[fernlink]

Not sure if I should post in the night-sleeping forum, but I need help!

My 2 1/2 year old is so difficult to get to sleep - esp for me! He doesn't want to give into sleep and then has such a hard time with the rest of the day being nice or reasonable. I think he still needs naps. Even at night, he fights it. We do the books, I lay with him, I try to calm him, prepare him, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I have to get angry and leave him alone because when I lay with him, he thrashes around and doesn't relax. Sometimes I let him read books if he does it laying down and that can work to get him to relax.

sigh.

Any ideas? How do you treat a sleep-deprived child?

 

[Camellia]

My son wanting to quit naps at that age too. Occasionally we could get him to sleep using a few tricks. Otherwise, we settled for him having some quiet time to recharge.

A few things that worked for us:

Gently applying pressure on his arms - we did this just to remind him that it was time to lay still. He would intentionally wave his hands so that he wouldn't accidentally fall asleep.

In his pre-school co-op we had a naptime tape that was a recording of relaxing music and sounds. This helped him get in "rest time mode"

If he didn't want us keeping his hands still I would lightly tickle his arms with my finger tips. He liked to have his arms tickled so he would hold still for it.

His dad was more successful at this than me. I don't have a lot of patience for sitting still so I would get irritated, so he would pick up on that and not be able to go to sleep. My Dh loves to nap, so he was a pro. at staying calm and helping Ds relax.

I hope you figure something out that works for your kiddo!