I think naps are done...and I want to cry because I know they need them!

This is my third post about switching to toddler beds and I aim to make it my last! I'm so frustrated that for the past four days my kids haven't napped. I KNOW they haven't outgrown their naps...They have passed out in the car on our way to errands and playdates and sleep in a deep state for well over an hour. :lazy: We have talked up their big kid beds, talked up the importance of staying in them while they nap, even bribed 'em today (if you nap, we'll take you out for frozen yogurt!) but to no avail...I've directed them back to their beds, calmly explained it's time to rest and as soon as the door shuts, they shoot out of bed and are up to some good mischief :stir: ...today they destroyed their room--turned it upside down. :gah:

Did anyone go through this? Does the novelty of having newfound freedom wear off? Is there hope for me that they'll ever consider napping in their beds again??!

 

I haven't been in your shoes, but what if you styed in their room until they fall asleep? Not necessarily ideal I know. Or if you did some sort of sticker chart, or a red light/green light type of clock? We have the light in the boys room or the mornings. When the light is green, they can get out if bed(and mommy and daddy have to wake up lol).

 

We lost naps with the transition and no amount of time, cajoling, explaining, yelling, threatening, discipling, bribing, tricking, or begging brought them back. They do fabulous at night and they don't get cranky really during the day, so we finally just replaced naps with quiet time watching a movie so they have down time. We were making ourselves crazy.

 

I am so scared of that day. I LOVE naptime, so I can get things done that I can't do when they are awake. My nephew stopped napping right around 3 years old. He went through several weeks of being grumpy from the need for a nap, but he refused to take one. He is going to be 5 years old this week and still falls asleep while running errands in the car.

 

When my DD switched to a toddler bed, she probably had close to week of no naps and once the novelty wore off, she started napping regularly. My son has been switched to a toddler bed for a week now and I would say he fools around more but he will fall asleep for close to 2 hours. With DD, when she was not napping and just playing (and being loud) I would sit in her room, on the rocking chair reading a book and every time she got up, I would get up and put her back in bed. The only thing I would say is that it's sleepy time.
If the kids are really done nap, then I would also attempt quiet time with them. Good luck!

 

First thing I would do is empty their room but if your kids are like mine it would probably not be enough!

 

Can you make their room pitch dark for naptime? We use room darkening shades in our girls room, so it's really dark. I think it helps because they can't really see their toys so don't bother to get up and play. (this is not to say that they don't lie in bed and chat rather than nap, but at least they stay in bed)

 

This is what I did with mine when we switched to beds. I found it to be very effective. I would sit between the beds where they could see I was there but not looking towards either of them. If they even started to get up (I never let them get as far as actually getting out of bed) I would tell them "Lie down." and if they tried to chat (to me or each other) I would tell them "Shhh. It's sleep time". I did not say anything other than those two things to them and, as far as possible, didn't look directly at their faces. It didn't take more than a few minutes for the first few days before they gave up trying to get out of bed or talk. Then they were just lying quietly in their beds and so fell asleep in a normal amount of time (usually under 10 minutes, not more than 15). After about a week I was able to move the place I sat closer and closer to the door, until I was sitting just outside the door and listening to make sure they behaved. I continued to wait outside the door while they fell asleep for another week or two and then I was confident that I could just leave them to go to sleep on their own. To be honest though I would have continued to sit right in the room if I'd needed to, it would have been worth those 10 minutes a day to get them to have a proper nap.

I know this approach doesn't work for everyone (what one thing does?), some people find their kids get more excited if they stay in the room, but in your situation I would say it's worth a try. Good Luck!

 

I put them in seperate beds for naptime as soon as we switched to beds.

Actually we did really well and they rarely tried to get 'out' of bed. Without a person to play with, they stayed in bed and played with stuffies, books, etc. I told them I would come and get them at X time (not that they knew what time that was, but they knew to wait until I came in the room). Everyone was sleeping, be quiet.

We did not have toys in any rooms (they are all in the living room) so that helped.

I had one napper and one non-napper for over a year and we had to split them up.

Now, we do quiet time daily (at 5) from 1-2 and they are so good. They dont know any different!!

 

For a little while Cameron didn't nap once he was put in his twin bed. Once the novelty of freedom wore off, he started napping. It's not regular he naps though, but he sleeps great either way and has never tried to get out of his bed during nights. I just let them play in their rooms as long as they are being quiet. If Kiefer is sleeping, I try to get Cameron to play quietly in his room during that time. I need my rest too and Jason needs his "me" time as well. It works great most of the time. Cameron will sing and talk. He does occasionally hit the walls and windows which makes noise. I don't want to wake Kiefer up. When Kiefer's up, he'll call out "Mommy" or "Daddy" from under his door. That makes tons of noise. I usually put somethign at the bottom of the door to stop that. It usually works, but sometimes he'll just kick the door which is even louder. Thankfully, Kiefer naps about 95% of the time.

 

We had to separate ours for nap. No amount of pleading, bribing or getting angry could get them to nap in the same room. However, for nighttime they were fine in the same room.

They took turns sleeping in Mommy's bed. The novelty of sleeping in Mommy's big bed did the trick. They went back to napping for at least another year.

 

:grouphug: The very first time we tried to transition we lost naps and they destroyed the room horribly!! I mean everything :headbang:
So when we did it this time, we tried for one night in the same room and nope it went the same way. I ended up having to stay in their room until they went down and even then an hour later one of them would be up and there went nap.
So we put them in different bedrooms, let me tell you that was the best thing I have ever done. It broke my heart because I really wanted them in the same room forever but they needed their sleep and I needed them to sleep! I have had ZERO problems since and it's wonderful! So I would suggest that you put them in seperate rooms if you can, even if it's just during naps and you put one in your bed.
Good luck!