Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
hanna77
member
Toddler nap issue
hanna77
member
Hi,
My 14 mo daughter is refusing to nap for me! My husband is at home looking after her during the week and she naps quite easily for him. He holds her in a particular way and walks around the house until she sleeps, then sits down with her for a while until she is deeply asleep and then puts her down on her own. When I was still on maternity leave and then on the weekends, I used to have her in a wrap and she used to sleep like that without any problems. When it started warming up about 4 months ago (subtropical summer), she started to dislike the wrap and wouldnt sleep in it anymore. Then I tried to just carry her, either facing me or facing out like my husband does, but it wouldnt work. She cried and got completely worked up and I had to either breastfeed her (which calmed her but didnt get her to sleep) or give her to my husband. We had a break through when she was sick one day and was so exhausted that she just feel asleep in my arms and must have remembered that thats ok - the next few days she would nap in my arms again. Over christmas when I was home and did it every day, it was a bit better, but still not great. I tried to establish a particular routine of things we would do before each nap. But now again, when I only do it on the weekends, she will cry and cry, and in the end my husband puts her to sleep.
Because it works for him, I basically know that it has nothing to do with a wrong schedule or her being hungry or anything like that. Each day I try, I want to perservere until she sleeps, so that we get back into a rythm, but it just doesnt happen because she just gets too worked up.
We co-sleep at night and don't really have any problems there. But she has generally been a difficult sleeper (a child health nurse agreed with us there, so its not just us). She has never fallen asleep on her own (an attempt to try the gentle cry it out with going back in regularly method was aborted), she will only fall asleep on the breast (at night) or while being carried around.
I would really appreciate some advice on how to establish a better routine, so she will nap for me again!
My 14 mo daughter is refusing to nap for me! My husband is at home looking after her during the week and she naps quite easily for him. He holds her in a particular way and walks around the house until she sleeps, then sits down with her for a while until she is deeply asleep and then puts her down on her own. When I was still on maternity leave and then on the weekends, I used to have her in a wrap and she used to sleep like that without any problems. When it started warming up about 4 months ago (subtropical summer), she started to dislike the wrap and wouldnt sleep in it anymore. Then I tried to just carry her, either facing me or facing out like my husband does, but it wouldnt work. She cried and got completely worked up and I had to either breastfeed her (which calmed her but didnt get her to sleep) or give her to my husband. We had a break through when she was sick one day and was so exhausted that she just feel asleep in my arms and must have remembered that thats ok - the next few days she would nap in my arms again. Over christmas when I was home and did it every day, it was a bit better, but still not great. I tried to establish a particular routine of things we would do before each nap. But now again, when I only do it on the weekends, she will cry and cry, and in the end my husband puts her to sleep.
Because it works for him, I basically know that it has nothing to do with a wrong schedule or her being hungry or anything like that. Each day I try, I want to perservere until she sleeps, so that we get back into a rythm, but it just doesnt happen because she just gets too worked up.
We co-sleep at night and don't really have any problems there. But she has generally been a difficult sleeper (a child health nurse agreed with us there, so its not just us). She has never fallen asleep on her own (an attempt to try the gentle cry it out with going back in regularly method was aborted), she will only fall asleep on the breast (at night) or while being carried around.
I would really appreciate some advice on how to establish a better routine, so she will nap for me again!
Re: Toddler nap issue
Reading this sounds like she has gotten use to something very specific and refuses anything else if that need is not met.
When she would nap before, did you also cosleep with her or when she was wrapped, was she able to sleep by herself?