What To Say At Pickup (Nap Related)

[Unregistered]

I've had this 18 month old for 5 months and her nap has been consistently horrible. Around 25 minutes in the PM when she first started.. Her sleep schedule has been completely out of whack. 4:30/5pm - 5am. Nap #1 is before daycare at about 7 for about 30min, then at my house at 12:30 for less than an hour. And of course she is a wreck by the time mom gets her home for dinner. Dad never gets to see her since she is put down for the night so early. IMO, mom needed to stop napping the kid in the morning so she'd get a more complete afternoon nap.

Then the time change happened, and mom was able to keep DCG up until about 6, so she slept 6-6, and came to me without her morning nap. She was great all morning, then crashed for close to 2 hours in the afternoon. She's been a delayed walker and talker, but in the last 3 weeks, she's now walking 50% of the time, and is slowly learning new words. It might be a coincidence, but it might be the fact that this kid isn't so flat out exhausted all day long that she finally has some energy to learn new things.

She's been sick for the last few days, so she's been sleeping poorly and mom has been putting her down before she comes again. Today, DCG took at least 30 minutes to fall asleep, and was then up after an hour. And just had a major meltdown on me.

I can't tell this mom what to do when she is home with her daughter, but what can I say to convince her that it's in everyone's best interest not to let them slip back into what they were doing before. Mom & dad weren't't happy, I wasn't happy, and DCG definitely wasn't happy. I'm horrible at face to face, and would prefer to do this over email, but I don't want to overstep. I truly believe mom is doing what she thinks is best.

[Heidi]

Honestly, I don't think sleeping until 7:30 am should affect her afternoon nap at that age. Nap time at noon, 4.5 hours later, should be pretty reasonable.

I would simply not let her get up before YOU decide nap is over. My kids all nap 3 hours every afternoon (ages 9 months to 2 1/2)! If they wake up early, they stay put in their beds (with a book and a toy or a stuffed animal...if over age 1). They can sleep or they can rest or play quietly.

If she wakes up early, I'd go in, whisper to her it's still nap time, all her friends are sleeping, and lay her back down. She gets up when nap is over. Do that for a few days and she will put herself back to sleep, just like mine do now.

[Play Care]

Honestly, I don't think sleeping until 7:30 am should affect her afternoon nap at that age. Nap time at noon, 4.5 hours later, should be pretty reasonable.

I would simply not let her get up before YOU decide nap is over. My kids all nap 3 hours every afternoon (ages 9 months to 2 1/2)! If they wake up early, they stay put in their beds (with a book and a toy or a stuffed animal...if over age 1). They can sleep or they can rest or play quietly.

If she wakes up early, I'd go in, whisper to her it's still nap time, all her friends are sleeping, and lay her back down. She gets up when nap is over. Do that for a few days and she will put herself back to sleep, just like mine do now.