nap thing

DS (3 1/2) has recently starting fighting naps. And winning. It used to be
that if you left him be, he would go to sleep. With my in-laws, who watch
him once per week, they cannot just leave him be. MIL has to keep going in
and laying down with him to try to convince him to settle down. Highly
counterproductive, but beside the point.

Anyway, I do not know if he still needs his nap or if he is on the cusp of
not needing one but is not all the way there yet or what. Yesterday he was
at the in-laws. He did not take a nap. He was *really* tired. So he fell
asleep in the car on the way home. Out Cold. I transfered him into our bed.
It was 5:45pm. I thought he would cat nap then get up for dinner. No sir,
that boy would not budge. Finally DH carried him downstairs and into bed.
And he slept through. He did not get naps over the weekend or on Wednesday.
Coming home he was so exhausted that he missed an

I am not nuts about only putting him down for a nap when I deem he needs it.
If he doesn't do it a part of a regular routine, he will fight the nap even
harder. He does take a nap at daycare. That is a complicating factor. He has
recently started a new daycare. I have to find out from the teacher today
how long he is napping. The other complicating factor is that he is a newly
underwear wearing by all the time. (Hurray). So he knows if he gets up from
nap to pee, he's got us over a barrel. We cannot say no you cannot get up
to pee. He can always squirt some out.

I am inclined to keep putting him down for nap. If he sleeps, great. If he
does not, at least he got some quiet time. Then see where it goes for a week
or two. Also, we need to start putting him to be earlier, I think. DH
usually does bed time with him. He is the biggest dawdler on the entire
planet. He will go down for bedtime at 7:45 and finally get DS into bed at
8:30 or 8:45.

What do you all think of this? Any other things going on that I am not
seeing, maybe? I do not really want a crumped out kid going to bed at 5:45
as a regular occurance. I kind of miss him, and I want to see him in the
evenings. Besides, there is always dinner to consider.

Thanks

S

That sounds about what my girls did when they were ready to give up their
naps. However, mine started closer to 3 yrs and not 4 yrs, bah! Anyway, I
would put them in their rooms for quiet time every day and if they napped,
they did and if they didn't, they went to bed earlier. It's frustrating
until they get used to not having a nap, but it sounds like your son is on
his way.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

"glunk" wrote in message
...
DS (3 1/2) has recently starting fighting naps. And winning. It used to be
that if you left him be, he would go to sleep. With my in-laws, who watch
him once per week, they cannot just leave him be. MIL has to keep going in
and laying down with him to try to convince him to settle down. Highly
counterproductive, but beside the point.

Anyway, I do not know if he still needs his nap or if he is on the cusp of
not needing one but is not all the way there yet or what. Yesterday he was
at the in-laws. He did not take a nap. He was *really* tired. So he fell
asleep in the car on the way home. Out Cold. I transfered him into our
bed.
It was 5:45pm. I thought he would cat nap then get up for dinner. No sir,
that boy would not budge. Finally DH carried him downstairs and into bed.
And he slept through. He did not get naps over the weekend or on
Wednesday.
Coming home he was so exhausted that he missed an

I am not nuts about only putting him down for a nap when I deem he needs
it.
If he doesn't do it a part of a regular routine, he will fight the nap
even
harder. He does take a nap at daycare. That is a complicating factor. He
has
recently started a new daycare. I have to find out from the teacher today
how long he is napping. The other complicating factor is that he is a
newly
underwear wearing by all the time. (Hurray). So he knows if he gets up
from
nap to pee, he's got us over a barrel. We cannot say no you cannot get
up
to pee. He can always squirt some out.

I am inclined to keep putting him down for nap. If he sleeps, great. If he
does not, at least he got some quiet time. Then see where it goes for a
week
or two. Also, we need to start putting him to be earlier, I think. DH
usually does bed time with him. He is the biggest dawdler on the entire
planet. He will go down for bedtime at 7:45 and finally get DS into bed at
8:30 or 8:45.

What do you all think of this? Any other things going on that I am not
seeing, maybe? I do not really want a crumped out kid going to bed at 5:45
as a regular occurance. I kind of miss him, and I want to see him in the
evenings. Besides, there is always dinner to consider.

Thanks

S

.. The other complicating factor is that he is a newly
underwear wearing by all the time. (Hurray). So he knows if he gets up
from
nap to pee, he's got us over a barrel. We cannot say no you cannot get
up
to pee. He can always squirt some out.


My DD tried this bathroom ploy, so we put a potty in her bedroom. Then
shortly after that, she gave up her naps but it worked to take away that
excuse to escape from the bedroom.

Katie

glunk wrote in :

DS (3 1/2) has recently starting fighting naps. And winning. It used to be
that if you left him be, he would go to sleep. With my in-laws, who watch
him once per week, they cannot just leave him be. MIL has to keep going in
and laying down with him to try to convince him to settle down. Highly
counterproductive, but beside the point.

Anyway, I do not know if he still needs his nap or if he is on the cusp of
not needing one but is not all the way there yet or what. Yesterday he was
at the in-laws. He did not take a nap. He was really tired. So he fell
asleep in the car on the way home. Out Cold. I transfered him into our
bed. It was 5:45pm. I thought he would cat nap then get up for dinner. No
sir, that boy would not budge. Finally DH carried him downstairs and into
bed. And he slept through. He did not get naps over the weekend or on
Wednesday. Coming home he was so exhausted that he missed an

All of my kids had given up their naps at least a year younger :-(.

However this does sound like how they behaved when they were in the process
of giving them up. The biggest chage was that they went from regular
shortish (one hour naps) to longer naps every few days.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

"glunk" wrote in message
...
DS (3 1/2) has recently starting fighting naps. And winning.

snip

I am inclined to keep putting him down for nap. If he sleeps, great. If he
does not, at least he got some quiet time. Then see where it goes for a
week
or two. Also, we need to start putting him to be earlier, I think. DH
usually does bed time with him. He is the biggest dawdler on the entire
planet. He will go down for bedtime at 7:45 and finally get DS into bed at
8:30 or 8:45.

What do you all think of this? Any other things going on that I am not
seeing, maybe? I do not really want a crumped out kid going to bed at 5:45
as a regular occurance. I kind of miss him, and I want to see him in the
evenings. Besides, there is always dinner to consider.


I think you're on the right track. I would definitely insist on quiet time
in his room. I usually play a lullaby cd, and the deal is that if he's awake
when it's over, he can come downstairs. And I put on the longest ones I can
find. DS usually still takes naps, but sometimes he just isn't tired enough,
and I don't think it's fair to push it if he can lie in bed for 45 minutes
and not fall asleep. He still wears a pull-up to bed, though, so I
sympathize with the potty issue. A friend of mine has a 5 year old who has
completely given up naps, but she still sends him to his room for quiet
play, and sets a timer for at least an hour. That seems to work as well.

I'd try putting him to bed earlier as well, but that can backfire, if he
just starts getting up earlier. DS seems to have his sleeping time scheduled
to the point that if we put him down at 8:00, he'll be up by 6 or 6:30. If
it's closer to 8:30 or 9, he's much more likely to sleep until 7. We
definitely put DS down for bed earlier if he takes a good nap--he simply
can't get to sleep before 9 if he's had a nap, and I've decided that I'd
rather have the break in the afternoon and let him stay up later at night.
But each child/household is unique, and it's worth experimenting to see what
works for you.

--
Jodi
SAHM to Oliver (3 years, 5 months) & Arwen (15 months)

"Katie" wrote in message
...
. The other complicating factor is that he is a newly
underwear wearing by all the time. (Hurray). So he knows if he gets up
from
nap to pee, he's got us over a barrel. We cannot say no you cannot
get
up
to pee. He can always squirt some out.


My DD tried this bathroom ploy, so we put a potty in her bedroom.

LOL. Your DD didn't try to empty the pot afterwards? DS would have spilled
the contents in his room or played in it. Ewww.

"Penny Gaines" wrote in message
...
glunk wrote in :

DS (3 1/2) has recently starting fighting naps. And winning. It used to
be
that if you left him be, he would go to sleep. With my in-laws, who
watch
him once per week, they cannot just leave him be. MIL has to keep going
in
and laying down with him to try to convince him to settle down. Highly
counterproductive, but beside the point.

Anyway, I do not know if he still needs his nap or if he is on the cusp
of
not needing one but is not all the way there yet or what. Yesterday he
was
at the in-laws. He did not take a nap. He was really tired. So he fell
asleep in the car on the way home. Out Cold. I transfered him into our
bed. It was 5:45pm. I thought he would cat nap then get up for dinner.
No
sir, that boy would not budge. Finally DH carried him downstairs and
into
bed. And he slept through. He did not get naps over the weekend or on
Wednesday. Coming home he was so exhausted that he missed an

All of my kids had given up their naps at least a year younger :-(.

However this does sound like how they behaved when they were in the
process
of giving them up. The biggest chage was that they went from regular
shortish (one hour naps) to longer naps every few days.


That sounds like DS. But I was mistaking his long naps for the norm.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

Thanks all. I think the reason I was wondering what was going on is that I
took the long naps he takes when he DOES nap as the norm and the rest as the
different behavior. I think that is backwards. I think he will be done nap
soon.

Thanks all.

S

hobbes declared to the world:
I think you're on the right track. I would definitely insist on quiet time
in his room. I usually play a lullaby cd, and the deal is that if he's awake
when it's over, he can come downstairs.

My son (same age -- 3-1/2) would probably just start monkeying with the
CD player and come out 10 minutes later because the music had stopped.

He gave up napping about six months ago, but still has quiet time in
his room in the afternoon, after lunch, at the same time as his younger
sister has her nap. That gives ME some quiet time too.

Bedtime has been about 8pm, but DD has learned to climb out of her crib
when she wakes up in the morning, so he's getting woken up a bit earlier
(she wakes about 6:15, he had been sleeping until 6:45ish), so we're
thinking about pushing bedtime back to 7:15 or 7:30 so he'll be less
cranky during the day. (Nobody ever told ME that the "terrible twos"
started at 18 months and last until college, but some days I think
that's the way it's going to be. He is Not Fun when he doesn't get
enough sleep.)

- Katy (I have no examples in my email address)
--
Katy Mulvey