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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>16 Month Old Screaming At Nap
gkids09 10:54 AM 03-09-2011
What do you do about a 16 month old who falls asleep in his lunch, but as soon as you get him up and put him in his pnp, he wakes up and won't go back to sleep?!

He is steadily screaming, and I have 9 other kids who are trying to go to sleep but can't because of him...He's EXHAUSTED, and when he finally does go to sleep, he'll sleep until you wake him up!

This happens every day, and none of the kids can go to sleep. We lay down around 1:20-1:30 every day, and he's up til at least 2:15 screaming. Not crying, just screaming. I can't put him in a room alone with the door shut, it's against the law.

He's in the room right next to the nap room so that I can see him. He is now standing up in the pnp, and screaming...

I have gone in there a million times to lay him down. As soon as he lays down, his eyes start closing. Then he screams, gets back up, and the cycle begins again...His older brother is always first to sleep...Guess this is routine at home too. ha!

Any suggestions are appreciated...Thanks.
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marniewon 12:55 PM 03-09-2011
What time does he get there in the morning? 1:20 seems really late for a nap (at least from what I've read other providers are doing - my kiddos go down at 1).

Could you put him down for a short nap in the morning, just to get him through until nap time? I'd probably try that first. He obviously isn't able to make it until nap now. My grand-daughter would scream and scream if she got overtired, and it sounds like that's what this one is doing too.
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daycare 12:58 PM 03-09-2011
My own son used to be this way. It took almost 3 weeks, but I had to do it. first I sat there rubbing his back until he calmed down, then I would stop and just sit there. Each day it got shorter and shorter and I would move away little more.

each day move further away from the PNP, until he is out cold and you don't have to be in his view to go to sleep anymore.
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gkids09 04:58 PM 03-09-2011
He gets to me in the morning around 9:30 every day...And it's obvious he just woke up when he gets there...So I don't think a morning nap would really help, not to mention he'd just stand and scream. haha! Oh, we usually lay him down by 12:45, since he's asleep by about 12:30 in his chair at lunch.

Today I did stay right by him and rubbed his face, hair, eyes, whatever he'd let me reach. lol He got relaxed, but then realized it and jumped and screamed.

I'm going to try the strategy of staying by his pnp til he at least calms down enough to go to sleep...I've thought about trying to move him to a mat and laying down next to him, but I don't know if that'd work or not.

Thanks for the ideas
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DCMomOf3 05:40 PM 03-09-2011
can you feed him earlier so he doesn't fall asleep at the table?
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mickey2 05:03 AM 03-10-2011
If he screams for 20 to 40 minutes everyday, I would feed him before the others and then put him down and let him scream. As long as he has a full belly and a clean bum and there is nothing wrong with him let him go nuts. By the time you are ready to put the others down he will be just about out of steam and ready to sleep.
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Sunny Day 05:13 AM 03-10-2011
I had a 16 month old who did exactly this--except he wouldn't stay sleeping when he did fall asleep. Turned out he hated the pack and play. I took the mattress out of it and made him a little bed on the floor and now most days he goes to sleep with no problem at all. He stays there too--that was my worry when people suggested that I was like "yeah right, then I'll be chasing him around yet too!", but it worked. Maybe worth a shot. Good luck!
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Tags:crying after nap, nap issues, screaming
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