Nap Time Changing for 22 Month Old

My boys did this to, I finally figured out that it was because the bed was cold when I laid them down. You have to remember that all that body heat from holding them is gone when you lay them down. We fixed this putting a blanket from the dryer down before you lay them down. This might only work if you have someone there to get the blanket out of the dryer for you. We also had an electric blanket that I would turn on and lay on the bed between the sheets. When I would lay them down I would just pull the electric blanket out before laying them down. The other thing that would work sometimes was to put a blanket on me before they would climb up into my lap. The body heat warms the blanket,when you get up just wrap the blanket around the child and keep the blanket on them when you lay her down. Make sure that the blanket will lay under her head as well as her body when laying her down. God Bless and Good Luck!

Kids are forever changing and I was just talking to my DH the other night about how our 3 year old used to go to bed with no problems. Now it's a nightly face off on how long it'll take for him to go down. Through his 3 years, we've gone through no less than 6 different changes with nap and night time.

I second the idea on trying to tire her out a little bit more before she goes down. We've noticed that if our kids get outside time or active play time in the house before nap time, they tend to go down with less fuss.

I would keep the same routine with your daughter but maybe go in every 5 or 10 min to reassure her that she is alright and then back out. She's just transitioning into an another phase and hopefully it'll be smoother in a couple of weeks. She's old enough now where crying it out isn't detrimental but maybe you can also offer a favority toy, book, or soft music to keep herself amused while she's in the crib until she gets tired enough to fall asleep on her own.

I understand not wanting to start any bad habits but there are times just for sanity sake where you might have to pick her up or lay down with her just so you can make it. Completely understandable. All in a day's work of being mommy! HTH and I'm waiting to see some other respsonses.

When my youngest daughter decided she wasn't going to nap, I told her that Mommy needs some time to nap, so she needs to stay in her room until I come and get her. I made sure it was safe, of course, and for the first few weeks I was listening intently. After that, I felt that she could use her imagination to amuse herself (something I don't think kids are as good at as in days gone by) and I either took a nap or read a book or whatever needed to get done that could be done quietly. Sometimes she fell asleep and sometimes she didn't. Another great thing to get a child more tired is not only to get some exercise, but to do it OUTDOORS. There's something about fresh air!! Good luck!

Some kids just stop needing a nap early on (girls, especially). Try just letting her stay up/awake til she falls asleep (or not), and that will 'test' her to see if she really needs a nap.

I've always been one to let kids 'cry it out' (I'm 52 and have 4 kids ages 21-32 and 3 grandkids) if it's something I KNOW they need to do, but not day after day about the same issue -- especially if she's still going to sleep well at night with no fuss. Maybe she only needs a nap 3-4 days a week (maybe on her 'outing/activity' days). It sounds as if she's simply not needing as much sleep as before.

I know that for us 'mums', we look forward to our kids' naptime(s) so that we can have a little 'down time' of our own, but it would surely be better to have her up, around, and even 'underfoot' as a happy little sidekick than to make both of your lives miserable by trying to MAKE her take a nap that she doesn't want or need. Right?

God bless!

I highly recommend reading William Sears' "The Baby Book" - it does a superb job of explaining how babies' sleep and how to work with it. This book saved me from my frustration with naps and removed a number of misconceptions I had about baby behavior.

BTW, beware of advice that frames baby behavior in terms of a battle of wills between you and her, or the need to condition your child.

I don't really have a solution for you as I'm going through this myself with my 21 month old daughter. I've come to the conclusion that here nap time is changing and we are having to figure it out a bit. One thing I have noticed if she gets an hour or so of really good active play time (running around, etc) then the naps have gone smoother. Good luck and I'm looking forward to hearing other's suggestions for you!

Maybe she is getting old enough that she is not tired at the time you put her down. Move her nap time back 30-45 mins and see if she is more tired at that time. You moved it back 2 hours and maybe she was over tired. I know that sounds crazy but babies do get over tired and then can't sleep. Her naps may start to get shorter too as she gets older. I think I remember my kids doing this, just let her stay up a bit later and then put her down when she is more tired. Don't give in, if you want to read her an extra story, read it later than your normal time, tell her you are going to read her 'one more story' and then lay her down. Nap times are hard to let kids cry it out b/c they are not as sleepy as at night. Have you tried singing to her while you rock her? Good luck, it may just be a phase, she still needs her naps, just be strong.

It may be that she is just one of those children who drops naptime early. My nephew was about that age when he stopped taking a nap; my younger son was between 2 & 2.5, while my older son was at least 4 y/o. Try letting her stay up one day and see how it goes. She may have an overly-tired screaming meltdown at suppertime, which is an indication that she still needs a nap; or she may be tired but otherwise fine. My younger son had a transition time from "nap every day" to "no naps," in which he would take a nap every other day, then every third day, then once a week -- a gradual change. He's now 3.5-y/o and only takes naps rarely (like, falling asleep in the car, or climbing into my lap and falling asleep while snuggling perhaps once a month). I figure that he stays awake if he can, and sleeps when he needs to - like a sleep deficit builds up, then a nap is needed to set it right. Sometimes he'll take care of that sleep deficit by falling asleep early at night, or waking later in the morning, too.

I'm in the same boat as you are right now! My daughter who is 2 1/2 has decided not to nap anymore. I just got tired of the fight. I would lay down with her and it ended up being 2 hours or so and she was STILL awake! I finally just decided to let her stay up and skip the nap. I have too much to do to lay down for 2 hours every day (and for what???? she wasn't napping anyways). So now she doesn't take a nap, but she does fall asleep much earlier, usually around 7:30 or 8:00 at night. She will, sometimes, take a nap (usually once or twice a week, but I don't push it)...but those days, she says "mommy lets go lay down in your room". That's how I know she wants a nap. So far it's working but I really miss being able to get things done during the day. Kids...just when we think we have them figured out, they go and change everything on us :)