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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>2yo Who Wakes Others, Flops Around Like A Fish During Nap Time
Pestle 10:43 AM 12-14-2017
I know there are lots of threads about napping issues; I'm just too lazy to wade through more than a page of them looking for one relevant to my issues.

I have a 2yo who can only sleep if she's alone in the room, because she has to scream in rage at the cruelty of it being nap time. (She doesn't like to eat, so she begs for nap during lunch, but as soon as nap happens--howling.) The louder she yells, the sooner she goes to sleep.

BUT. I cannot give her a room to herself. I use a bedroom with cribs but only the play room is appropriate for napping mats (3 people living in a 2-bedroom house=no vacant space for the day care to bleed into). All of my toddlers but one have transitioned to napping mats and need to be together, and my other 2yo is increasing the number of days he's here.

So she has to share the room, which means she doesn't scream--she plays. No matter what I try, she plays. So she never sleeps and she picks on the other kids. I've tried putting her down first, but now that she knows other kids will be coming in, she's totally wired. She gets up. She rolls around. She peels her clothing off. She puts her socks onto her hands. And she literally holds her eyes open with her fingers to avoid going to sleep.

If I stay in the room, she won't sleep at all, but she'll fake it until I leave, then get up and climb onto the other kids.

If I leave the room, she's up immediately.

She does eventually fall asleep, and then sleeps 2-3 hours. She needs the nap. She just suddenly likes being around the other kids, as opposed to the other 7 hours of the day.

Putting her back every time she gets up for infinity isn't working. Staying out of the room isn't working. Staying in the room isn't working. Putting her down first and waiting for her to fall asleep before moving the other kids in isn't working.

Suggestions?
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Pestle 10:55 AM 12-14-2017
Oh, and I should say: She resists sleeping and eating both here and at home, but the parents have her on a good schedule and healthy diet, and she's here every day and has been for months. The introduction of the other kids into the room daily has been for about the past six weeks.
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Pestle 11:03 AM 12-14-2017
Fake coughing. Today she was fake coughing as loudly as she could when the other girl started to dose off. Also yawning "OhhhhWAH". Right now I've got her sitting in a chair while I get some housework done around her.
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TheMisplacedMidwestMom 11:08 AM 12-14-2017
What eventually worked for my son was sitting him in the hallway with me staring at him. He was much the same way at naps when put in the nap room with the group. So basically we would do nap routine and everyone would lay down together. As long as he was laying quietly on his bed I left him be, the first moment he was out of line (too loud, off mat, doing flips, etc...) I moved him to the hallway to sit and let him do his thing there away from the audience. Basically he got a "time out" from nap time. In the beginning I literally had to sit and do nothing but watch him. It was exhausting, he "tested" in every way possible to see if anything would get a reaction. Once he was done (this took 30 minutes or more in the beginning) we moved back into the nap room, rinse repeat a million times. During this time I basically had to give up any glimmer of break that I normally get during nap time. I will add that, had it not been my own kid, I would have let him go. In the thick of it I was sure it would never end. These days he goes right in and lies down with no issues, but it was a looooong road.

If she's faking sleep, I personally would wait her out. Grab a book and plan on staying in the nap room an hour or more. Eventually her fake sleep will catch up with her.
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Play Care 11:14 AM 12-14-2017
Why can't she be somewhere else that you can see her but away from the others? If she's on a mat, that can be anywhere? The kitchen, hallway, laundry room, etc?
Do you use white noise? I have a couple loud fans (not regular table fans, but more like turbo ones) that really cover noise. It sounds as if she were flopping around but the other kids couldn't see/hear, it would reduce nap drama.
I'm also not above giving kids who comply at nap treats at PM snack with a "oh you kept getting up, so you can try to get one tomorrow!" Although depending on the age (young 2 or old 2?) that may not work.
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Pestle 11:24 AM 12-14-2017
Originally Posted by Play Care:
Why can't she be somewhere else that you can see her but away from the others? If she's on a mat, that can be anywhere? The kitchen, hallway, laundry room, etc?
Licensing in my city is pretty strict about where the kids can be. The issue I'm having with using the dining room is that I have my own child (five years old) who doesn't nap and shouldn't be sealed up in her bedroom for the entire 2-3 hours that this child sleeps once she does finally nod off.

I think I'm gonna use Midwest's "nap time time out" method for a few weeks and see if we make any progress, then try moving her to the dining room. I'm going to get licensed. . . eventually. . . when I get around to it, but in the meantime I have only 2 full-time kids and she's half of them. I do really like her and the parents so I don't want to term over this.
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Ariana 11:29 AM 12-14-2017
When we had this issue at the centre we would have to sit right next to the offender and watch them the entire nap time. No other choice. One child who was particularly annoying got a special toy once nap time was over if he lay quietly during nap. We also did nap time outs where we placed cots just outside the door with the door open so we could see them.
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Blackcat31 01:10 PM 12-14-2017
I like the nap time out plan but also want to comment that if she's old enough to play that way....she's old enough to understand "knock it off" (said in your best firm mean mommy voice).
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Pestle 01:29 PM 12-14-2017
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I like the nap time out plan but also want to comment that if she's old enough to play that way....she's old enough to understand "knock it off" (said in your best firm mean mommy voice).
Yep. . . I need a consequence for un-knocking as soon as she thinks she can get away with it.
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Tags:2 year old, naptime issues
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