Napping nightmares

[cmckenna]

Hello,

My 2.5 year old has stopped napping at home.  She is in daycare twice a week and still naps there.  This happened ever since she moved into a bed.  She gets up to play and no matter what I do she will not nap.  I know she still needs it because she rubs her eyes all afternoon and has a lot more tantrums.  I put her in her room for quiet time from 1-3 hoping she will fall asleep.  I visit multiple times putting her in bed but she keeps getting up.  I also have a 5 month old at home and could use a nap myself!!!  Any suggestions on how to get her to nap again...

Many thanks!

[Jaime]

does she sleep in the bed at night too?  did you just recently make this transition?  could be that she loves the new independence that comes with being able to get out of her own bed.  if she can't open doors, i would probably leave her in there & let her play until she does get tired.  could be that the novelty of the toys will wear off quickly that way.

my 2 cents anyhow!!

[Florencia]

You can provide her a lot of opportunities to sleep but can't actually MAKE her sleep (as much as you'd love to ). I think that by getting into her room to check her, that's actually making her expect it so, as long as she's not crying or distressed take that time as quiet time for her being in her room and not needing more intervention than that, if she's tired enough she'll eventually go to sleep.

Another reason is that she might be more tired in daycare for all the activities she does there as oposed to home. Try (as much as you can, I understand that having another lo to take her makes it harder) to have her occupied in physical activities on days she's at home. She can help you with house chores and get more tired that way. Try also putting her down a bit later on those days to see if that does the trick.

HTH!

[Maddysmom]

Hi,
I know exactly what your dealing with I have a little girl who is 2.5 also and ever since we moved her to a toddler bed she won't nap either. She also goes to daycare 2 times per week and will nap there. I don't have alot of suggestions because I'm still trying to figure it out also I'll just say some of the things I've tryed....I did try doing My errands later in the day and then plan to be heading home around her naptime and she would fall asleep in the car and then I would transfer her into her bed....that worked really well. Now what I've done is put a gate on the outside of her bdroom door and even if she doesn't sleep she'll play in her room and doesn't destroy the top floor of our house
I hope I've helped a bit...from one tired mom to another, Good Luck, Tracey