knzbound
08-31-2005, 02:37 PM
I am feeling like a total drama queen about this, but I am seriously at my wit's end with my DD. I am also 38w pregnant and tired as all get out and in need of a long nap myself...
DD is 21 months old. She's been taking one afternoon nap since about 15-16 mos. old. Not a great one, maybe 1.5 hours, two hours on a really good day. Recently she has started not taking any nap at all. For a few weeks, it was maybe once a week. She'd babble and play in her crib happily for over an hour and never sleep. Now, she's in full resistance mode. She's not taken a nap three out of the last four days w/lots of screaming and crying involved.
And, inevitably, she's a total crank monster all afternoon and into the evening. Tantrums galore at the drop of a hat. Not to mention mama's frayed nerves from toddler entertainment duty from morning to night.
I've been a big devotee of Weissbluth's methods in the past and we've had a consistent bedtime routine for most of her life. She sleeps through the night for the most part from 8pm until 6:30 or 7am, and I put her down for her nap around 1pm with some deviation. I read W's chapter on 13 to 36 monthers and found nothing helpful. Something along the lines of "it's best to encourage a nap ever day" but no real advice on how to do so other than lying down w/your child. This has never worked in the past. If we bring DD into our bed for whatever reason, it's playtime. I also cannot imagine being able to lie down w/DD when I have an infant to care for, so I feel like there is no point getting into that habit. She also won't transfer from the car to her crib and gas is almost $3 a gallon here in California, so car naps aren't much of an option.
So ladies--I am desperate. How much worse can the timing be? ARGH. If DD drops her nap now, I am going to go off the deep end. The past two days of no-napping have been bad enough and I haven't even had the baby yet.
Any mothers of older toddler have any luck keeping the nap intact, despite the child trying to drop it? TIA.
DD is 21 months old. She's been taking one afternoon nap since about 15-16 mos. old. Not a great one, maybe 1.5 hours, two hours on a really good day. Recently she has started not taking any nap at all. For a few weeks, it was maybe once a week. She'd babble and play in her crib happily for over an hour and never sleep. Now, she's in full resistance mode. She's not taken a nap three out of the last four days w/lots of screaming and crying involved.
And, inevitably, she's a total crank monster all afternoon and into the evening. Tantrums galore at the drop of a hat. Not to mention mama's frayed nerves from toddler entertainment duty from morning to night.
I've been a big devotee of Weissbluth's methods in the past and we've had a consistent bedtime routine for most of her life. She sleeps through the night for the most part from 8pm until 6:30 or 7am, and I put her down for her nap around 1pm with some deviation. I read W's chapter on 13 to 36 monthers and found nothing helpful. Something along the lines of "it's best to encourage a nap ever day" but no real advice on how to do so other than lying down w/your child. This has never worked in the past. If we bring DD into our bed for whatever reason, it's playtime. I also cannot imagine being able to lie down w/DD when I have an infant to care for, so I feel like there is no point getting into that habit. She also won't transfer from the car to her crib and gas is almost $3 a gallon here in California, so car naps aren't much of an option.
So ladies--I am desperate. How much worse can the timing be? ARGH. If DD drops her nap now, I am going to go off the deep end. The past two days of no-napping have been bad enough and I haven't even had the baby yet.
Any mothers of older toddler have any luck keeping the nap intact, despite the child trying to drop it? TIA.