No Nappers! yikes!

Discussion in 'The Toddler Years(1-3)' started by irisflower, Jul 19, 2011.

  1. irisflower

    irisflower Well-Known Member

    A little background. My fraternal b/b twins sleep in seperate rooms in toddler beds. Wake up 6:45-8:15am, no set time. Nap 1:30-4:30...even until 5:15pm sometimes! Bed 8:30-8:45pm.

    I have been sick with pneumonia for 3 weeks including hospitalization. I'm starting to be back on track with my health, but they have been no nappers most afternoons for everyone and now me. Maybe 2 days of week shortened naps.

    Um, so now what?
    When do people do dinner? How do you do that "sit down with everyone daddy included dinner"? What time is lights out? How do they get similar total number of hours of sleep?

    I'm looking for suggestions of afternoon quiet activities, ideas how to personally stay calm when I used to nap or shower during that afternoon naptime, and ideas of schedule shifting.

    Thanks!!!
     
  2. miss_bossy18

    miss_bossy18 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    My girls are currently only napping about 2 out of every 3 days or so, but they still go in their room, with lights out for two hours every afternoon from 1:00pm - 3:00pm. That's my break & it's staying my break until they start school! ;) When they are really consistently no longer napping, I'll probably let them keep their light on & read, or do puzzles, or some other quiet activity, but they aren't allowed to come out or bother me.

    Their usual bedtime is 8:00pm & they usually wake up between 7:00am - 7:30am. On a day when they don't sleep at all for their whole quiet time, we put them to bed at 7:00pm rather than 8:00pm & they still sleep till their normal wake up time. For my girls, I find the key to setting the day is having a fairly regular wake up time (if they aren't up by 7:30am, I wake them) otherwise it's an absolute guarantee that they won't nap, and then it all just snowballs from there. Transitions are rough & I don't like them - it makes things unpredictable & that makes me :crazy: because of my personality, but this seems to be a pretty good system for now.

    Hope you're feeling much better & can settle into a new routine that works for all of you quickly! :hug:
     
  3. maybell

    maybell Well-Known Member

    we're in the middle of figuring it all out too! one Q I had for Rachel is - are your girls in separate rooms?? mine would NEVER be quiet for 2 hrs in the same room... mine get into ALL KINDS of mischief when left to their own devices... but mine still share a room. My two are very energetic...

    anyway, I try for 5pm dinner - but then we don't all eat together - since dh doesn't get home at a decent time for that.
    I would love for 7:30p or 8p bedtime. I think we'll get there one day. good luck to you! I'll be checking this post to see ideas.
     
  4. miss_bossy18

    miss_bossy18 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    My girls do share a room & they aren't completely quiet during nap - there's usually a lot of giggling/talking & sometimes running around. Their room is pretty empty though - they have some stuffed animals & books. There's nothing else in there, so there isn't too much trouble they can get into.
     
  5. irisflower

    irisflower Well-Known Member

    one of mine during "quiet time or nap" has been discovering all the electrical devices. so back to super toddler proofing the room! Need the air purifier in there!
     
  6. miss_bossy18

    miss_bossy18 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    We installed a hanging shelf high up on the wall above their change table for their white noise machine & humidifier. The cords run down behind the change table & into one of these outlet covers.
     
  7. YoungMom3

    YoungMom3 Member

    Irisflower, my advice is to stick with it! When we took my girls' pacifiers, they almost qtouit napping. But I was super nauseous in my first trimester so I needed them to nap. So I sat in their room with them at nap time and ignored them while I surfed the net on my phone or read. That way they would stay in their beds and be bored enough to go to sleep. After first it took two hours for them to go to sleep! But now it's usually about 30 minutes, and then they sleep one to two hours.
    You may come to appreciate this change as you recover. I find that it's nice on days we are out and about not having to worry about getting home in time for nap. They usually fall asleep in the car at some point, which gives me a break from all the fighting and incessant questions, and they usually go to bed earlier that night. Score!
    It's definitely a tough transition, but give it time and don't give up! According to Kim West, who wrote Good Night, Sleep Tight and is known as The Sleep Lady, children at this age do still need naps, which encouraged me to keep at it.
     
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