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Sleep

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Original poster

daytime naps

40 replies

Green · 30/10/2001 12:26

I am writing this whilst my 19 month old son wails in the room next door. please could anyone offer some advice on what to do about day time naps. he sleeps really well at night - no probs (sleep training at 10 months old). But during the day he just will not go down. i have spent the last year either rocking him to sleep or driving him in the car - but have now realised that is just ridiculous. i really feel he needs to learn to go to sleep in the day in the same way as he does at night. he does go to sleep for his childminder (2 days per week) and for his dad and for his granny but just not for me!!!!!!any tips would be really appreciated. I have tried sleep training during the day but after about 40 minutes I tend to give up. He never cried that long at night when we tried it.

OP posts:

Crunchie · 03/11/2001 15:46

Poppy is such a strange little bean! As I sit here she is has spent nearly 2 hrs refusing to sleep. She is playing quietly for about 5 mins, then she comes out of her room to ask for something else, or another wee wee or a poo etc. I know these are delaying tactics particularly as she will sleep for everyone else but me. However I want to keep a quiet time for a s long as possible. The hardest thing once they have their on bed is the fact they can get out and although we occassionally resort to a babygate to keep her in her room, she can yell for nearly 2 hrs if she doesn't want to sleep.

Pupuce · 03/11/2001 18:06

Crunchie, at least she is playing quietly in her room. If she wants to sleep, she will go on her bed and rest. Have you suggested that she looks at books on her bed after lunch ?

jodee · 07/02/2002 21:22

Hi All. DS will be 2 in March and still has an afternoon nap, usually from 1.30-3.30pm. I don't like him to sleep any longer than that or the bedtime routine gets messed up. I try to wake him a gently as a can, drawing the curtains and letting him wake naturally, but he never wakes with a beaming smile, just bursts into tears and it takes a while to calm him down again. His nappy usually needs changing straight away (he seems perfectly happy to sleep in a pooey nappy) and of course laying him down to change him only makes him more angry.

I've tried putting him down at 1pm but he really isn't tired enough then. He wakes up in the morning by himself and in good spirits - is it just that he was in a pretty deep sleep and not ready to be woken?

Does anyone have any thoughts?

callie · 08/02/2002 10:51

Hi Jodee. You are lucky! My dd is 2 in April and only has a 10min nap in the day. This is usually in the car seat on our travels and is about 12pm. Before lunch.
Have to say though I do wake her up and she is usually fine. It renews her energy levels. She then goes to bed at 6-6.30pm and sleeps through till 7.30am so I feel she gets all her sleep at night.
I have tried letting her sleep for longer in the day but this results in her not going to bed later.
My advice to you would be to try waking him earlier say after 40mins. And then perhaps bring bedtime forward,
I would say he is grumpy after two hrs because he has been asleep for soo long and has been in a deep sleep.
40mins might be enough to recharge his batteries but not put him in a deep sleep. HTH.

Pupuce · 08/02/2002 11:51

Jodee I had the exact same problem a few months ago at around the 2yo stage. It did pass... but it was very annoying. I don't think length of sleep is what is causing it so I didn't touch that.
I changed his nappy immediately, he was very unhappy - but as he was already crying, I didn't see that making any difference. I usually tried to then change his mind by offering to do activities that he would like. In his case cooking but other times it might have been a walk. It usually worked. On the odd occasion where he stayed moody, I became tougher.... stay in your room until you stop crying... once after 30 minutes of whaling, I told him off with a very loud voice and a pointing finger (see what I mean?????) he immediately stopped. But I try to avoid getting angry.

Helen1969 · 08/02/2002 13:14

Pupuce.

Are you aware you sound like a complete dragon regards your child.

God forbid your ds should not fit in with how you expect him to behave.

How dare he cry after his nap. Gina Ford would be proud of you telling him off like that.

Pupuce · 08/02/2002 13:21

Oooh shhhh Helen !
I have only told my son off once in 26 months of existence... get a life !

jodee · 08/02/2002 14:06

Well I must be Dragon Queen, then, having told ds off at least twice! I'm not prepared to stand idly by while he strips the walls of paper.

Thanks for your replies Callie and Pupuce, I will try an experiment today. I put him down at 1.30 and will let him have a nap of 1 hour only.
Pupuce, how long did the phase last for?

Pupuce · 08/02/2002 15:02

I can't remember but I'd say several (4 - 6?) weeks... it wasn't that short but it has stopped.

jodee · 08/02/2002 18:53

Well it seems to have worked! I had a drink at the ready, as he seems to be quite thirsty whenever he wakes up, morning or afternoon, and there were no tears. I will miss not having 2 hours to myself for housework etc. (or wasting time on the computer!) but I would rather he woke in a better mood. Hopefully it is just a phase, though.

Thanks again for your help.

callie · 08/02/2002 19:26

Glad It seems to have worked Jodee!
will you be putting him to bed earlier?
It might be worth a try. Could give you an extra hr in the evening.

jodee · 09/02/2002 12:51

Callie, we did get him off to bed a little earlier, but only by half an hour - I thought it might lead to an early morning call at 6.30 that I didn't want! Will stick with the hour nap again today and see the results again.

Bugsy · 12/02/2002 11:53

Jodee, for some reason my 27 months old will sometimes wake up (of his own accord) from his lunchtime sleep really tearful & grumpy. I find that if I just sit quietly cuddling him for a while, possibly in front of a favourite video he will settle down. Other times, he is just really out of sorts until we go out and do something & a change of scenery seems to take him out of his bad mood.
I would also like to add while I'm here that I feel really angry at Helen1969's comments. Everyone here is talking about a problem they are having with their child/children and possible ways of dealing with it and Helen1969 makes some completely unconsctructive and critical comments about someone elses parenting style. Surely this is not what Mumsnet is all about.

jodee · 12/02/2002 13:12

Thanks Bugsy. He is better for having a shorter nap but sometimes has still been a bit ratty, so we do try the distraction trick and and see what's going on out of the bedroom window etc.
I also thought Helen1969's earlier comments were unnecessary.

Pupuce · 12/02/2002 13:38

Jodee- good for you ! Even though Helen seem to only pick on my reprimend... my regular trick is distraction as I had mentioned and as you are doing. On some very rare occasion it doesn't work. As my mum says, it's best to try to change their mind with some new thing.

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