19 Month Old On Cot, Do You?? How To?

[MCC]

My new little 19 month old who is adjusting okay, has been here for 2 weeks as of last Friday. He came from a center where he was napping from 12:30-2:30, here nap is from 1-3. He is TIRED at 12:30, but I am making him stay up until 1. He seems the get over tired, and then will not nap on his cot, but if I move him to a crib, he goes right down. He has napped on his mat about half of the days he has been here. Luckily the days I have had to move him to a crib, I have had a baby out for sickness, so I had a crib available.

I do not want to buy a new crib for him, b/c he is only here until May, and he was napping on a cot at his old enter, so I know he can do it. he is in a crib at home still.

Any tips on making this work? We have tried sitting next to him and laying him down when he sits up, but he laughs at us and keeps doing it. If I can't figure this out, I might term, this is day 4 that he has caused a spiral meltdown for all the kids during nap.

[Cat Herder]

I have always presented the mat as a reward.

"If you can lay down like a big kid you can stay on this side (half wall) WITH the big kids. If you get up or make noise, you will have to go back in the crib on the little kid side. ok?"

Then I follow through, every time. It doesn't usually take long.

***Now, the mats are not well viewed from the cribs on the infant side of the playroom so it is a social motivator.

With what you describe I might wonder if he is feeling too exposed to his new friends and NEEDS some personal space for sleep. Maybe they had him behind a divider bookshelf at the old center to limit his view of others? Maybe give something like that a try?

[MCC]

Originally Posted by Cat Herder

I have always presented the mat as a reward.

"If you can lay down like a big kid you can stay on this side (half wall) WITH the big kids. If you get up or make noise, you will have to go back in the crib on the little kid side. ok?"

Then I follow through, every time. It doesn't usually take long.

***Now, the mats are not well viewed from the cribs on the infant side of the playroom so it is a social motivator.

That's a good idea. I did move him into a separate room, we call it "the training room" maybe I need to talk to him about it more and explain that he can stay in the "napping room" with his friends if he is quite. He is not super vocal, so I'm not sure how much he understands me.

[butterfly]

I do as you have tried already... I just repeatedly lay them down. The first couple times I tell them "it's time to lay down and be quiet now". After the first couple times, I just lay them back down, no talking, not acknowledging them in any way. Just they them back down repeatedly. It has taken up to 2-3 days of this before, but then they know I mean business and they will lay down willingly.

[Jack Sprat]

I do the same as pp. Cots are for the big boys! I was very lucky with dcb he loved the pnp and when I moved him to a cot we made a huge deal out of the new cot and how he was such a big boy to sleeping on it. He cried the first day for a bit and I sat with him for a little while. We also have a basket of lovies. The kids each pick one to sleep with at nap time. I think that helped.