Guest guest Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. My husband is at home with her during the day and will try everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? Thanks. Rachael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 my son is the same way (he was 3 in late aug) I work during the week & he is in school. He sometimes naps at school -- on the days he doesn't fall asleep he still has to stay in his bed and be quiet/rest. On weekends he is napping less and less -- when I sense he really needs one I will let him lie either on the couch or in my bed and watch a video for 1/2 hour -- if he falls asleep great, if not, I figure he didn't really need to and at least he relaxed for a while and got a bit of rest. On the plus side, on the days he doesn't nap (either at school or on the weekends) he goes to bed earlier & easier. --- smartgirl27us <thesmartfamily3 wrote: > > > > Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my > hair out with > this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half > year or so she > has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age > this would not > concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't > nap, she is > miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and > more tired, starts > misbehaving, won't listen to anything we > say/ask/tell her. She says > she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she > will be very > obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. > If we are > going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will > end up falling > asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through > dinner. > > My husband is at home with her during the day and > will try > everything to get her to nap. Some days she will > just burst into > tears by the time they are done and my husband will > be yelling and > frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake > up time but it > doesn't seem to help. > > Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? > > Thanks. > > Rachael > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 My theory on napping these days is that older toddlers no longer nap very much because of TV/videos. IF they watch these, it's essentially enough rest to get by and they don't actually sleep. So if your daughter is watching TV on a daily basis, try removing TV to see if this helps. I know it's hard because TV/videos can be a great baby sitter so the care giver can get something done in peace. One idea is to tell her that TV is only for the afternoon after nap time, as a reward for taking a nap (place a time limit). Another option is to offer to let her sleep in mommy and daddies bed, only for naps. When my daughter was this age, I would purposely drive around in the afternoon until she fell asleep in her car seat, then she would usually transfer to her bed, if she was sleepy enough. IF you have a garage, leaving her in the garage asleep with the door open to the house is also an option (if it's not too cold and this is safe etc, etc). Good luck, Tracy - " smartgirl27us " <thesmartfamily3 Thursday, December 09, 2004 10:37 AM OT - Napping > > > > Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with > this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she > has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not > concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is > miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts > misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says > she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very > obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are > going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling > asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. > > My husband is at home with her during the day and will try > everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into > tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and > frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it > doesn't seem to help. > > Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? > > Thanks. > > Rachael > > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 I know a lot of you may not agree with this but here I go............. put her in bed and let her cry. I know some of you are probably gasping in shock but as a last resort it sometimes works. also- let me ask my daycare what she does. she is a kids angel. I have had this happen a few times- we all have-and that is what I did. also sometimes trying to soothe them works. rocking, soft music and a book. good luck. let us know what works for you. c - smartgirl27us<thesmartfamily3 < > Thursday, December 09, 2004 1:37 PM OT - Napping Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. My husband is at home with her during the day and will try everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? Thanks. Rachael For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org<http://www.vrg.org/> and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This<http://www.vrg.org/family.This> is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 What if you try a nap farie? Have her make a bag out of fabric and hang it on her door knob. When she wakes up from her nap, there will be a small gift from the nap farie. _____ smartgirl27us [thesmartfamily3] Thursday, December 09, 2004 10:37 AM OT - Napping Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. My husband is at home with her during the day and will try everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? Thanks. Rachael For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Hi Rachael Sounds about right. This same thing happened with my kids when they gave up naps. I wish that I had something to tell you that would make it better. Maybe your dh could lay down with her in the afternoon. But the only thing that I know that helps is time. Eventually they grow out of it. Good luck Carol smartgirl27us <thesmartfamily3 wrote: Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. My husband is at home with her during the day and will try everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? Thanks. Rachael For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Welcome to parenthood. The great words of wisdom for this situation are; " be patience, this too shall pass " . Once a kids decides that they are not going to nap you really can't make them go to sleep and turning it into a conflict just creates frustration for all involved. A nice ride in the car does do wonders for kids who insist they aren't tired, though at the price of gas these days it may not be worthy it. Phil On Dec 9, 2004, at 1:37 PM, smartgirl27us wrote: > > > > Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with > this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she > has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not > concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is > miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts > misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says > she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very > obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are > going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling > asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. > > My husband is at home with her during the day and will try > everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into > tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and > frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it > doesn't seem to help. > > Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? > > Thanks. > > Rachael > > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website > at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families > go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not > intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be > obtained from a qualified health professional. > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified > health professional. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 I am a fairly new mom (13 mth old) so no real practical experience for this age but I found an excellent parenting website that I go to regularly..........babycenter.com. I am sure you will find helpful advice here, there is a ton of information on all things parenting. Use the links and check the 'all boards' under N for napping, etc. Good Luck! Shawna The all-new My – What will yours do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 I used to tell my girls if they did not want to nap that was fine, but they had to go in their room for quiet time and could not come out until I came to get them. They could read books or play with their stuffed animals, but no noisy toys. Nine times out of ten they would fall asleep. I found 3 1/2 to be a difficult age, and many of my friends have commented the same about their children at that age. For my Mariah, who will be 5 in March we went through that whole I still need a nap but I don't wanna take one thing right around 3 1/2 also. Then by 4 she had given them up completely. I don't have any real words of wisdom here.....just wanted you to know we have been through this tough stage too.....as well as many other tough stages. We use Melatonin (a supplement found at health food/vitamin stores) at night to get Mariah asleep to ensure she gets a good nights sleep and she can last the day. Kelly smartgirl27us <thesmartfamily3 wrote: Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. My husband is at home with her during the day and will try everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? Thanks. Rachael For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 the car ride is agreat idea. we did that for awhile, too. but it got to the point where when I would stop she would wake up. but still- it did help. c - Phil<PhilLand < > Thursday, December 09, 2004 8:33 PM Re: OT - Napping Welcome to parenthood. The great words of wisdom for this situation are; " be patience, this too shall pass " . Once a kids decides that they are not going to nap you really can't make them go to sleep and turning it into a conflict just creates frustration for all involved. A nice ride in the car does do wonders for kids who insist they aren't tired, though at the price of gas these days it may not be worthy it. Phil On Dec 9, 2004, at 1:37 PM, smartgirl27us wrote: > > > > Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with > this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she > has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not > concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is > miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts > misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says > she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very > obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are > going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling > asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. > > My husband is at home with her during the day and will try > everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into > tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and > frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it > doesn't seem to help. > > Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? > > Thanks. > > Rachael > > > > > > > > > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website > at http://www.vrg.org<http://www.vrg.org/> and for materials especially useful for families > go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This<http://www.vrg.org/family.This> is a discussion list and is not > intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be > obtained from a qualified health professional. > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified > health professional. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 On Thu, 9 Dec 2004, smartgirl27us wrote: > Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? I was just discussing this with a fellow parent at my son's preschool a couple days ago. She has instituted a " quiet hour " for days when her child won't nap. The child doesn't have to sleep but does have to engage in quiet, calm activities. Apparently it helps somewhat. Since you say your child is falling asleep in the car, you could try intentionally driving her to sleep at nap time, much like parents often do with fussy infants. I will admit to having done so more than once with my cranky 3-year-old. I have noticed that when my children start to grow out of a nap (going from 2 to 1 a day, or from 1 to none) that they get very grumpy like your child is. I haven't had much success convincing my kids to nap when they don't want to, but I have found that they grow out of the sleepy grumpiness relatively quickly as their bodies learn to adjust to the new sleep schedule. So I would advise you to take the long view (easier for an outsider to say, I know). As with everything else, this too shall pass. ---- Patricia Bullington-McGuire <patricia The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical. They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each nonexisted in an entirely different way ... -- Stanislaw Lem, " Cyberiad " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 When my quintuplets decided that they were no longer going to nap - around 3 years old - I tried everything in the book to get them to nap. I even covered their windows (on the outside) with aluminum foil so that the room was pitch black dark (they never played in there - only slept) so that maybe I could fool them into thinking it was night. HA! That didn't even come close to working. LOL What I found was that when I was fortunate enough to get them to nap, it became increasingly harder to get them to go to sleep peacefully at night. After I put that together, I just tried to help them through their crankies until they outgrew them. It took about 2 - 3 weeks before it got better in the day. We just sort of worked through that period together. I really wouldn't worry about it. It's a normal part of growing up and as long as she's getting enough sleep at night, she should be fine. I know it's hard to give up that time for you, but ... All in the life of a parent, huh? LOL God's Peace, Gayle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 I'm sure you had lots of replies. i had sleep issues too and here is what I tried....(the important thing to remember is that it may only work for a short time... 1. Wake her up earlier in the morning 2. Make sure you 'run her' in the morning 3. Tell her it is not nap time it is quiet time-she is in there for an hour-if necessary, by an alarm or egg timer. If she knows she is in there she may give up and nap 4. Oh, and I wasn't above driving around, bringing a book and reading in a parking lot once he fell asleep :)Madeline > " smartgirl27us " <thesmartfamily3 > > > OT - Napping >Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:37:13 -0000 > > > >Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with >this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she >has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not >concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is >miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts >misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says >she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very >obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are >going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling >asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. > >My husband is at home with her during the day and will try >everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into >tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and >frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it >doesn't seem to help. > >Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? > >Thanks. > >Rachael > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2004 Report Share Posted December 13, 2004 My eldest son was a wakeful baby. He would take " power naps " , 10 to 20 minutes, then he would be wide awake. By two he wasn't napping at all, but would get very tired in the early afternoon. I am not a schedule person by any stretch of the imagination, but what I managed to do was if we were home for lunch, directly after I would put on a one hour video (he loves dinosaurs so the Land Before Time series worked perfectly. They are all one hour long and kept his attention.) The only rule was that he had to be laying down with his head on a pillow to watch. Perhaps 6 out of 10 times this would result in a nap. I would snuggle him on the couch with a blanket. Many times I had to lay with him to keep him there initially, but it was worth the preparation time as he would wake up refreshed and not be ready to crash around dinner time. My youngest son, on the other side of the spectrum, has always napped and even tells me when he needs to nap! He'll be four in January and still wants and needs a nap every day, especially after preschool. Hang in there - a solution will present itself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 14, 2004 Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 Nap time is important, not just so she's not cranky, but so you're not either I was lucky the first go around, my now 9-yr old took naps until she started full day kindergarden. My 2 and 3 yr olds now, they are very good and trying to get out of nap time, i just stay firm and consistant. We eat lunch, clean up, take a (very) short walk, read a book, chose music then sleep. Because they know what's coming they tend to ease into it better. Also, I make sure never to rush them or the book or they sense it and get a little riled up. In our house there is no TV or computers until everyone (ok, so it's only my 4th grader) is done with homework, so none EVER before nap time. I find that if I tire out their little bodies, they don't have enough strength to resist Maybe your little one has " outgrown " them, but I don't think so if she's so tired during the day. It sounds like that maybe she now EXPECTS nap time to be a struggle, so she struggles. Good luck, hope you have " sweet dreams " soon Jodi, (owned by 3 vegetarian kids: 9,3,2) smartgirl27us <thesmartfamily3 wrote: Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she has begun refusing to nap most days. At her age this would not concern us if not for the fact that when she doesn't nap, she is miserable. As the day goes on she gets more and more tired, starts misbehaving, won't listen to anything we say/ask/tell her. She says she is not tired and doesn't want to nap but she will be very obviously tired and get dark circles under her eyes. If we are going out to dinner and she hasn't napped, she will end up falling asleep in the car at 6:30/7:00 and sleep through dinner. My husband is at home with her during the day and will try everything to get her to nap. Some days she will just burst into tears by the time they are done and my husband will be yelling and frustrated. We have tried altering her bedtime/wake up time but it doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions/words of wisdom/anything????? Thanks. Rachael For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 14, 2004 Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 My 4 year old started this at about 3 1/2. What we finally ended up doing is giving up on naps for him and changing bedtime to about 6- 6:30pm. With the exception of my 1 year old's nighttime nursing, both boys sleep a good twelve or more hours and wake well-rested. The change in bedtime did mean also changing dinner time, but we are now used to eating earlier, and it was worth it. No more cranky afternoons. , " smartgirl27us " <thesmartfamily3> wrote: > > > Sorry to be off topic but I am about to pull all my hair out with > this one. My daughter is 3 1/2. For the past half year or so she > has begun refusing to nap most days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on the napping situation. I recomended to my husband to try a set period of quiet time. We'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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