doesn't really fit the above. O doesn't always nap anymore but we do the same routine regardless. We tell him it's nap time and take him to his room. I read a book with him and then tell him to get into bed. On the days he naps he usually goes right to sleep. On the days he doesn't, he spends about an hour or two in his room doing independent play. He knows that nap time means staying in his room.
DD #1 was a terrible napper, even as an infant. We stopped putting her down for naps at age 2 and she never appeared to miss her nap. It was actually worse if she did nap by accident (in the car, for example) because she would be absolutely miserable when she woke up. It was really tough dealing with a non-napping toddler once we went from one child to two.
Luckily, DD #2 was a fabulous sleeper from the very beginning and always napped well. So even though DD1 drove me insane most afternoons, I could always count on my baby to sleep well. At 18 months old she'll nap for 2 to 3 hours most days. I had NO IDEA this was even a possibility, as my first never ever napped like that.
looks like we are going down that same path and posts like this give me hope! lol!
This is what I did when G was tiny. Now I lay him down in his crib and he usually goes to sleep on his own. I sit in Joshua's room until he falls asleep. Usually 10 minutes. If it seems like he is not going to nap I shut the door and make him have quiet time.
If the second child had also been a non-napper, I'm confident I would have gone straight back to work. The only way I can stand to SAH now is because of Elizabeth's nap. Isn't that sad?
I picked the last option.
I pretty much tell her it's time for a nap and then we go into her bed. We do have a routine though. Sometimes I read one book for her for nap time. Sometimes she wants a song. After that (call me weird), but I just sit down next to her bed and stare at her. Right when she opens her eyes, I tell her to close them (making sure she keeps her eyes close the entire time which makes her sleep faster). It generally works most of the time and she falls asleep in 5-10 mins.
When baby #2 comes, and if no one is around to help out, I can probably just do the same while holding the baby and sitting next to her bed to make sure she keeps her eyes closed.
no. it's not sad. there are days i long for my desk. i am lucky that i can afford to have supplemental child care without working or else i would be going back for sure.
Since around 18-21 months, we go upstairs after lunch and play a bit. Then we go to his room, read 3 books, turn off the ligh, sing a song, and then I kiss him and tuck him in and say goodnight. He usually just falls asleep after that. He occasionally will call out for me, and I'll go up and check on him, and sometimes will lay down with him for a minute - but not long. I usually let him know that I'll be back to check on him, even if I don't plan on it. He sometimes falls asleep in the car on the way back from downtown or my parents', but I can luckily just carry him upstairs and he'll fall back asleep.
Before 1.5 years, I always stayed with him until he fell asleep and before that nursed him to sleep. I ended up using tips from the No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers to help with night time sleep. After he learned to put himself to sleep at night, I started having him put himself to sleep for naps.
He sleeps at school and that is a routine.
At home, it takes him awhile to go to sleep. We have a routine: books, song, then left alone to go to sleep. Doesn't always work.
Thanks ladies. This is honestly one of my biggest fears about having 2 kids.
E is a great napper at school, but she's only in school 2x a week right now. Might be there 3x a week again before the baby comes, but I can't afford to send her more than that and very likely it will stay at 2x a week.
To get her to nap at home I have to lay down with her. For a while I was able to sit next to her, but now it's lay down or nothing. And for now, while I'm pg, that's fine and I often end up napping with her.
But she seems to be reverting in some of her habits... she's been asking me (demanding) that I rock her! "Mama hold me in the rocker!!" I've been able to avoid this for naps, but she has a total meltdown at night when we refuse.