what do you do when 1 year old won't nap???

[kfillmore]

nothing else makes me louse my sanity as much...

Sometime my 1 year old won't nap. She tosses while nursing or won't. She want off the bed to play or out of the room to play etc. There is crying.

What should I do?
When this happens at night she gets less upset. At night I usually make her stay on the bed.

I want her to nap because I think she just gets more tired, more wound up. But sometimes I am not sure if she IS tired or if she is hungry. I can't force her to sleep. Today 21/2 hours after her usual naptime I walked her in the carrier until she slept. Sometimes that works not always.

My fear is three fold-
1. she will just be so wound up and unhappy
2. she will nap late thus affecting her BEDtime.
*3* That she will learn that if she cried hard enough she gets her way!!!

any help/experience/sdvice would be great. When this happens I am at a complete loss about what to do.

[dachshund mom]

When my 12mo won't nap, we get up and go about our day. I try again if she gets fussy. If it's a late nap, I wake her up after maybe 30 minutes. We did just drop to one nap and she goes down much easier. There's no standard nap time here though. Some days she has a rough night and might take two naps, or we'll have a busy morning and she crashes right when we get home.

[marispel]

My original reply was removed because I used the word "cry"..which was the wrong wording on my part, so let me try again.

When my DS goes down for a nap he tends to want to jump in his crib. I let him jump for a good 20-30 minutes. He's singing his ABCs, counting, rolling around and what not. I peak on him and if he is still wound up, I let him continue to play. Usually it's 20-30 minutes. If I hear him fuss, then I know he is ready for a bottle. 5 minutes with the bottle while I rock him and he is usually asleep. If not, I let him jump for round 2.

I don't let him get out of the crib to play though. Letting him get out to play would be sending the wrong message. Especially when he moves to a toddler bed I want him to know that he must stay in his bed during naptime.

Not sure how you would enforce that if your LO is not in a crib right now though..

[limette]

Try giving up the nap?

DD1 gave up her naps around a year old. DD2 held out to about 18 months.

They both dropped their naps with no problem, they just went to bed earlier. It sucked for me but it was better then fighting with them for an hour only to give up when they wouldn't go to sleep.

[paakbaak]

just give it up. my boy started refusing naps aroung the same age, so i just let him NOT nap and then nap when he was really tired and eventually stopped napping by 15mo.

[tessie]

Put her in the stroller and go for a walk. If she's tired she'll sleep. If she doesn't sleep we'll go and do something like run around in the park in the hope that it will tire her out (it works so far as she still needs an afternoon nap.)

[kfillmore]

Thank you everyone!!!!! It really helps just to hear what other people do.

[NicaG]

Originally Posted by tessie

Put her in the stroller and go for a walk. If she's tired she'll sleep. If she doesn't sleep we'll go and do something like run around in the park in the hope that it will tire her out (it works so far as she still needs an afternoon nap.)

Or go for a drive.
Or lie down on the bed together and nurse.

[Vegan Princess]

OMG I'm horrified your littles dropped their nap so early! My mom says we all dropped ours around 18 months, which sounds super early. I hope that doesn't happen with DD!

If she won't go down we just get up and go back to what we were doing before nap. Sometimes I'll try to nurse her again to get her down but if that doesn't work then we just skip it. And on those days she usually falls asleep in the car or stroller later (and she almost never falls asleep in the stroller otherwise). I usually put her down at 11ish but as long as she is up by 4ish from a late nap then bedtime is ok. She goes to bed at 7.

I used to think it was the end of the world if she didn't nap. But I see that she is mostly ok (until she isn't). So it's not as a big a deal as it was when she was littler.

Cindy

[ellemenope]

At 21 months DD can go without a nap and be fine (and I mean perfectly fine), however I truely feel I am doing good by her to get her down for a nap and so I try...

We cannot say the N(ap) word in the house. It goes like this, "It is time to dance around the house in mommy's backpack and listen to your music. Here is your favorite blankie." It is ridiculous, but the only thing that works for naps. It takes about 10 minutes, God love her. And the best part. NO. Tears. None.

I feel like I have tried everything with many tears shed. I would love to just lie down with her and have her fall asleep (like we do for bedtime), but it doesn't work during the day. Driving also does not work for her and forget about the stroller. Simple rocking? No. I guess you just have to find what works.

I Also keep in mind, if she hasn't done anything to tire her out, I really can't blame her. But, my secret weapon rarely fails in any case.

Oh, and I totally share your fear of a late nap.

[Baby_Cakes]

We were definitely down to 1 nap by 12 months old. But if she fought that nap and I had given it a good effort, then we'd just skip it. There are other things to do that need to get done, and spending 2+ hours trying to get a kiddo to nap is just so draining!!!

Missing naps here and there isn't going to mess them up too much!

Usually she'd end up crashing early for bed -- we would definitely try to keep her up a bit, till at least 7 or so -- and it gave DH and I some time together.

Now, at 18 mo, she still fights nap somedays and ends up skipping it, and going to bed early.

[Cujobunny]

Originally Posted by tessie

Put her in the stroller and go for a walk. If she's tired she'll sleep. If she doesn't sleep we'll go and do something like run around in the park in the hope that it will tire her out (it works so far as she still needs an afternoon nap.)