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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

What do you do in the afternoons when toddler dropping naps?

11 replies

tracyk · 10/11/2006 15:20

ds is almost 3 and still could do with a nap most afternoons. He is at nursery till 2pm and is quite active there!
He won't nap anymore in the house - but will if we are driving somewhere.

On the days we come home - I daren't go anywhere that would involve a car journey later in the afternoon cos he would fall asleep.
But we are getting bored in the house - and the weather is turning wetter as the weeks go by.

How do you entertain your toddler at home?

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sleepysooz · 10/11/2006 16:05

I'm in the same boat, looking at the four walls shout 'let me out of here'

I suppose we could invite someone to our house, then we don't have to go out in the cold and wet

I have 3yo twins, as least they have each other to play with, or in our case 'fight'

ProfYaffle · 10/11/2006 16:15

I'm struggling with this as well. Dd is only 2.5 buy it's months since she dropped her daytime nap. I still take her out, we just wrap up warm, I am sick of the sight of the park though. I've got a couple of books with suggestions for crafty toddler stuff to do. However, this week I've been left to make a paper mache(sp?) pig while dd has wandered off to watch Charlie and Lola.

octobermum · 10/11/2006 16:59

I have the same probelm with dd who is nearly 3, i seem to have got around it by instead of saying let go and have 5 min eg sleep, we now go for quite time in bedroom with our books,

this seems to be working as when i got and check after 15 to 20mins she tends to be a sleep surround by her books. She maybe has between 1 and 2hrs depending on how much she needs.

I now try not to get stressed if she doesn't want to, just paint on a happy face and count to 10 between 4 o'clock and bedtime when she is rolling around and up and down screaming at me that she is not tired.

comebacksummer · 10/11/2006 17:25

Same here too- dd2 just turned 2 and is starting to drop naps... some days she just gets out of bed and says " no, I'm not sleepy anymore".. but the days feel so LONG now! I used to love that hour to do the crap stuff like load the washing machine.. now the only way to do that is to stick the tv on and i hate tv in the day

comebacksummer · 10/11/2006 17:25

ProfYaffle · 10/11/2006 17:30

That's it, CBS, the days are so long! We used to have a lovely routine, activity in am, lunch, sleep, short activity at home. Now I feel like I'm constantly short of things to do. Yesterday we got in from nursery at 1.10pm, got dd to help me make a crumble topping then we did a bit more on the sodding pig. By the time we finished it was only 2pm! How do we get through so much stuff so quickly?

Dd is fine without a sleep though, she just didn't need it anymore so we don't have the bedtime witching hour which is something I suppose.

Original poster

tracyk · 10/11/2006 17:34

What time do your lo's go to bed if they haven't had a nap? ds seems to 'bounce' back after his dinner and loses that knackered look! But if I put him to bed at 7pm - he's out like a light!

OP posts:

ProfYaffle · 10/11/2006 17:41

DD is like that too. I found it was taking her about an hour to get to sleep in the afternoon, then about an hour again at bedtime. Once i dropped the pm nap she was out like a light at 7.30pm and slept until almost 8am. If she's super tired I bring bedtime forward by half an hour or so.

comebacksummer · 10/11/2006 18:11

my dd2 has always gone to bed at 7pm and out like a light even when she has had an hour nap at lunchtime, so no change here(of course, when I say "always" I mean since she turned 14 months which is when we finally decided that stretches of 2 1/2 hours sleep MAX during the night couldn't go on anymore and we did the dreaded sleep training)
The afternoon bit seems to drag the worst- dh rang at 5 and I told him to say goodnight to the kids- he had to point out the time as I had them in their PJs ready for bed arf arf arf.. I blame the darkness!!!

octobermum · 10/11/2006 20:16

This week dd has taken herself of to bed at 6.45pm as she "can do it herself".

even when she had a 2 hour sleep in the afternoon she would still go to bed at 6.30 to 6.45pm.

IamBlossom · 10/11/2006 21:18

DS goes to nursery on Mondays and Wednesday mornings. I pick him up and drive the very long way home and by the time we are home he is asleep and I can transfer him to bed where he sleeps for an hour. The other days are trickier, on a good day he will still stay in bed for his nap if I put him down at 11ish, other days he refuses or we are out and about and he has his sleep in the car,not ideal I know but better than a mizog all afternon.

As far as entertaining goes we have to get out - boys have to be walked like dogs in my opinion. Or we do playing with his toys, colouring, playdoh, painting, making Postman Pat cakes, sticking and cutting out.....if we are in all afternoon, sometimes all of them!!! But i do try to plan it so we are not in alone for hours on end, either invite friends round or take a walk to the shop for bread or summink. hard this SAHM biz isn't it??

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