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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>17 Month Old Won't Nap
WAHMderful_Life 01:40 PM 11-13-2014
Does anyone have any advise on getting a 17 month old to nap?

Details:

-Naps 3-4 hours at home
-I have asked what the routine is at home and have even got his mom to bring his own personal Pack n Play for nap. He has his stuffy and is set up as close to the same way as he is at home.
-At home he just lays in bed with a bottle and then goes to sleep no problem
-the first week was horrible all around but it is now his second week and he has settled into our daily routine except for nap.
-He will scream (not just cry) and finally fall asleep for 15-20 min then wake up and no matter what will not stop screaming if I don't get him.
-He will lay back down for me but as soon as I leave the room he just gets back up and screams.
-I have tried rubbing his back which is not ideal as nap time is my time to relax, eat, clean, or get something done so I can't lean over a play pen for ever. plus he is perfectly capable of going to sleep on his own at home. But even doing so he will wake up moments later and scream some more.

At this age he needs to nap and again as he does it at home I know he is tired and capable. this is extremely disruptive as well as stressful when a child screams this way.

Any ideas? I have music I play but with or without it it doesnt make a difference

I don't know if over time he will give it up. Im not sure if letting him cry it out will do any good or make it worse. Has anyone dealt with this before and what did you do?
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Magic 01:48 PM 11-13-2014
sigh I have the same issue here ..and hove no answers
so I will be waiting for ideas too
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Magic 01:55 PM 11-13-2014
example of my guy , he has been up since 3:45 am said dad
I got about a half hour nap out of him this am at 9:30 and just laid him down again now 2 pm and he yelling and crying to get out ...he will only cry himself to sleep here ... I am told he for others will not often nap either ...he does not get grumpy when awake ...just rubs eyes when tiered and still fights it .....
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daycare 02:19 PM 11-13-2014
is it possible he still needs two naps and is overly tired?

I had a kid recently do this around the same age, a little older. DCK was really smart and at the old child care they were picked up right after nap where at my house it was 2 hours after nap.

So I told dck mommy will come after snack, which did happen.

I moved hi, to back part of the house away from others, which he hated. I asked do you want to nap with your friends and he would say yes and I said no scream. I took him up to sleep where his friends were, he screamed. I took him back. He screamed for almost all of nap time. The next dad I said do you want to nap with your friends he said yes, I let him and he went right to sleep.

This kid was 18month and was also transitioning from co-sleeping and two naps.

Can you move him to part of the house where he can cry it out?
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WAHMderful_Life 06:23 AM 11-14-2014
I could put him into another room but all the bedrooms are close together and no matter what (unless I go downstairs in the opposite end of the house) you can hear him from every corner of the house. He is really loud. There is no tears so he isn't emotionally crying he is defiantly/angry crying/screaming. If that makes sense. He plain and simply doesnt want to nap but needs to. Im hoping time will help but Im not sure how much time it will take or if I should just leave him to cry it out as going in to see him does nothing but calm him down let me lay him down and then start to freak out again when I head out the door.

I can try the sleeping with your fiends or by yourself thing but I don't think he would understand that as he doesn't even talk yet.

Somehow the kids all sleep through it but it drives me crazy listening to a crying/screaming kid for long periods of time and isn't good for him either.

Has anyone dealt with this and what did you do?
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midaycare 06:31 AM 11-14-2014
Drug him. Kidding! Sorry, my sarcastic sense of humor gets the better of me sometimes. Try holding him to get him to sleep. It's a pain and it takes a few weeks to break them of this, but if he's not sleeping at all, then taking 15 minutes to hold and soothe him before laying him in the p&p, is better than him not sleeping at all.
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daycare 08:31 AM 11-14-2014
at this age I don't see why you cant try CIO. You can google good ways to implement CIO...

My DCK is only a month older than yours and does not talk either, but kids understand a lot. Try it out and see.
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craftymissbeth 08:45 AM 11-14-2014
Originally Posted by midaycare:
Drug him. Kidding! Sorry, my sarcastic sense of humor gets the better of me sometimes. Try holding him to get him to sleep. It's a pain and it takes a few weeks to break them of this, but if he's not sleeping at all, then taking 15 minutes to hold and soothe him before laying him in the p&p, is better than him not sleeping at all.
the first thing I wanted to say was tie him down and make him sleep... so you're not the only one with a case of sarcasm today
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Heidi 09:02 AM 11-14-2014
I'd be in the cry-it-out camp here. He's 17 months; plenty old enough to do this.

I am a strong believer in rituals. Lunch, story, and the same inane song every single day before nap. Then, I'd take the other children to their beds, so he sees everyone is going down. Take him to his, tuck him in, and say "I will be back when nap is over".

Lots of white noise for you to stay sane.

After nap is over, get him up first, so he can see you get everyone else up.

If you have a clock radio you can set to end-of-nap, it'll give him and external cue that nap is over. Wait outside the door until you hear it go off, count to 5, and walk in. "oh, nap is over, time to get up!"

I have one who is 23 months old and still behaves like this at times. He's been here since he was 3 months old, but is 3/4 time and is not a fan of missing anything, and I know his parents have sabotaged good sleep a variety of ways. He has a stuffed animal, blanket (both allowed at this age here) and a book. Nap time here is non-negotiable.
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daycarediva 09:19 AM 11-14-2014
Bottle? BOTTLE? WHY?! at 17 months?

WHY in the CRIB!?

Are you doing that? I would stop that IMMEDIATELY. Let him CIO, check in every 15 minutes and get into a routine. He will eventually get it, but it may be a rough go for a bit.
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Play Care 09:36 AM 11-14-2014
Originally Posted by daycarediva:
Bottle? BOTTLE? WHY?! at 17 months?

WHY in the CRIB!?

Are you doing that? I would stop that IMMEDIATELY. Let him CIO, check in every 15 minutes and get into a routine. He will eventually get it, but it may be a rough go for a bit.


maybe they think teeth are overrated?!
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midaycare 10:25 AM 11-14-2014
Originally Posted by craftymissbeth:
the first thing I wanted to say was tie him down and make him sleep... so you're not the only one with a case of sarcasm today
I'm so glad someone else shares my sense of humor. Most of the time people just look at me like I'm crazy.
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Heidi 11:41 AM 11-14-2014
Originally Posted by daycarediva:
Bottle? BOTTLE? WHY?! at 17 months?

WHY in the CRIB!?

Are you doing that? I would stop that IMMEDIATELY. Let him CIO, check in every 15 minutes and get into a routine. He will eventually get it, but it may be a rough go for a bit.
yeah, I missed that part.

OP-Are you also giving him a bottle, but he still makes a fuss, or NOT giving him one, which is preferable, but would definately make him a stinker at daycare?
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WAHMderful_Life 06:01 PM 11-14-2014
As he wants no part of nap time I have been giving the bottle to him just before nap. I started out trying to let him have his bottle in bed but he is to fixated on not wanting to be in bed to care about the bottle. Tried letting him cry it out today he cried 15 min slept 20min then He screamed for the first hour after waking up and then the second hr he would actually stop and then whine a bit and stop and whine and so on.

Im hoping next week he will give it up

I know he needs the sleep, he sleeps 3-4hrs at home during nap and its at the same time. Also mom just puts him down in bed with a bottle and the room is dark and she leaves and he just goes to sleep no problem.

We are wondering if he is to excited and wants to play now that he knows there is lots to do at daycare and kids to play with.
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daycare 06:12 PM 11-14-2014
No more bottle especially in bed. Rot the teeth out

I don't allow any bottles in my program.

I would cut the bottles tell dcp to do the same and keep a strict routine. Let dck cio.
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Elko 05:10 AM 11-17-2014
There's an 18-month-old where I work who just started being like this for naps. He recently got sick, and is taking forever to get over it, so naps have been hard.

He falls asleep if we just sit in the room with him, but unfortunately will wake up quickly and if we've left stands up and starts yelling. I think his congestion is causing him to wake up; he sounds like he's uncomfortable and having a hard time breathing.

I committed to sitting in the room for an hour reading a book the other day; not ideal but it worked, and my hope is that a few times of doing that will lead him to have a positive association with sleep again and he won't need it soon...

Does that sound like it could work for you? Maybe something to try that's relatively hands-off before resorting to CIO?
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taylorw1210 05:37 AM 11-17-2014
I have a 17 mo. old dcg who frequently has issues napping and has the worst scream imaginable. She sounds like a shrieking dinosaur - no joke.

When she goes through her periods of issues with nap time, I play a "lullabies and white noise" song via a iPod in her room. It drowns out her screeches so it doesn't bother myself or the other kids as much, and most of the time it helps her as well.

I think you dck is plenty old enough to implement CIO. I would do what you can to drown out the cries so none of you go crazy, and just stick with it.
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deliberateliterate 06:24 AM 11-17-2014
Oh man, I have a DCG that started out like yours. Complete with bottle at home to fall asleep. It took forever, but now she's a decent sleeper. When she wakes up early, she;ll play quietly to herself the majority of the time.

I'd do a modified CIO, going in to check on him in intervals, lie him down, reassure him and leave. He's still new, so he's probably nervous.

As for you, and everyone else, I'd put a sound machine/music/fan on in the other's rooms to drowned out the sound of him screaming. For you, I;ve found that sticking one ear phone in my ear and listening to some music could take my mind of the screaming, while still being able to hear if something was wrong. I know how much it can take it's toll on your nerves.
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Magic 07:57 AM 11-17-2014
up date for my no sleeper
just found out this morning that they hired a sleep consultant 6 months ago for him
lol
things I wish I know at the start
so they the parents having smae issues night and day with him
his attitude during the day with no sleep is awesome !!
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WAHMderful_Life 12:33 PM 11-17-2014


So I tried something new today. I put my daughter to bed and let him see and then went to the nap room and let him see the other older boy lay down. Then Instead I had my 3.5 yr old lay on his sleep mat right beside the little guys playpen and so far he whined a little bit but is now out cold so we will see if he takes a full nap I usually try to give each child there own corner of the room so they don't disturb each other and deters talking.

Thank you all for the advise

As for bottles it doesn't really bother me as my daughter had hers for sleeping up to just after her 2nd birthday. Warm milk can actually help with sleep. We slowly weaned her off by changing her bottle to a toddler sippy cup she picked out. She still has milk before bed while I read her a book but in a big girl sippy cup.

deliberateliterate, Thats a great idea with the head phone in one ear cause consistent crying can definitely get on your nerves.

Magic, I wish you luck. I can't believe they didn't tell you that important information. Im guessing they didn't want to deter you from accepting them into your daycare. did they have the consultant hired for 6months while he was in your care or before hand? That is definitely need to know information.
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