Originally Posted by childcaremom:
I need some outside opinions.
Dcg is still waking and crying/screaming after naps. It doesn't matter how long she sleeps, she will wake this way. Her naps are getting a bit longer (1.5 hours on average now) but this is obviously not long enough.
They went away to visit family Fri/Sat/Sun/Today. Back tomorrow. I imagine this week will be much the same, if not worse. This is week 3.
Next week will be week 4. The last transition week. Mom and dad are going to be away and grandma is babysitting. Still bringing dcg to daycare.
Am I being too cautious by thinking this is not going to work out? I don't think dcps have created the best scenario to get her transitioned into care (2 vacays in the trial period?). But I don't want to spend the first few weeks of summer break listening to the afternap screaming.
I am sending dcm an email outlining our schedule, what I do when she wakes up, etc and just wondering if I should point out the obvious here. That it is not looking like it's going to work. Because the end of trial period, if I give notice, they will be away.
You could tell them that she's having a great transition except for nap, and you'd like to extend the trial period two weeks because there have been so many changes at the same time.
As for the crying once awake, I have a suggestion that has worked for me.
First, put everyone else to bed first, and let her "help" you tuck them in. That way, she understands that it's nap time for everyone, not just her.
Set an alarm clock (on music) in her room for when nap time is over. About 10 minutes before you get the other kids up. Then, tell her "when the music comes on, nap is over".
Stand outside her door right before the alarm goes off. When you hear it go, wait 30 seconds, then go in. Say "oh, yeah, the music is on. Nap is over, did you have a good nap?" Roses and sunshine and completely ignoring her yelling. "oh oh, I can't get you out if you're yelling"
Open the curtains, etc. Then, stand by her bed and try to get her to stop yelling before you pick her up. Talk to her, soothe her hair if you must, but try to get her to stop, even if for a brief second. If she starts up again, you can set her back down and try again.
That part is rough on both of you, but she needs to learn that screaming does not equal getting out. Sit down on the floor and try peek-a-boo or something silly, maybe.
Then, let her help you wake up the other kids...same song and dance with "nap time is over!"
I've also had a wake up song; you could try that. Last kiddo instead of an alarm, I just turned the music on the baby monitor on right before I walked in. That way, if he was actually still asleep, I had a few extra minutes. This one was co-sleeping at home, and he was right about that same age. At a month in, it was still rough some days, but he mostly went to sleep without too much of a fuss, and sometimes woke up the same way. He was otherwise pretty happy, though.