A few weeks ago around these parts, nap time was suddenly scarce. Red decided that one Wednesday, after a full day of school, he just wasn’t tired. He was NOT going to nap. AND he was going to climb out of his crib. Because, you know, he could. So, that was awesome.
I tried laying him down repeatedly (see: every 45 seconds when he’d start to climb), but he thought I was sooooo funny. I might as well have had a clown nose and a pink afro wig on. Even Mom and Nana couldn’t get him to go and stay down. No sleep, no quiet time! This went on for a few days until I just plain gave up.
I let Red have some quiet TV and reading time in the den while I made phone calls, drafted emails and everything else I do for the freaking 500 jobs I have (note to self: you can’t do everything Lindsey. Learn how to say no). A few days later, Hubs wasn’t on a call when it was Red’s naptime. He offered to put Red down and see if he could muscle him into a nap. GOOD LUCK, I thought. Take a stab at it, see how it goes!
And I’ll be darned if he didn’t have that kid asleep in 10 minutes. Ten freaking minutes. Like, dead to the world asleep. Hubs’ strategy revolves equally around fear and soothing. Since we have a video monitor, we can tell when Red’s either about to climb, or doing something he’s not supposed to be doing, like pulling pacis and combs out of a drawer he can juuuuust reach. Hubs slams into the room firmly, sending Red FLYING for the pillow, grits a “lay down. It’s naptime,” out, and then softly straightens the overs and whispers, “night night”.
At most, he repeats this process 2 times. Most of the time, once. In the last 14 days, there have been 13 naps. Today, I put Red down myself, implemented the system, and it worked. We’ve re-trained him into nap time. For fun, I took a video of Hubs catching Red in the act. If you’re reading this on an email newsletter, click over and watch!
Um, yes. Hubs did a poop check mid nap-slay. What can I say? It happens. At what point did your child decide that nap time was off? Are they good sleepers, or have they given up the noon-time rest? Weigh in with comments!
We have been very fortunate that Gavin is a great sleeper; sleeps in, still takes naps and rarely puts up a fight. While he doesn’t have time for it at school, 5 days a week, he will take a 3 hour nap on the weekends. Love my sleeper!
Carter just turned 1, and also just started standing up in his crib… this has brought on a brand new challenge with nap times… I have wanted to PULL MY HAIR OUT over this, but I am believing that it is only a season and will pass soon… I’ll just need to make adjustments as I can 🙂 Cute video 🙂
I remember that time… standing is “easier” than when they attempt to crawl out, but no less stressful. I hope ya’ll pass through it soon! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.