Naptime HELP!

[daycarediva]

I have a GREAT napping group. Until.... dcb changed his schedule, he was PT/mornings only and is now FT/all day.

He is just 2. Great kid, from a great family. One of my best behaved children, great little eater, and this is SOOOOO not term worthy, imho. (before someone suggests it)

About 2/5 days a week he will start FREAKING OUT during our naptime routine. On these days he will NOT nap, so I thought if I could solve the freak out, I could solve nap.

Freak out problem was = He doesn't like when I leave a room (any room) but will normally just follow me and say Hi/check in. Because of this, I changed it so that I have all of the older kids finish up in the bathroom (wash fash and hands, brush teeth, potty, get changed, etc) and leave little guy with me to "help". I put him on his mat and sing our good night song, then everyone picks a book and I read them all. Everyone is ALWAYS asleep by book 6. Except my little guy, still about 2/5 days a week, this week he is at 2/2 not napping. He is constantly popping back up and won't listen when I tell him to lay back down. I even tried "We can't finish our story until little guy lays back down" (nope, I have to go lay him back down, every.single.time.)

Remember, if I leave the room with him awake, he will LOSE IT. Never gets off of his mat, but will just sit up and SCREAM and wake the other kids. So at this point I am at a loss. I can stay in there and pat him/put him back down/etc but I think this is only making it worse. I did it yesterday for over an hour and he never fell asleep and it became a game.

I talked to his Mom about it, and she has no suggestions, she and Dad both INSIST that he still needs a nap, and I agree. He is a miserable MESS if he doesn't sleep. Yesterday he fell asleep in the car on the way home, and then was screaming/freaking out from being exhausted through dinner and fell asleep at 7, back up at 4 this morning for the day. EEEK! Thankfully parents are very understanding.

Any ideas? At this point he has been up for 9.5 hours without even a rest period!

[countrymom]

I have one like this except he was throwing himself out of the pnp. She swears that he sleeps in his own bed, but I have a feeling she's sleeping with him and he doesn't have a normal nap time. So I have to keep him up, I have no choice but she comes at 2pm so its not a big deal. I also think that at home there isn't a normal nap schedual. I have no real advice because I have one like this too.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Can you place him on a cot in the kitchen or room where you are? I don't know what your set up is like.

[daycarediva]

Can you place him on a cot in the kitchen or room where you are? I don't know what your set up is like.

Yes. I have the other kids in my nap room, and he is laying down in the playroom (3 feet from me). I am rinsing and repeating "Time for nap" and laying him back down. His eyes were red and he was rubbing them over an hour ago. The screaming (from being exhausted!) has already begun/5 minutes in.

[daycarediva]

about 20 minutes of screaming and he is out. I feel terrible that he gets worked up to the point of tears. I have to solve this for him so that he goes to nap happy and is in a good mood for the rest of his day.

NOW the problem is all of the other kids will be getting up in 30 minutes and dcb will still not have enough sleep.

[Heidi]

about 20 minutes of screaming and he is out. I feel terrible that he gets worked up to the point of tears. I have to solve this for him so that he goes to nap happy and is in a good mood for the rest of his day.

NOW the problem is all of the other kids will be getting up in 30 minutes and dcb will still not have enough sleep.

They only sleep an hour?

I'm doing the math...maybe wrong, but my kids all sleep 2 1/2 to 3 hours, except my littlest peanut, who's only 4 months old...

Sorry, I have no suggestions other than sleep sack, pnp, and CIO....at the other end of the house from the other children. THen, once he conquers that, you could try reintroducing "sleeping in the naproom with your friends".

[daycarediva]

Nope, they go down at 12-12:30 and sleep until 2:30. I ALWAYS wake them (otherwise parents report bedtime trouble) so 2-2.5 hours. dcb fell asleep at 2, and the kids were up (and woke him up, of course) at 2:30.

It is also really inconvenient for me to have him sleep in the playroom as that is when I get my cleaning done. So I was cleaning after everyone woke up/diaper changes/snack. Needless to say, it didn't get done.

I am going to call my licensor tomorrow and see if she can come and approve dd's bedroom as a napping area, that way I can separate him, without making it a pain in the butt for me.

[Heidi]

Nope, they go down at 12-12:30 and sleep until 2:30. I ALWAYS wake them (otherwise parents report bedtime trouble) so 2-2.5 hours. dcb fell asleep at 2, and the kids were up (and woke him up, of course) at 2:30.

It is also really inconvenient for me to have him sleep in the playroom as that is when I get my cleaning done. So I was cleaning after everyone woke up/diaper changes/snack. Needless to say, it didn't get done.

I am going to call my licensor tomorrow and see if she can come and approve dd's bedroom as a napping area, that way I can separate him, without making it a pain in the butt for me.

Haul out some white noise machines, too! You may need a sound barrier.

THere have been days when I had the washing machine running, the diswasher running, and the bathroom AND hood vent on during nap.

[daycarediva]

I put them all down 30 minutes earlier(thinking he was just overtired), put little guy down first, on a nap mat, and gave him a book to look at while I handled everyone else. He was still the last one to sleep/ I stayed in the room an additional 45 minutes waiting for him. So getting him to nap today took over an hour. Atleast he napped-with no tears! Hopefully this trend continues and he doesn't catch on to me changing things up

[littlemissmuffet]

How long has this been going on for?

I would just let nature take its course. The kid needs to learn that there is a nap period at your home, and that you aren't in the room while he naps. Plain and simple. You need to just put him down and walk away. I know the screaming and crying is annoying, difficult to hear and might wake/keep the other kids up, but as long as everyone stays on their nap mat everything should be fine. A few days - maybe even up to two weeks of this and he will likely be in a routine and realize that his screaming/crying fits are resulting in absolutely no response. Don't panic, don't change your old routine - just put him down, walk away and ignore.