Ever since we took the paci away from Elizabeth (it's been over a week now). She is not consistently taking naps anymore (and she's only 21 months). It was last Sunday (the 19th) that the paci's were taken away and last week she took a nap every other day. Today was the day she should have taken a nap (based on the way things had been going). But no, she refused to take a nap. I could leave her in there for 2 hours and she would probably cry the whole time (no exaggeration). Today I tried a new tactic. When it was evident she was not going to be going to sleep I told her she needed to stay in her room and play quietly by herself. We have a toddler gate - which is the only way this can work. It's kind of working. She's been in there for 10 minutes now . . . but not really happy about it.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm not ready for her to give up naps, but perhaps that's not entirely up to me. . . however if she does give up naps how can I encourage "quiet time" w/ one so young? I know I could get some quiet time by sticking her in front of a movie - but I don't want to make that a habit. Help!!
3 comments:
My daughter, Lucy, did that for a while after we "gave" up her paci too (she was about 27 months). It took a few weeks, I think, so don't give up too soon. Eventually she will learn to sleep without the paci, it will just take some time.
Rosemary (Noce) Clark
Yikes! I think she'll get used to not having her paci...hang on, mama!
Tekoah stopped sleeping at nap time for a while after baby was born so I changed the goal of nap time. She still had to stay in her bed but she could sit up and look at three books. She could also talk to herself. This way I still got a break and we didn't have to battle over laying down and being quiet, or extend nap time because she didn't sleep. She went through a phase of resting awake for a long time and then falling asleep just before it would be time to get up, so I would let her sleep at least an hour. Now she has to be quiet because the baby has nap at the same time in the same room, but she takes a book to "resting time" and usually lays it beside her and decides to go to sleep.
Also, when I really need my kids to sleep for a nap, or I'm encouraging a sleeping habit at night, I give them chamomile tea in the hour before bed. (I also drink it to get it into the last nursing)
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