Our Five Ring Circus: Giving Up

Monday, September 13, 2010

Giving Up

It's a sad time for this mama. My now 3 1/2 year old has decided that naps aren't much fun anymore.

Believe me, I've tried. I'm equally as stubborn as she is. I've even tried to shift around nap time.

In the past 4 weeks, she has only napped once.

Here's our daily nap routine: I put her down for her nap. I leave her there for 2 hours, despite the protests. When I return, she's still awake. So I let her get out of bed because it's too late for her to nap.

This no nap thing? No fun. She's miserable by 5:00. Too late to nap, too early to go to bed.

I miss those quiet moments while she naps.

But it's just not working. I'm throwing in the towel. And insisting on a much earlier bed time.

11 comments:

  1. That's exactly what we are dealing with right now too :( If you let her nap at 4-5 then she's up all night and if not, then don't plan on going anywhere or she will either be cranky or asleep in the car lol. Good luck!

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  2. Oh I remember those days, Stefanie! I was a sad mama too. But the earlier bedtimes are nice. These days, we are lucky if our kids get to bed before 10, with homework, soccer, etc! lol

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  3. Buster is doing the same thing. He'll nap at daycare, but then he's not falling asleep until 9:30 or 10 every night (when I put him in bed at before 8!). On the weekends, if I try to get him to nap, he'll play in his bed until it's too late for him to take a nap.

    It sucks!! Buddy napped until he started kindergarten last year!!

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  4. Our older daughter tried to drop her nap a bit before she turned 4, but right around that time we also switched day care centers. The new center napped later--at 2 pm instead of 12:30--and that worked for her! Now, even though she naps from 2-3:30 or 4, she is still ready for bed at 8 pm. Have you tried mixing up the nap time? Another thing that works for her is listening to relaxing stories on her CD player instead of music. The Napping House, Indigo Dreams and Indigo Ocean Dreams are favorites--listening to them is not as much a shift as silence or listening to music but is still relaxing and she is usually asleep relatively quickly (10-15 minutes). Good luck--she's almost 5 now and even though I only deal with naps on weekends, it will kill me when she drops it!

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  5. sofia only naps in the car...thats because I am always on the go picking or droping someone off. She doesn't take real naps anymore just car naps.

    Hope an earlier bedtime works for you.

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  6. Oh no! Then we're in this together. My 2 1/2 year old is not sleeping during her nap either and same as you it makes for very fussy unhappy evenings. We've started putting her to bed a good hour earlier each night!

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  7. My son is 4 and still naps... I'm going to have to take them away sometime soon b/c next year is Kindergarden for him. Maybe you could at least get your DD to hang out in her room for "quiet time" for 30-45 minutes??

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  8. wow, my son stopped napping after he turned TWO, so no quiet time for this Mommy! My youngest sleeps SO well, so maybe as he gets older, I'll get lucky with good naps??! We'll see...but GOOD LUCK to ya!

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  9. Bucket pitched a nap fit today. I do NOT want to deal with this yet!!! I know how hard it is, how much mommy's need that nap!!! I feel for you!

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  10. I hated when my older girls gave up the their naps, I dread the day Monkey decides she doesn't want to nap anymore. :( I hope you get some quiet time in the evenings.

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