17 Month Old Won't Nap

[Elko]

There's an 18-month-old where I work who just started being like this for naps. He recently got sick, and is taking forever to get over it, so naps have been hard.

He falls asleep if we just sit in the room with him, but unfortunately will wake up quickly and if we've left stands up and starts yelling. I think his congestion is causing him to wake up; he sounds like he's uncomfortable and having a hard time breathing.

I committed to sitting in the room for an hour reading a book the other day; not ideal but it worked, and my hope is that a few times of doing that will lead him to have a positive association with sleep again and he won't need it soon...

Does that sound like it could work for you? Maybe something to try that's relatively hands-off before resorting to CIO?

[taylorw1210]

I have a 17 mo. old dcg who frequently has issues napping and has the worst scream imaginable. She sounds like a shrieking dinosaur - no joke.

When she goes through her periods of issues with nap time, I play a "lullabies and white noise" song via a iPod in her room. It drowns out her screeches so it doesn't bother myself or the other kids as much, and most of the time it helps her as well.

I think you dck is plenty old enough to implement CIO. I would do what you can to drown out the cries so none of you go crazy, and just stick with it.

[deliberateliterate]

Oh man, I have a DCG that started out like yours. Complete with bottle at home to fall asleep. It took forever, but now she's a decent sleeper. When she wakes up early, she;ll play quietly to herself the majority of the time.

I'd do a modified CIO, going in to check on him in intervals, lie him down, reassure him and leave. He's still new, so he's probably nervous.

As for you, and everyone else, I'd put a sound machine/music/fan on in the other's rooms to drowned out the sound of him screaming. For you, I;ve found that sticking one ear phone in my ear and listening to some music could take my mind of the screaming, while still being able to hear if something was wrong. I know how much it can take it's toll on your nerves.

[Magic]

up date for my no sleeper
just found out this morning that they hired a sleep consultant 6 months ago for him

things I wish I know at the start
so they the parents having smae issues night and day with him
his attitude during the day with no sleep is awesome !!

[WAHMderful_Life]

successful today so far

happyface

So I tried something new today. I put my daughter to bed and let him see and then went to the nap room and let him see the other older boy lay down. Then Instead I had my 3.5 yr old lay on his sleep mat right beside the little guys playpen and so far he whined a little bit but is now out cold so we will see if he takes a full nap I usually try to give each child there own corner of the room so they don't disturb each other and deters talking.

Thank you all for the advise ::

As for bottles it doesn't really bother me as my daughter had hers for sleeping up to just after her 2nd birthday. Warm milk can actually help with sleep. We slowly weaned her off by changing her bottle to a toddler sippy cup she picked out. She still has milk before bed while I read her a book but in a big girl sippy cup.

deliberateliterate, Thats a great idea with the head phone in one ear cause consistent crying can definitely get on your nerves.

Magic, I wish you luck. I can't believe they didn't tell you that important information. Im guessing they didn't want to deter you from accepting them into your daycare. did they have the consultant hired for 6months while he was in your care or before hand? That is definitely need to know information.