Lexi has never been a good napper. Ever. Even as a newborn, she fought sleeping during the day and chose to cry/scream instead. It was awful.
Nowadays, she is happy during the day, but come the afternoon she refuses to nap. So come the late afternoon/evening, we are both exhausted and she is quite unpleasant. I've tried putting her down right after lunch, with a full tummy, in her crib, and making her stay there for at least 45 minutes. She screams the entire time. I let her scream for 10 days before I decided that wasn't going to work. I've tried shifting nap time earlier and later with no success. I've changed locations to my bed, the floor in her room, the floor in my room, and the floor in the living room, but she thinks that means she can crawl away and go play instead of sleep. The only time I can get her to nap is if she falls asleep in the car and I bring her in the house and lay her down in the living room. If I lay her in her crib she immediately wakes up crying (and usually doesn't go back to sleep).
Napping in the car is interesting. If we drive in the car anytime past 11 AM, she will fall asleep. That tells me she should be able to fall asleep at home anytime past 11 AM. But she refuses.
The really weird thing is she is a GREAT night sleeper. I lay her in her crib wide awake and walk away and usually never hear a peep from her. Yet following the exact same routine for nap time leads only to misery. This is a mystery to me.
Needless to say, I am at my wits end with this napping business. Forcing her to nap/scream in her crib is grinding on the nerves and she never goes to sleep that way. Allowing her to skip a nap altogether makes both of us tired and grouchy by late afternoon and ruins a peaceful bedtime because she usually passes out for a nap around 5 - 6 PM.
Today she has only slept for 10 minutes, so I've been trying to encourage a nap the whole afternoon. No cigar, and the grumpiness is setting in. Feel free to pray :)
5 comments:
yuk. my girls always loved to sleep. Just like their Dad and me :) I wonder if you are letting her sleep too long at night. I would try putting her down the same time each night (if possible ) That means u would have to be home evey night for a while. And I mean the same time even if she wants to go to sleep earlier (keep her awake). Put her down say 8pm.. Then get her up the same time every morning. Say 7 am. maybe if there is a strict pattern, where she can't just sleep as late as she wants, she will tire more during the day. and nap??? just a thought - Mrs. Wilson (Heather's Mom)
Uhhh... I'm sorry. I have no clue about these things. Yuck. I imagine it's super frustrating. I can only go by what my Momma says. :)
Thanks for the advice! She has been going to bed at 8 PM every night for at least 3 months, going down without so much as a peep. She gets up between 7 and 8 AM. I usually hear her about 7 but she dozes on and off til about 8 on most mornings....12 hrs over night is longer than average for her age (11.25 is avg)... maybe it would help to get her up earlier. She is still "supposed" to be taking one 2.5 hr nap each day (!). She'll do about 40 mins IF she is lulled to sleep in the car and no mins if not.
wow. The JOYS of Motherhood.
If only she would speak up and tell us exactly why she doesn't want to take a nap, THEN we would know. :) he he he. In due time, she'll be tellng us more and more every day, right? :)
I would suggest putting on HGTV. That seems to work really good for me...Mrs McGoo puts that on and I'm out like a light...
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