Nap time issues for my two year old HELP!

Jennifer - posted on 06/05/2009

I put him for a nap in my room. I bought the blackout blinds, and have no toys to distract him! I usually lay with him, yeah I know... I will talk about how tired I am and do a couple fake yawns... Then no talking.... He is always out with in 10 minutes! I make sure to have already fed him lunch, about 12:30ish then a little snack right before nap, like 1:30. Depending on the day, I take him outside and run around before snack! My son turned 2 in Feb! If for some odd reason the day is crazy and nap doesn't happen.... it is just not very fun! Just reminds me how important it is!! I try my best to make sure we are home by 2:30 each day!! Then he goes to bed about 8:30!

Hope that helps!!

Heather - posted on 06/03/2009

I'm going to come at this from a different angle...when does your daughter eat? Are you giving snacks to keep her blood sugar levels consistent? Typically, I would think that if you are doing breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner...your daughter should not crash in the evening. Is she eating enough at lunchtime? We all know that kids this age don't always eat their fair share of food...but if she does, it will help in getting her down to nap. I have a 2-yr old daughter who has the same wake up, nap and bed time as your daughter and I find that if her meal/snacks get out of whack for the day, so do her sleep times. Also, if you do the same routine everyday, and she's been active throughout the day, she should (cross your fingers) be tired enough to take a nap. Hope this helps...good luck :-)

Colleen - posted on 04/22/2009

My son RJ is totally hit and miss with his naps, so I have suggested to my stay-at-home-daddy (nice) that he should politley inforce quiet time. be it a couple hours in his room alone with maybe a movie or a book, sure fire that kid is zonked out in about 45 minutes. He still wakes up at the same time, but we just consider it a power nap, and then he still goes to bed around 8........ish.HTH

Tiffanie - posted on 04/22/2009

My two year old did this, and still does on occasion when he's excited or around certain people. Now daycare really helped to get him into a routine where right after lunch, which is always around 11:30 or so, you get a diaper change, and then its nap time. What my husband and I do, is right around the time we see him getting tired in the middle of the day we put in a movie, sit on the couch with him and he normally falls right asleep. For a while Brady didn't nap and would crash at 6, fortunately for us he would sleep the entire night until around 7 in the morning. However if its 4 or later, I would keep your child active until bed time. Also if you have a routine at night time. Like you eat dinner, get a bath, and then in the bed you go. No kid is ever going to stick to a schedule 100% of the time, they're kids. But if you really try to keep the same schedule every single day, eventually they will get on your schedule for the most part. Good luck!

Brandi - posted on 04/22/2009

My kids no longer take naps. i have a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a 1 year old. my youngest still takes naps but the other 2 dont. i get them up at 8 am and put them to bed at 8pm every single day. sometimes they start getting cranky and sleepy around 5 or 6 but thats why i made dinner time to be at 530 so that they keep busy. if i see that they are starting to get to sleepy i play with them to help keep them occupied. if for some reason they do want to take a nap i only let it be for a half hr, just enough to give them a little boost and then they are still sleepy enough at night. sometimes they dont go to sleep at 8 but i still put them in their room. i see no harm in letting them play as long as they stay in their room. also if i see that they are not sleepy i will read them 3 or so books and it helps wind them down. i hope this helps