One year old nap issues

[Unregistered]

I know, this has been discussed and discussed, over and over, but here I go another time.

I have this dcb(1year old), who refusing to nap for more than an our a day. He will wake up on the hour and scream and cry. Although he is in another room, he can easily wake all of the other children who sleep for hours, with his carrying on. So, I bring him downstairs with me, and if I hold him, he will fall asleep for up to another 1.5hours, but seriously, I can't do that all the time because I know that it will make things worse in the long run. Of course his mom says that he sleep at home for 2-3 hours, but not here. I tried changing rooms (and uprooting an established good sleeper in the process) and that isn't working. The kid is tired, you can tell, and is at this minute laying on the floor with blankets, but refusing to sleep.

I want to let him cry it out, but he is so loud and honestly I NEED the break in the day from the kids. What can I do?

I am buying a noise machine to see if that helps, but I need help in general. In my experience, there are always nap issues during the transition, but we are passed that now. Every other one year old has had 2 - 1.5 hour naps a day, but his kid is just on the one. I originally thought that maybe he was over-tired, so tried a nap in the morning. All that did was make him not even go down for the second nap, which is when everyone else has theirs. I am getting frustrated.

Thanks in advance for any insights you can offer.

[Shell]

I'm sure Heidi can give the best advice here. Just a question- are you right there when the child wakes up? I had one that slept in his parents bed at night, and during naps, he had no self soothing skills, well after being a year old. He slept on a mat here, because he would scream bloody murder at the sight of a pnp.
I used to sit next to him to get him down, and like clock work, he would wake up 1 hour in. If I happened to be doing dishes or something else in another part of the daycare, it was over- he would cry so hard, wake everyone up.
I had to sit near him, everyday, as that one hour mark would hit, and gently lay him back down, and sit next to him, with my hand on his back (gently) and I could get another hour out of him for a nap. It took weeks, maybe even months, was a hassle, but it worked.
He still (one yr later), won't fall asleep unless I am next to him, but stays down 2 hrs a day.
I bet parents are holding, rocking, letting child sleep in their bed, or some other system where the parent comforts the child when he wakes. This makes it that much harder, but if you stick with it, you'll see results
I have an almost 1 yr old that is regressing to waking up after 1 hour...dcm admitted she's been putting him back to sleep in a swing

[Unregistered]

No, I am not right there when he wakes up. As soon as I hear him, I head up before he gets too loud. I have tried patting his back and walking out, but he struggles the whole time, intensifying his crying. I guess he knows that I will leave as soon as I can.

Did you put yours in a pnp or let him sleep on the couch beside you? My dcb sleeps in a pnp in an upstairs bedroom.

Tomorrow, I will try to put him to sleep in a pnp down here, but I am afraid that my own sa kids (on break) will wake him. It's all just so frustrating.

[Heidi]

Heidi will chime in...

I'm tough love, honey. Nap time is nap time, and as long as he's otherwise comfortable with you, I'd get him up when YOU say it's over.

LOTS of white noise....

A stuffed animal, safe toy, or book if you're allowed.

Some external "signa" that nap time is over, like setting an alarm clock. Then, tell him "I will come get you when the music plays". Wait outside the door, and when you hear the alarm go off, walk in like roses and sunshine. "oh, nap is over, time to get up, oh, you're up? That's great, let's go play!"

If he's screaming, do NOT get him out until he stops. Stand there with your hand out, and soothingly say "Stooooop" and "shhhhhh" alternately, or say "I will pick you up when you are quiet". The SECOND he stops (even to take a breathe), say "Ok, thank you!" and pick him up. If he starts while your lifting him, put him back in and start over. A little conditioning...screaming does NOT equal getting out of bed.

I've done this with several children I enrolled at that age, who were bad sleepers, and 80% or so, it works.

[Unregistered]

Heidi will chime in...

I'm tough love, honey. Nap time is nap time, and as long as he's otherwise comfortable with you, I'd get him up when YOU say it's over.

LOTS of white noise....

A stuffed animal, safe toy, or book if you're allowed.

Some external "signa" that nap time is over, like setting an alarm clock. Then, tell him "I will come get you when the music plays". Wait outside the door, and when you hear the alarm go off, walk in like roses and sunshine. "oh, nap is over, time to get up, oh, you're up? That's great, let's go play!"

If he's screaming, do NOT get him out until he stops. Stand there with your hand out, and soothingly say "Stooooop" and "shhhhhh" alternately, or say "I will pick you up when you are quiet". The SECOND he stops (even to take a breathe), say "Ok, thank you!" and pick him up. If he starts while your lifting him, put him back in and start over. A little conditioning...screaming does NOT equal getting out of bed.

I've done this with several children I enrolled at that age, who were bad sleepers, and 80% or so, it works.

What do you do about the others who can't sleep because of the crying? I want to try this, but I worry about the others.

[Leigh]

If he is SO predictable that you KNOW it will be 60 minutes and then awake, go in there at 50 minutes and move him around a little bit, just get him semi-awake, and then tuck him in again and tell him it's naptime, and try to get him back to sleep. I know this can help with night terrors-maybe it will help train his body to stay asleep, too.

[Heidi]

What do you do about the others who can't sleep because of the crying? I want to try this, but I worry about the others.

Lots of white noise. I put a sound machine in the other's kids room, if need be.

I generally have only had this issue with children I get at an older age. With the exception of my one part timer, I enroll them young and they never really develop sleep issues.

My two little friends that have been here since 6 weeks are the BEST sleepers ever. They literally run to their beds, and see it as a reward for a hard morning's work. Yes, I am proud of that, but because I now bragged about it, they'll probably be poops tomorrow.