When my daughter turned eleven months old, she started to have trouble sleeping. She cried during naptime, cried at bedtime, and she woke up crying in the middle of the night. Here we are a month later and she is doing better at night time. Putting her in the crib awake is still a bit of a challenge, but it seems to be improving (even though she had no problem with that from the time she was six months old). We are now working on naptime. Usually, she still seems tired at naptime, but when I put her in the crib she wants no part of it. I am not sure how to handle this. If I let her cry it out, she will likely cry for hours (until she is ready to be fed or changed). Does anyone have some tips on how to get my daughter to nap during the days?
FYI...Before all of these issues, she would go down easily (while awake) at 9:30 and 2:30. She still seems to be tired at these times.
Any help would be appreciated!!!
She may be a little tired at those times but try giving her a later nap and instead of 2 make it just one. Instead of 2 naps my grandson only went down for one at that age ( I had to readjust my schedule) now at age 3 he takes no naps unless he has an unusually hectic day and falls asleep riding in the car. Good luck
she might just be read to give it up.. try giving her "quiet time" at nap time and then put her to bed earlier that night and see what happens..
You may want to think about what kinds of foods you're feeding her. Sometimes they may be still hungry during the nap time or the food doesn't agree.
Pediatricians tell you to stay away from this. Have you tried rocking her and playing some soft music in a dark room? My son had such a hard time with his naps until I started doing this.
My only suggestions would be to make sure her room is dark. We made curtains for my sons room that have a blackout panel so his room stays dark when closed. That may help. You might also want to adjust her naptime and bedtime to earlier times. My son is up by about 8 or 8:30 and by 11 or 12 goes down for a nap and then betime routine starts at 7:30 he is in bed by 8:30 at night. I know for us if I wait to long to put him down for a nap or for bed at night it takes forever to get him to sleep. Goodluck! My son will be 3 in December and still needs his naps. :)
Hi E.!
I would try cutting down to one nap a day. Our 14 month old has been having one nap for about 3 months now! Good luck!
L.
Look into the book the Happiest Baby On The Block and see if it can help..it has really helped others..and she really needs her sleep (you too!)
This might be a real stretch...but could something have happened, even just a nightmare, to cause her to be afraid of her crib? My youngest daughter had a croup episode in which we had difficulty breathing in her crib once - about this age - and totally freaked out after that whenever I tried to put her back in the crib. We ended up assembling a toddler bed and putting her in that - at 2 am one morning - and then she was fine thereafter. May not be it at all, but just thought I'd mention it.
At one year, my kids were both ready to transition to one nap. Even though she seems tired, she may be not quite tired enough. Maybe try one nap around 11 so it is in the middle of the two times you were doing.
I always keep naptime routine similar to bedtime routine -- rock and read a couple stories first, put down her special blackout shade so it is nice and dark, put on music in her room to listen to, etc.
One year is too young to give up naps all together. I feel your pain though if she does, my son gave them up very early as well.
My baby is the same age. We just had an issue after organic spaggeti o's, and acid reflux during nap. Have you noticed any sleep changes related to new foods. A few uncomfortable experiences could make a change.
I'm not sure, but one guess could be that she doesn't need to nap anymore. Seems a little early for that, but maybe that's going on. Perhaps it separation too and then in that case, it will run its course. Maybe, though, she's just telling you she doesn't truly need the nap anymore. Best of luck!
E.,
Some babies outgrow naps earlier than others so if I were you I would let her stay up during the day and get a good night sleep. She may be ready to give up the naps and I don't know about you, but a good nights rest is more important than the naps during the day.
My daughter never took naps, my first son took 3 naps a day until he started school then would come home and nap each afternoon, my next son literally slept only 4 hours every 24 hours, and with my last 2 we would have quiet time every afternoon in the living room with them and I either reading or resting quietly, no T.V. I found that by doing this during the day with them worked great and they and I were much happier.
Hugs,
T.
well you've gotten a lot of answers but i don't think any of the ones offering suggestions got the nap routine or diet account for why she'd suddenly have trouble. i went through the same thing with my girl 3 weeks ago when she was 11 months and then after about 10 days i noticed one of her molars coming in, which was strange since she'd never gotten the second set of 4 front teeth which usually precede molars. then a week later a new front tooth. so i've attributed the whole period of refusingg to nap/sleep in a formerly good sleeper to teething. i started giving her tylenol or motrin each night (i alternate every other night) and she's been better.
i too was wondering if my girl needed to go down to 1 nap but she's SO tired for each one i think it's not that - it's the teeth.
best of luck, try motrin.
Hi E.,
I think that you should continue putting your daughter down at the same times that you always have if she still seems tired at those times. When she cries, just do the same things you do at night (check diaper, etc.) and then do the 5-10-15 minute checks. Come back after 5 minutes of crying, tell her you love her and that naptime will be nice, sweet dreams (without picking her up though!). If she continues crying, go back after 10 minutes, then 15. Go up to 20 minutes between visits. After a while if she's really tired she'll sleep.
As someone suggested, if she's teething that could be why she's having a harder time, but that is also something you'll notice in her waking hours. She'll chew and gnaw on things constantly, have her fists in her mouth, drool, etc. It won't be something to be attributed only at sleepy time.
Kids go through sleeping phases during the day just like they do for the nighttime rest, but that doesn't mean they don't need it. Generally kids don't outgrow naps until age 3-4. Good luck!
It could be she is in the transition stage and is going down to a one a day (longer nap) than the two a day nap she has been having. Provided that she slept a good 10 hours the previous night you can try a nap at maybe 10:30 or 11am after a good snack. I would do and go soemwhere to completley tire her out whether it be a swimming pool or a play gourp etc... than hopefully she will get tired enough (but not overtired). The worst is the over tired baby they ar ethe hardest to egt to settle down. She is gettig old enough to undertsand a routine if you always have snakc and thena fave story and then a few minutes of cuddle time before nap. We actually had a book about nap time that came with a CD with lulluby music. This helped during our daughter's nap refusal phase. But I had to call grandma more than once because my daughter would not go down for me.. she did not want to miss out on spending time with me. So in desperation try to call someone for reinforcement. Don;t worry you are doing a great job and this too will pass my daughter is 2 and she asks for her nap now! :)
