Chaotic toddler

[EmilyGF]

My toddler just learned to climb out of his bed... which means he spends his "naptime" climbing out of bed instead of falling asleep and then sleeping for 2 hours.

 

This means we have an exhausted, cranky, 17-month-old around all morning.

 

The last few mornings have been total chaos.

 

What can I do????

 

Emily

[MeghanL]

I'll duck the tomatoes, but I found tv to be a life-saver during nap transition times. I'd let my youngest watch Nick Jr while I worked with the boys. Then we'd spend time doing activities in the afternoon that could involve her.

[Mom2TheTeam]

From the mom of 6 small children.....I would take time off from school to work on naps and keeping the toddler in bed. If you are changing to a toddler bed, do that and work on the transition. If you aren't, work on teaching the toddler to stay in his crib. I use the "silent return" method. (Put them back in bed every time they get out without saying a word or engaging them other than sometimes saying, "It's nap time. Stay in bed.") It is a lot of work, but worth it. Or baby proof the room completely and put a gate at the door. Then, don't worry about it he gets out of bed. Just let him play till he falls asleep on the floor. I've done both things. 17 month is too young to drop naps. So, you are going to have to work on getting through this transition and back to a napping toddler. If you stick to your guns that napping is not optional, he will start napping again, but it might take a week or so.

 

Anyway, I feel for you. Mine are all 7 and under, including twins who recently turned 3 and a 7 month old. Any transition in napping is rough on everyone and really rough on HS'ing. Hang in there!

 

ETA - By time off from school what I really mean is take a more relaxed approach and prioritize the most important things. Get done what you can between interruptions and don't worry that it doesn't all get done. Keep in mind that whatever gets done first.....gets done. When he is back to napping regularly, get back to your regular down to business schedule. Hopefully, that makes sense. :)

[Tracy]

I agree with Heather. When you are homeschooling, you have to take the time to train the littles so that you actually have time to teach the older kids. That is going to look different with every kid. Some kids are naturally obedient, and others need more work. Seventeen months is very young, but there is no reason that he can't be trained to stay in bed when he needs to sleep. My rule was that if the child was still awake after 20 minutes, he was not tired enough to take a nap and could get out of bed, but he had to lay in bed for the whole 20 minutes. You could try a timer, and reset it every time he gets out of bed.

 

With my oldest, all it took was just consistently putting her back in bed over and over. After about a week, she got it. (Then she was waking up at 5am, and I had to train her to stay in bed when it was dark.) With my younger, I discovered that he would fall asleep when I read something to his older sister that was over his head. So we read history at nap time. Of course, I had to also train dd to be quiet enough during that time so he would fall asleep. Often, I would give her something to color while we read so she would sit still.

[bensonduck]

Is he dropping down to 1 nap from 2? Or stopping napping all together? In any case, he needs to make up for the missed sleep somewhere. I would suggest focusing on making sure he is in bed nice and early and is able to sleep in in the mornings. And if he still does take 1 nap, really protect it - make sure he is really getting some good sleep at that time. Hopefully that will help with the exhausted and cranky part.

 

Then, you need to figure out how to incorporate a toddler into school time. Which I know is really difficult (I have an 18 month old). My 18 month old LOVES playing with math manipulatives like linking cubes, drawing with markers during language arts time, messing with the magnadoodle, water play with a few cups and bowls on the floor, a little dish of Cheerios or another easy toddler snack, I have a plastic jug of small toys that he can take out and put back in, and he periodically climbs into my lap for a quick nurse or to look at the pictures in our books. (We discovered that he likes those Usborne type pictures a lot so we always call him over and involve him when we are reading an Usborne book. My reading is then interspersed with his commentary, such as "HAT!") It helps that his big sister is incredibly flexible and accommodating with her brother during lessons - she will patiently sit waiting for the next set of directions if she has finished an activity and I am helping her brother for a few minutes.

 

Good luck!

[kiwik]

I was wondering about the one nap or two since you were saying he is grumpy in the morning. To be honest though I don't know of any kids that age who still do 2 naps. Standard here is lunch at 11.30 or 12, bed to 2.30, up in time to pick kids up from school and to ensure they are ready to go back to bed at 6.30. Having said that ds4 tried to drop all naps at about your child's age and had done so at about 2. Ds6 kept having afternoon sleeps to about 4 and often slept to 4pm then went back to bed at 6.30. It is hard work being as active as ds6 (sticking out tongue smiley).