Mynyel Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 My ds2.5 is sitting beside me whining, crying and generally making life miserable after waking up from his 30 minute nap. :banghead: This happens every. single. day. Without. fail. :banghead: He WILL NOT sleep unless he falls asleep with me lying down with him or in my lap. :banghead: After I lay him down he wakes up 30 to 45 minutes later and is not fit to live with unless, again, I lay down with him or he is in my lap. :banghead: So long as I am laying down ot he is in my lap he will sleep 2 hours. I cannot continue to do this. He has been this way since birth. I simply am fed up. I have other things to do. It simply is too time consuming and it literally makes the whole house miserable when he does this. NO ONE can console him. Not even me, unless I lay with him, carry hime or put him in my lap. :banghead: I am simply at my wits end and I am ready to leave the house when he needs to nap. I just can't take it anymore. And one more time for good measure :banghead: I don't know what to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in FL Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 :grouphug: At 2.5 can you just leave him in his room alone after he wakes from a 30 minute nap? Is he talking yet? Even if he's not - he can probably understand if you tell him to play quietly in his room by himself until its time to get up. Will he still cry - yes - but let him (at 2.5 it isn't going to hurt him). As long as his room is safe let him get used to the new normal! Maybe he'll even be able to fall back to sleep. Letting him cry alone may not be popular advice - but mama needs her sanity back!! And it won't hurt him!!! If you don't like that advice - let him watch a kids show on the couch with his blankie (TV always seemed to distract my crying kids - and as before, mama needs her sanity and 1/2 hour of Dora/Blues Clues won't hurt him!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mynyel Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 :grouphug: At 2.5 can you just leave him in his room alone after he wakes from a 30 minute nap? Is he talking yet? Even if he's not - he can probably understand if you tell him to play quietly in his room by himself until its time to get up. Will he still cry - yes - but let him (at 2.5 it isn't going to hurt him). As long as his room is safe let him get used to the new normal! Maybe he'll even be able to fall back to sleep. Letting him cry alone may not be popular advice - but mama needs her sanity back!! And it won't hurt him!!! If you don't like that advice - let him watch a kids show on the couch with his blankie (TV always seemed to distract my crying kids - and as before, mama needs her sanity and 1/2 hour of Dora/Blues Clues won't hurt him!!) I should add he doesn't have his own room. We co-sleep (sometimes I regret that) and wonder if that is part of the problem BUT my computer I need to work on is in the bedroom. I have to work on it until my laptop is fixed. Which will only be another day or two. If I closed the door after nap and he woke up like that he would panic. I just tried to say, nicely, he should lay down if he is still tired, he told me he was tired (he does talk and understand really well), he just started crying more. *sigh* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 :grouphug::grouphug: BTDT I have no answers for you as the answer is different with each kid. So, :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 All three of my kids gave up their naps between the ages of 26-28 months. With the first kid, I fought it and tried to make him nap. I'd do everything I could, read a story, sing, cuddle, lie down with him but nothing worked. He'd resist then sleep for only 20-30 minutes and wake up like a crankypuss. He wouldn't fall asleep until after 9pm. When I stopped fighting the nap, he was much happier and went to bed at 7pm :D Of course, you'd think I would have learned from that experience with the other two but... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Do you have a sling or baby backpack? At that age, DD was still napping pretty well, but if she was tired and cranky I sometimes carried her around while I did other things (she was pretty light, though.) This seemed to satisfy her desire to be close, without totally cramping my style. The sling enabled me to put her on one hip, supported fully by the sling, with just a hand on her. The backpack was hands free, which was nice. I had a really good one--the hiking backpacking kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mynyel Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Do you have a sling or baby backpack? At that age, DD was still napping pretty well, but if she was tired and cranky I sometimes carried her around while I did other things (she was pretty light, though.) This seemed to satisfy her desire to be close, without totally cramping my style. The sling enabled me to put her on one hip, supported fully by the sling, with just a hand on her. The backpack was hands free, which was nice. I had a really good one--the hiking backpacking kind. I have a mai tai, and I used a moby when he was smaller. The problem is I can't carry him anymore. He is 35 pounds and kills my back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Have you tried no nap? My kids gave theirs up around that age for a similar reason. I figure the nap is to make the rest of the day more pleasant. If it does the opposite, then it may be time for it to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arghmatey Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Give up the nap and deal with his attitude by busying him. My 22 month old won't nap but will fall asleep in my lap, too. I feel your pain. She puts herself to sleep at night but will not nap. Headdesk. I squirt tempera paint on the back porch and let her go to town for 30 minutes, then bath her, then let her shred paper or a million other activities that take up my time and energy to plan. It's a messy PITA, but school has to get done. I wouldn't say this has done much for my sanity. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Mine would do that. 30 minutes isn't even a whole sleep cycle. That may be why they freak out when they wake up. It turns out she needed a TON of extra noise to sleep. A fan in the room wasn't nearly enough. She ended up falling asleep to a movie on the couch. Every day. And she would have a full nap instead, 1.5 hours (2 sleep cycles) usually. ETA: And at 3 I added a "quiet time" by herself since she doesn't nap much now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I can't remember the name of the backpack I had--I think it was a Kelty, but am not sure; but it was the kind that keeps the child back about 3 inches from your actual back, and very well balanced. It felt like wearing a medium weight daypack. I picked it out by going to REI and asking for help. They used a big teddy bear filled with lead shot, weighing about 30 or 35 pounds, to fit each of their packs to me, making the right strap adjustments and all of that. It was amazing how differently the different packs felt. The one I got felt like it was made for me--and that meant that I used it until DD was much heavier than I thought that I would. It actually could hold kids up to 60 lbs in weight, although I certainly did not go that far! Anyway, it might be worth considering. I think that at the weight you're talking about you would not have any trouble if you had the right pack. And it's nice for nature walks or even going to the store. Mine had lots of room for packed items--snacks, changes of clothes, even lunch for 2-3 people. After all, it was originally intended to use for actual backpacking (which I never did use it for, although it was great for day hikes.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I made my kids give up their naps at that time because of that. We also co-sleep and I wonder if that's part of it? They'd then go to bed around 6 or 7 and sleep all night. Worked well until the fourth when we needed to be out until after 7 at night! :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 :grouphug: This sounds exactly like my daughter. She has some sensory processing issues. To this day she cannot transition into sleep without melatonin and she has to have a sound machine on fairly loud to sleep. We used to have a "no flushing toilets" rule when she was asleep. It was so hard because laying down to help her sleep made me go to sleep too! I wish I had an answer for you because I remember what it felt like... I read so many books but even now looking back I don't know what was the right answer. She is STILL so sensitive and emotional, and sometimes I wish I had tried harder to make her tough things out. Other times I regret that I ever tried the "make her tough it out" approach at all. Good luck! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I would have been doin g this :party: if my son napped regularly at 2 1/2. Till my son was 3 he slept in my bed and would not go to sleep unless I was in the bed. He would stay up till midnight or later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elinnea Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Sounds like it's time to drop the nap and do an earlier bedtime. My dd is around the same age as your little one and started doing what you described around her 2nd birthday. My rule of thumb: When it takes me longer to get them settled for their nap than the actual nap then it's no more nap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 This is depressing to read because my 3 month old fights sleep all day and all night and has to be on me all the time to sleep and I am worn out. I was hoping he would get better as he gets older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 You co-sleep, so that means you haven't sleep trained him, right? Do you have a particular objection to doing that? Ds1 stopped napping around that age, and ds2 is getting close. How much good do you think the 30mins are doing him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cseitter Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 My dd is 2.5 and we have dropped naptime. She was doing the same and sleeping short periods and very grumpy when she woke. She also wouldn't go to bed until 12 or 1 in the morning if she took a nap. We do have quiet time though. She goes into her siblings room and plays quietly for about an hour. Well sometimes quietly sometimes night. They are 4.5 so sometimes it gets rowdy in there. I have the doorknob turned backwards so that I can lock it or they would never stay in. We have all their toys in their rooms, books, etc and have a good time together. Is there a place in your house you can do that? It took a couple of days for her to get use to but she does great now. OH and i bribe them. I give them a small handful of m&m's (talking like 5 or 6 m&ms) when they go into quiet time without crying or whining. They grab their bags and go now. :) My dd also co-sleeped until recently when I moved her crib mattress to the floor next to my side of the bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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