How do you handle no naps?

The girls haven't napped in months. Every once in a while if they are sick, but that chapter is over! :cry:
I have tried various strategies to at least keep my "quiet time". Now that we have Caleb, I need it more than ever! What we're on right now is a TV in their room (yeah, I know!), but the only time they can watch it is at "naptime". It only works with a DVD player, it's not hooked up to cable or a Tivo, so I have to put a DVD in for them. That was great in the beginning, they were fine with watching movie-length movies for a while, but then they started wanting to watch other things, so now they want shows that are 30 min, which means I have to keep going in there and changing the DVD a couple times. Not the worst, but kind of breaks up the down time I'm supposed to be having. Some days, they really aren't paying attention to the TV and they end up screaming and fighting in there, or just being loud, or every five minutes it's I'm thirsty, I pooped, I have to go potty, etc. Then other days if we are busy I just skip the whole deal. Which isn't too bad, but we can't have an activity-filled day every day, plus I do have things I need to get done around the house.

I really wish they would just stay in their room and play quietly for an hour, at least!

 

When naps went away for us they just went away and the day all just blended together. I tried to do quiet time for awhile but it just turned into the loudest part of the day where mom couldn't see us. Would they get into PBS or something where you could turn the tv on and let them watch a couple of those programs in a row in the living room? You wouldn't necessarily have to be in the room with them? My children have never really gotten into movies and didn't start watching tv until they were 2 so when the tv was on they were entranced, not necessarily a good thing but it worked for some downtime.

 

what?!?! They drop naps all together?!?! Oh, this is a very scary announcement....

I am no help, but I do want to send LOTS of luck and good wishes your way!

 

We did the quiet time but John had to stay in the living room and watch a movie or two shows during that time. He had to sit on the couch, and lay with his blanket. He stopped doing that at about 4 because he was in preschool and really on the go by then.

 

We try to do quiet time. My kids do like movies and if they want a show, I will put Noggin on and they watch that. If they do the 1/2 hour on demand thingys, it drives my cuckoo. Liam still naps for 2-3 hours daily, so this quiet time is necessary. If it's nice out, we end up going in the yard to play. Sometimes we do activities, crafts, playdoh, etc.

 

I thought mine were completely done all summer, but now that they do preschool 2 mornings a week, they are pretty fried most afternoons and take naps Wednesday through Saturday which is GREAT! I also run them pretty ragged the rest of the time, but I don't have a cutie-pie baby like you do!

I would just leave it at "you are watching this movie or reading a book" and go with that. Keep it consistent and maybe they will hook into it as a routine. Also, since it is a naptime substitute, make a big deal about going potty and having a drink and such BEFORE they go into their room for quiet/movie time.

I don't blame you for wanting/needing the break! Hang in there!

 

Will they listen to stories on CD? Those worked wonders when Nadia was doing "quiet time" in her room, after dropping her nap -- she was a bit older, around 3.5 or so. We have a bunch of Disney stories and various folktales and stuff. Often she'd be listening so hard that she'd fall asleep...

Of course, this worked with a singleton -- no clue what to tell you for twins.

Maybe get the one-hour special episodes of Dora and Diego...there's a pirate adventure, and one where Dora goes around the world to save friendship day or something...and a some dinosaur rescue....hmm. It's been awhile since we watched these, but they do buy you an entire hour! (Oh, and there's also an option on some Dora and Backyardigans and Little Einsteins DVD's to "play all" of the episodes on the disk...)

Good luck! I was so sad to lose the nap, BUT it meant that she fell asleep within 30 seconds at bedtime, which was a good thing.

 

Mine only nap in the car now, and somedays I don't want to drive around just for that nap!
I will lay in my bed (but you have Caleb, so maybe a time when he is taking a nap too? so cute btw!)
and let them either lay with me or they can play in their room upstairs quietly. It lasts about an hour,....

 

Kelly, I'm so with you. Annika and Natalie haven't really napped in ages. The only times they nap now, besides when they fall asleep in the car, are when they are sick or drugged. We did flu shots on Friday, so I gave them some benadryl around noon yesterday, they were falling apart, and got a couple of hours of peace.
Usually, I have them lie on the floor in the activity room with a movie on. If I need some major uninterrupted alone time, on a really bad day, I put them in their room with their bed time toys and books and just shut the door. It has a door knob cover on it so they can't get out. I make sure they use the potty first and keep an ear up for a serious sounding, "I needa go potty."
I wish I had a solution. A real solution. Unfortunately, it seems the days of napping have just passed us by.

 

When our girls stopped napping, I really had to separate them to get a quiet time. They were almost guaranteed to play loudly or fight if I left them together. I put one in their room and the other in the guest room and they each got to pick 5 books to take with them. Occasionally, they'd get to take their video game. I set timers for 1 hour and they could come out when the timer went off. At that age, I also put a little potty in the room with them or else they would seriously be coming out every 10 minutes saying they had to go potty.

Alternatively, if you want to keep up with the movies, I'd remove all movies shorter than 1 hour from their naptime choices pile. That way they can't pick a short movie.

Good luck!

 

I have to separate my girls also. They can take a few toys onto the bed with them and can play, but they can't get off of the bed. I also let them watch TV (Noggin) and they know that naptime is for 3 shows, so that's like their timer.

When Scott is home he will lay down with them. They always go to sleep then, but I don't have time to lay down with them in the first place. . .