Can toddlers have sleeping pills?
For all my talk about not sweating the small stuff and not getting into power struggles with your kids I have to say that right now Elle is doing the one thing that drives me totally batty. She's not napping.
I've tried explaining to her that at her age she still needs to nap. I've tried letting her cry it out (well, it's more like whining it out). I've tried changing her nap to a later time of day. I've even tried snuggling her until she falls asleep. Nothing is working.
What the hell? Why won't she just fricken sleep already? Joseph stopped napping long before he turned two but that was different somehow. He seemed ready. Elle doesn't. If she doesn't nap it throws her for a loop and she's really cranky in the evening.
I've heard of kids napping into their pre-school years. Why do my kids have to be the non-napping freaks?
Experienced parents, I need your advice. How old were your kids whent hey stopped napping? What did you do when they wanted to stop? Anyone ever have success getting kids to start napping again after they thought they were ready to stop? If Elle refuses to nap would it be wrong of me to lock her out of the house for an hour or two a day so that I can still get a break?
Jen
4 comments:
I feel your pain. Laura slept right until kindergarten, but Nina gave up naps at age TWO. I fought her on it for a while, but finally, I realized it was a lost cause. I did start enforcing a much earlier bed time, though. I can't tell you how losing nap time impacted my sanity.
Hey, I'm back from blogger hibernation. I haven't had much of a chance to catch up with you. I think it'd be easier to call you at this point.
As for the no sleeping, I really don't have any advice, just sympathy. But that doesn't really help, does it?
I napped until my early 20s. Is that weird?
Jen, your husband (my son) quit napping at age two. I don't know if he was ready to stop or not, but he did. Sounds like his daughter is following in his footsteps. How about having "quiet time" instead? Time where you color together, or read a story, or look at books, listen to music.....you might have to do it with her at first, but then, switch to you reading a book for awhile and she can color a nice picture for you, all the while playing some music. That way you both get to enjoy some quiet time, and you can get a bit of break at the same time. Just a thought...
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