Our days of easy napping have taken a (hopefully temporary) vacation. Jones used to reach for his crib and wave “bye bye” to me as I blew him a kiss and closed the door. Now he waves “bye bye,” will play for 10 minutes, and then begins the rampage. At least a half-an-hour of crying, with me moving in and out of the room, giving him his paci, rubbing his back, giving him hugs.. before he drifts into sleep. Today, when the crying stopped, I went to check on him and he was sleeping so soundly that I moved his leg and he didn’t even notice — but his breathing was still that kind of sad whimpering after you’ve cried your heart out for a while. That scene always makes me second guess myself.
I learned that I have the good end of the deal — on days when Bryan puts him down and I’m out of the house, its likely that Jones won’t nap at all.. An hour of crying is our limit, so Bryan usually puts him in a stroller or baby packpack to do ‘afternoon’ stuff and Jones sometimes will fall asleep, sometimes not. He sleeps 12 hours at night (and on days when he doesn’t nap, 12+), but we still think he’s too young at 15 months to drop his one and only nap.
Thoughts anyone?
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Livia dropped her morning nap at 15 months, but I have a good friend with very active little girls who gave up all daytime naps early on. I’d continue to enforce the crib time in the afternoon for your sanity… But I’m not sure how much crying I could handle either! It’s hard because Jones may not understand the whole hour of quiet time thing yet. Sometimes parenting is anything but clear cut, eh?!
i took naps till i was 7. haha…i still wish i could some days!
I agree with RT–stick with the afternoon nap or quiet time or room time, whatever you want to call it. He may not understand it now, but you KNOW it’s good for him, and he (and you) need that time.
Kind of like how our heavenly Father knows we need certain things in our life that we tend to complain and whimper about…but don’t fully understand.
An hour of crying is probably all that I could take either. I think you guys are handling it well.
Even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes!
I was wondering, when is Jones’ nap? It seems like if you could get him good and tired, he should zonk out. Others have mentioned morning naps, so if that’s the case, maybe an afternoon nap would be better? Give him more time to be tired? Or maybe that would mess up his nighttime sleep schedule?
On the other hand, I’m not a mom, so I have no idea what I’m talking about. It just seems to work for me (or does it? Man, I can take a nap any time of the day! What’s wrong with the kid? Doesn’t he know that napping is fun???)
He needs his nap more than anything right now since he’s more active. Think about all that running and climbing and jumping and exploring he’s doing right now!
Just like my children would prefer to only eat sweets, except for Pete who prefers broccoli, but he’s a freak…it’s not what’s best for them. YOU know that they need lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables, so you don’t give him sweets all the time.
Enforce nap time, even if it’s not traditional. Lay on the floor in his room for a few minutes until he falls asleep. Snuggle in your bed for a while. The possibilities are endless!
Miranda — I don’t get it either, naps are FUN! 🙂
Good advice, mamas.. good advice. I needed to hear again that he needs to nap. Today was 10X better, he screamed bloody murder when I left but was out like a light in less than a minute. Seriously. It was weird, actually. 😛 But.. hooray!