Any suggestions on what I can do w/this situation?

smiling76 · September 2012

So DS1 is in a special "ed" preschool program at the local elementary school as a continuation of the work he did through Early Intervention. This year his program is in the afternoon rather than the morning. He is in daycare prior to this and unfortunately, due to the time of this program--he had to give up his nap (which yes, he still took a nap at the age of 4--and needs it. He still takes it on the weekend--a good couple of hours and really wasn't ready to give it up IMO).

So by the time he gets to his 'school' he is beyond tired and because of that has had some behavior issues (from being overtired). So that's the first issue--but the SECOND issue, which is what I'm really concerned about since we are in the midst of handling the first issue, is that he's wetting his bed again at night --and I think it's because he's SOOOOOO tired that he just sleeps right through being able to wake himself up. He's been potty trained at night for quite some time and hasn't had an accident at night in I don't know how long--a long time though.

He feels bad wetting the bed----which I tell him not to feel bad. BUT more importantly, he's sooooo tired and just wants to go back to bed. I change the sheets in the middle of the night but can only move so fast. OR if he doesn't wake in the middle of the night then he's waking up super early and staying up--making his issues at school even worse.

WWYD about the bed wetting??? I don't give him liquids for a couple hours before bed. And I'm getting him to bed as quickly as we can after his bath and dinner--which has been around 7:45. My mom suggested putting a pull up on him at night (and explaining to him that it's to help just in case....)--but I'm not sure. He's worked so hard to NOT have to wear them.

Any suggestions would be super helpful!!

bumpuser511563 · September 2012

Is there anyway you can suggest to the school to switch to morning? I know this would bother me if DS was in the afternoon and still napped.

Does he nap on the bus? DS use to nap on the bus and not nap at daycare. The daycare actually complained and the bus aides did their utmost to keep him up. A short nap can make a world of difference.

What time does he go back to daycare after he goes to his afternoon preschool? Is there anyway they can put your DS somewhere where he can nap either before or after preschool?

MirandaHobbes · September 2012

We dealt with this exact thing when DS was 2-3. He got so tired by 1pm that I couldn't schedule anything in the afternoon- he was just too irritable and would refuse to cooperate. Even his therapists agreed that he wasn't ready for afternoon therapy. So we started our days with 7 am Speech Therapy. By the time he was in his late 3's he started showing signs that maybe he'd be okay without a nap in the afternoon. (By "signs" I mean he had trouble falling asleep at daycare. At home I also discovered that if we just "skipped" a nap he would do okay and wouldn't fall apart). That was a huge relief to us because we could start rearranging his day. Our EI was relieved to have him in the afternoon because as auntie said, the early mornings are for the younger set. He had basically "outgrown" it and was ready for the bigger kids in the afternoons. It was hard for us to figure out when to force him to quit his nap. As his mom, I felt like he really needed it. But at some point he needed to be pushed to forgo it. He has always been a fantastically good sleeper.

DS is still incredibly tired at night and he still sleeps 3-4 hours in the afternoons at home on the weekends. I'm quite amazed that he stays dry all night (sleeps 7pm to 7am-- and he drinks plenty with dinner which is usually at 6). If I forget to make him go potty before bed there's a 100% chance he'll wet it overnight. I haven't seen a difference in how much fluids we give him before bedtime, but I know each kid is different. DS has been dry all night since he was PT'd at about 32 months. This might be a phase you must have to wait out until his body figures it out. Good luck though- I remember all too well what it's like to have naptime rule your life!!!

Florak8 · September 2012

DS is starting with the school district this fall in the afternoon, and the nap is really worrying me, too. His day care said they will set him up in a corner to try to nap in the morning, but I doubt he will with all the activity around. I am actually thinking about keeping him up later to make him want to nap earlier in the day.

We are stuck with the afternoon because the school district has created a special class for him and some other kids with gross motor delays. There will be a PT in there the whole afternoon. So I don't want him to miss the opportunity.

No advice, but I wanted to say I hear ya on this!

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