From nap time to "quiet time"?

[AmyKT]

DD, 27 mos, seems itching to drop her nap. DH, a SAHD, can't live without it. I've heard of people instituting "quiet time" when a child drops a nap, meaning they play in their room, and maybe sleep if they want, for an hour or so. I can't imagine DD consenting to that at this stage. We'd have to seriously barricade her, and I'm sure she'd climb over any gate we put up.

Do you do quiet time? How? Is it just a matter of reinforcing it in the beginning, i.e., repeatedly leading the child back to her room?

[Rowansmama]

I really tried to do quiet time when DD dropped her nap at around 23 months, but it never worked out. She would just go in her room and throw toys around and yell at me to let her out. She transitioned just fine to not napping. There were a few cranky evenings at first, but I'd say after a week she could go to bedtime (7:30) with no issues whatsoever. I, on the other hand, did not give the nap/quiet time up so easily.

I guess some kids are happy to do quiet time, and others just aren't. If you have one of those kids who isn't happy to do it, your DH will just have to learn to get used to the new order. Good luck!

[AmyKT]

Thank you. I appreciate and welcome the "it won't work!" comments as much as how-to comments. Anyone else find that it just wasn't going to happen?

Poor DH. The good news is that DD is starting to have short stretches of independent play.

[bananacake]

My 29 month old is still napping up to 3 hours a day, but I too am wondering how to facilitate quiet time when the time comes.

[kwilki8]

I think a quiet time would be very difficult to implement at that age because they don't really understand the concept. We did this with my dd when she stopped wanting to nap, but she was a bit over 3 at the time and understood that she needed to stay in her room and read her books or play with her dolls quietly. She still has quiet time during her brother's nap and enjoys it, though we don't enforce it--she just does it on her own.

[pbjmama]

Before dropping nap how about restructuring the day a bit? Get her up earlier so she is tired for naptime?

As far as quiet time, alot of it is going to be based on your child's personality. My ds is an introvert and happy to entertain himself with his toys in his room. We started off with just 5 minutes, then 10, then 15. A timer is a good method that lets the child have a grasp on the concept that quite time will end. 27 months is a little young for this concept but my guess is even if she is giving up the nap it will take over a month for that to happen consistently. You could also do until the music stops playing, the light turns off, whatever works for your dd.

[buttercups.nest]

My daughter is 2 1/2 and isn't napping consistently at all anymore...its been quite awhile since she's had a nap. She gets pretty ornery though, so I still take her upstairs, tell her its naptime, but she usually just snuggles with her blankie and talks to her stuffies. I have a 4month old as well, and between the two of them I need a break!

[UrbanMamma]

I can't believe I have a 26th month old that won't nap, but I do. We've instituted quiet time over the past month which sometimes turns into a nap if he is sick or exhausted because it is VERY similar to our napping routine.

First, semantics. I made it VERY clear that he didn't have to nap. We were getting into bed for quiet time and to rest our bodies.

We still bring our bottle of milk (yes, my child is old enough to drop naps but still need a bottle... shoot me now! ), still read 5 stories. Then, I tell him that *I* have to rest my eyes, or do my knitting work, or do the dishes, etc. (The first two I did a lot when we first started so I could monitor the quiet time. Now I tend to make up a task like dishes or laundry or something.) I remind him that he is free to read any of the additional books we have on the bed and play with his stuffed animals, but he must stay on the bed until X:XX time. He is very good with numbers, so that usually does it for us.

One thing about this age is being realistic about the length of the quiet time. I find I can get 30-40 minutes (plus the 15 minutes of wind down with his stories) but no more. Also, in the beginning, I did set a timer for 30 minutes telling him that mama needed to rest her eyes until the bell went off. I think it helped him learn internally what 30 minutes of quiet meant.

The other thing is that my kid could not just play in his room with toys without my help for 40 minutes. Limiting movement is a huge deal since we've mostly co-slept and we've never done a crib or even a shut door routine. But it is the only way I can make sure he slows down enough to get rest (which he does still need, even if he doesn't need sleep) and for me to get a few minutes to myself.

[Bellabaz]

We were dealing with this this past summer. Dd1 was around 27 months and we had just moved and I was pregnant. I really needed a break and a rest but she was not having it. So we started quiet time. It work right away so sometimes deal was she could watch a dvd while I layed down or read a book. Not my ideal but you take waht you can get sometimes. Then she slowly came around to quiet time and not at almost 3 years old she is bck to napping most of the time.

Our quiet time involves closing the shade almost all the way and closing the door. She has to stay in the room and be quiet but can play, read or sleep as she likes. So maybe if you are consistent with it and try other quiet options (like dvd if thats ok for your family) as well she will come around?

[AmyKT]

Thank you for the replies. DD only put up a bit of a fight yesterday and then slept for 1.5 hours. DH says that half the day is spent leading up to naptime, though.

I think she still needs the nap, but the issue is that she has just transitioned to a big bed at night (with a lot of co-sleeping). DH, however, tries to put her in her crib for nap so that she will stay put. This used to not be a problem -- she'd accept it happily -- but not anymore. And trying to get her to lay down on her regular bed in the daytime hasn't worked yet.

Bellabaz-- if it came down to DD truly dropping nap time, I think DH would be very likely to use a DVD at the beginning to get his own quiet time. And I don't really have a problem with that. I'm sure I'd do the same thing.

For those of you who suggested introducing the concept of time with a timer or a digital clock, I think that's a good idea, too. DD has shown an interest in clocks lately, or "tick tocks" as she calls them.

thanks again.

BTW -- I cross-posted this in the Childhood Years, thinking more of them would have BTDT, and the respondent all said they thought 27 mos was really too young to give up a nap, so it's funny to see that so many here are dealing with it at this age or younger.