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December 2010 Moms
missmuffin87
member
Is this terrible? re: electronics
missmuffin87
member
The last week or so I've been letting hazel play with her leap pad at naptime. It keeps her from getting up out of bed, pulling all her books off the shelf, emptying her dresser drawers, and other general messy things that aren't napping.
I usually only hear it for a few mins, so I think she's falling asleep pretty quickly and then it turns itself off. She used to stay in bed for naps no problem, but I stopped giving her a pacifier at naptime a couple weeks ago (we are now 100% binks free woot!) and she's been having trouble settling down for a nap since then. The leap pad really helps, but I feel like I'm doing it all wrong since I know I should be limiting screen time before bed. I feel guilty about destroying her brain or setting her up for terrible sleep habits, but she needs to nap and she wasn't able to relax without her binks until I gave her the pad. Should I try something else?
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Re: Is this terrible? re: electronics
I don't think it's terrible, but honestly, I would try a different tactic. I'd worry about her becoming too dependent on it to fall asleep.
That said, if this is just naptime and not at night, it might not be THAT big a deal.
Take everything out of her room- that is what I did with my boys. There are NO books or toys in their bedroom- since bedrooms are for sleeping. As for the dresser- I took off the knobs and they cannot open the drawers- but my DH fabricated a tool for me to be able to open the drawers.
They are allowed each their stuffed dog, elmo and cookie monster- thats it- besides a blanket and pillow. there is nothing too exciting or stimulating so they nap from boredom LOL.
Eh, it wouldn't be my first choice to have a leap pad as a "lovey". But in reality, that's pretty much what it is. DS has to have his blanket to sleep and sometimes needs/wants one other toy with him (a car or a stuffed toy, etc) and I'm not worried about trying to break that habit anytime soon.
I might try to see if there some other non-electronic toy she could play with before naps, but in reality I might not fight it too much.
I would be curious as to how long she plays with it before falling asleep - maybe use a video monitor and see?
It could be so exciting that eventually this backfires and causes her to stop napping at all because she's playing the whole time, that's really what I'd worry about.
If it gets her to nap, then I'd say it's worth it. Also, many of our kids will be dropping their nap in about 6 months anyway, so it's not that big of deal.
Congrats on ditching the paci. We went cold turkey about 10 days ago and haven't looked back. Naps are definitely harder though, and they were practically non-existent already.