Our two year old daughter has pretty much stopped napping. I put her in her crib every day at naptime and leave her there for "resting," even if she doesn't sleep. This would be fine, except that she seems so overtired all the time. I think she still needs the sleep of a nap, but she won't do it! She's starting to get very cranky. Anyone else have this problem?
Thanks so much for everyone's suggestions. I think I am going to try to continue with "resting" time, trying to encourage sleep if I can, and I'm going to move up dinner and bedtime. Hopefully we'll see some improvement!!! Thanks, again!
I think the first thing you need to look at is how much sleep she is getting at night? Maybe she needs to go to bed earlier so she can make up the sleep she is missing? Both my kids stopped napping at 2 yrs, but they go to bed at 7pm and sleep until 7am.
Good luck
How late does she stay up at night?
My son just started transitioning out of his nap at 2 1/2 yrs old here. Instead of a nap, he now goes to bed at 6:30pm and sleeps until 7:30am.
Before, he was waking up at 8 or 8:30am and napping for anywhere from 1-4 hours and being all cranky and tired and going to bed at 10pm.
A friend of mine told me that early evening sleep is better sleep for toddlers than morning sleep, and in our case it seems to be working.
If you can stand to put her to bed at 6pm with no nap otherwise, it might be worth a try.
One twin naps and the other doesn't... this sounds challenging C.. Neither of my kids napped so their second and third years were hard for them. I did one thing that helped:
Go to the library and get stories on CD. Most young children's stories are peaceful. She may fall asleep with the story going (which my kids did sometimes even as non-nappers) or she might not. Either way, on the days she does fall asleep she will catch up on the sleep she is missing.
Some kids are just too busy in their minds to sleep. Giving her mind something to do while she is resting will be regenerating enough for her. A busy mind, with something to do that is not physically active, will feel rested after stories and books.
If you want to spend this time with her yourself, go to the library and pick out chapter books (Winnie the Pooh, Francis, Little Bear). This way YOU are directing her brain activity.
What ever works - do it so that you can get some free time and her brain activity can slow and rest for a while.
I just went through the same thing with my 2 year old daughter. She would play for two hours instead of sleep. She's mostly returned to napping now, but I make sure that I wake her after she's gotten 11 hours of sleep at night, so she'll be tired enough at nap time. I had to take the toys out of her crib too except for the one that she always sleeps with. It's probably just a phase and she'll return to napping soon.
Big changes for your older child with the new baby around. Adjustments are hard for everyone I think. I empathize with you as my son, Gabe, stopped napping once his little bother Matthew came along (they are 13 months apart). Turns out Gabe has food allergies - 18 months is the age when they really start to display behavior related to food allergies; such as no longer napping, stubborn or impossible bed times, picky eating (choosing only certain foods such as Dairy or Wheat), loose frequent stools, unexplainable tantrums, impaired language ...
It would not hurt your daughter to take her off of Dairy and Wheat, just to see what happens with her sleeping. I know this sounds extreme, but it is very livable once you make the switch. We are Dairy, Wheat, Egg, Soy free at my house ... I wish you only the best, and for you little ones to sleep - just sleep!!!
Have you tried laying down on a bed with her! My grandkids did that too & if we lay with them for a few minutes they go to sleep & then you can get up & do whatever or catch a nap yourself if the baby is also napping at that time!
Try the nap a little later and give her books to "read" and leave her there for a while. Mine usually falls asleep, although it's often not until 3:00 or so!
My daughter will be 2 middle of August but about 2 weeks ago she wanted to give up naps. She is not ready and it shows at 4pm!
It started when we went away for a weekend and she did not sleep well at the hotel. She then realized she could make it through the day without a nap but very cranky.
I finally had it and told her she could not come out of her crib till she napped. At first she would play 2 hours in the crib before she finally fell asleep... but I did not get her till she took a nap. She would be in there for 4 hours sometimes but she needed a nap. I tried to stay in there with her but that did not work for use, she needed to be alone. After 3 weeks of this we are finally back to her falling asleep right away for nap and she is a much happier person.
I have had two year olds give up naps and it can be tiring....especially for a young mom with a new baby! What worked best for us was to agree on the facts.....she doesn't always need a nap. So we would have "resting days" like you mentioned and "sleeping days" when a nap was REALLY necessary....like you have church that night or something. My daughter joined right in with this idea and it worked great as we found she really needed a nap every other or every third day. Another thing we did was move dinner up a 1/2 hour and bedtime up 1/2 - 1 hour. She still woke at the same time, but we snuck in that extra sleep to curb the crabbiness.
Hope this helps!
B. C
I think that sometimes a 2 year old may think they are "Missing" something that is going on with you. Try this...Let her pick out a cute sleeping bag and let her choose a place in your home, where you are, to choose her own place to nap. Find something to do in that room, like reading, paperwork or a little rest yourself until she falls asleep. No TV. Give her the chance to make this big choice herself, keeping it all positive. If it does not work...you end up with a cute sleeping bag. When I moved my daughters to the big bed, I used the sleeping bag on top as a transition. It was familiar to them. Good luck!
M. in Wisconsin
