Author Topic: 2yr old naps- lots of transitions and help needed!  (Read 790 times)

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Offline ELR2010

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2yr old naps- lots of transitions and help needed!
« on: September 06, 2012, 19:46:30 pm »
My daughter just turned 2.  We were having naptime sleep issues a few months back, but solved them with a schedule that looked like this:
6:30-6:45am wake time
12:40 down for nap, asleep by 1:00
2:30 wake from nap
7:00pm down for bed, asleep by 7:20pm

All of this has been done in a crib, and she wears a sleep sack (backwards) so she can't climb out.  Can you tell I'm avoiding the toddler bed transition?!

The last few weeks she has been refusing nap on most days.  We don't do anything differently on the rare occassion that she does go to sleep for nap.  However, Tuesday we brought home her new baby brother from the hospital.  I knwo her nap refusal could have to do with this, although she seems to be dealing very well with the new baby.  Also, she started refusing naps on most days, weeks ago.

We also potty trained about 2 months ago.  However, at nap now she poops after about 20 minutes of being in her crib, so I go in and change her.  Then lay her back down.  Some days she poops in her potty before nap, but that is rare.  She seems a little stressed about it, so I haven't pushed the issue.

While in her bed, before and after I change the pull up, she flips, jumps up and down, rolls around, sings songs, and sometimes screams.  The scream is a behavioral thing, because she knows she gets time out for screaming in the house.  I know she is tired, because she can barely hold her eyes open.  I have tried patting her- she rolls around, talks to me, says she wants to go play, yells out "mama Meghan, where are you?" (that one is pretty funny ...) etc.  If I try to rock her she does the same thing.

I am at my witts end, mainly because I know she still needs a nap and after a few days of no nap and an early bedtime she becomes SO over tired.

Can someone please help me dissect all of this and figure out what is going on?  Does it sound like she needs to go to a toddler bed (her bed changes to one) or should I keep her in the crib?  I know baby brother may have something to do with this, but again, she started this weeks ago.

Thank you so much-
Lost mama Meghan

Offline *Becky*

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Re: 2yr old naps- lots of transitions and help needed!
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2012, 08:06:09 am »
Hi there,
My DS went through a wonky nap phase at 2 and it seems to be pretty common tbh. I would imagine some of it is developmental, some is the start of dropping her day sleep and some will of course be to do with the changes in the house. Children are very sensitive to this and she will have been aware of this for the last month or so.

Re the crib, I would def keep her there. 2 is still young and if you are having sleep problems atm then I would keep here where she is. She needs security right now.

Her routine looks pretty good tbh, she has a long am A time but some do.
With DS when we went through these patches I took him out in the am and really did loads of physical exercise so he was extra tired....he then would go down more easily for his nap.

You could do a little WIWO if needed, I would try to avoid the patting and rocking tbh.




Henry James and Martha Rose - my spirited pair!

Offline ELR2010

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Re: 2yr old naps- lots of transitions and help needed!
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2012, 16:50:40 pm »
Oh wow- you just reassured me of everythign I was thinking/hoping!  Thank you so much!  =)

I feel a huge sense of relief.  We will def keep the crib for now, and I will continue the running/playing outside before nap.  (I meant to mention that we have been going outside and playing really hard each morning..)  I know you're right about it being developmental and environmental (the baby, etc).  So we will just keep doing what are doing.

Again, thank you so much for the reassurance.  I was feeling like maybe I had lost all sense of our routine or timing or something.  It's good to know another pair of eyes thinks it looks normal/okay.

Also, when do they usually drop their daytime sleep altogether?  When I worked in childcare, we put 3-4 year olds down for nap each day.  =/  I was hoping she would continue until at least 3!  haha

Offline *Becky*

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Re: 2yr old naps- lots of transitions and help needed!
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2012, 17:10:24 pm »
I would expect the vast majority of lo's to drop their naps between 2.5 and 4 but there are always some who drop earlier and later. DS stopped napping in his bed at 3 but did not give up naps until more like 3.5 and even now at nearly 4 he has the occasional car nap....the norm is somewhere between 3-4 to completely stop.




Henry James and Martha Rose - my spirited pair!