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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>11 Month Still Struggling With Naps 😞
Unregistered 08:26 AM 07-26-2017
I have an 11 month old who has been with me since he was 3 months old. He has never been a good napper. His average nap here is 20-30 minutes. He has taken a few 1-2 hour naps (a handful of times since he started). Mom says at home he has gotten better and is taking two hour long naps a day, but here, nothing has changed. He used to be consistent taking 20-30 naps both here and at home. At one point, I did try to cut him back to one nap a day here, but then he only was getting one 20 minute nap instead of two. I have left him to cry for up to 30 minutes after wakes to see if he will call back asleep, but it never happens. The big difference between here and home is at home he sleeps in his crib and it is quiet while he naps since he is an only child. Here he sleeps in a pack n play and can hears the other kids who are here. He does not sleep with anything in his crib at home and obviously does not here either. Any ideas on how to help him sleep longer here?
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hwichlaz 08:30 AM 07-26-2017
I would make sure naps are at exactly the same time every day, put him down for an hour minimum each time, and don't get him out until the time is up, even if he cries. When he wakes up, go in and lay him back down, say "shhhh, it's sleepy time" so that he knows you heard him and he's not alone...then leave him be.
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Unregistered 08:44 AM 07-26-2017
I have been putting him down at the same times each day (same times mom says she puts him down). Today though, he cried for 45 minutes before falling asleep. He is at the 20 minute mark now, so will see how long continued napping.
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Ariana 09:15 AM 07-26-2017
This is what I would do. Get a loud sound machine or fan to drown out other kids. I would leave him in his bed until nap time is over. No matter how much he cries he does not get up. Basically what has happened is he has learned that if he cries for 20-30minutes he gets up. It will take a few days of lots of crying to undo what has been done but it will work. I have sleep trained so many kids this way and it always works! Going in will likely make it worse. He is safe in his bed and does not need reassurance. He has been with you since 3 months, he knows he is safe. Crying is what he has learned to do to get up it is not an indication of anything but that.

Even if a child is not sleepy, crying is not a normal response to being in their bed. Crying is a learned response. I have many kids who wake quietly and chat quietly in their beds when they wakeup. Nap time is over when it is over, not when they start crying.
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Unregistered 01:15 PM 07-26-2017
I have always left him crying for 30 minutes after he wakes up from a 20-30 nap and then go in to get him after that. That routine has never changed. Today, for his morning nap, he cried for 45 minutes before falling asleep, slept for 30 and then cried for another 30 minutes before I went in and got him up. I put him down for his second nap 20 minutes ago and he has been crying since. I always have him go four hours between naps.
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Ariana 01:18 PM 07-26-2017
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I have always left him crying for 30 minutes after he wakes up from a 20-30 nap and then go in to get him after that. That routine has never changed. Today, for his morning nap, he cried for 45 minutes before falling asleep, slept for 30 and then cried for another 30 minutes before I went in and got him up. I put him down for his second nap 20 minutes ago and he has been crying since. I always have him go four hours between naps.
What are his nap times?
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Unregistered 01:27 PM 07-26-2017
9:45 and then 4 hours after he wakes from the first nap. He wakes up between 6-7 each morning.
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Ariana 01:36 PM 07-26-2017
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
9:45 and then 4 hours after he wakes from the first nap. He wakes up between 6-7 each morning.
So he is on his own nap schedule not in synch with the other kids? 9:45am is too late in my opinion. I would put him down at 8:30am. His second nap should be whenever the other kids are going for nap and he stays in his bed until wake up time. So if everyone naps at 12pm until 2:30pm that is the amount of time he stays in his bed. Sleeping, crying whatever he is doing he stays in bed until wakeup time. Does that make sense?
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Unregistered 01:44 PM 07-26-2017
That is correct. It just seems like if he goes down at 8:30, that is possibly only 1 1/2 hours after he wakes for the day, but I will try that and see how it works. The other kids sleep from 1-3:30. Would you let him cry the entire 2 1/2 hours if he won't fall asleep? Right now, he has been crying for close to an hour and I have not gone in at all.
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Unregistered 01:54 PM 07-26-2017
I guess I'm just frustrated and trying to figure out why this schedule works at home, but not here AND his naps are 1-1 1/2 hours at home.
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Ariana 02:00 PM 07-26-2017
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
That is correct. It just seems like if he goes down at 8:30, that is possibly only 1 1/2 hours after he wakes for the day, but I will try that and see how it works. The other kids sleep from 1-3:30. Would you let him cry the entire 2 1/2 hours if he won't fall asleep? Right now, he has been crying for close to an hour and I have not gone in at all.
I currently have two 1yr olds. One gets here at 8:30 and she goes for nap at 9am for 40minutes to an hour. The other one gets here at 7:20am and goes for nap at 8:30am for an hour. They both go for second nap at 12:30-1pm with the other kids. They do whatever they want in their beds but they stay in there until nap time is over.

The one that gets here at 8:30am was a problem sleeper and she would wake halfway through second nap and cry. I would let her cry until nap time was over. After a few weeks (she is only here two days a week) she started sleeping consistantly or if she does wake she lays quietly in her bed until I come and get her. The other child is a great sleeper because his mom does this at home. He lays quietly in his bed until nap is over, if he wakes earlier. All of my other kids are the same, no one wakes and starts wailing because it doesn't do them any good to do that.

I had another infant who was only with me for second nap two days a week. He was coddled with grandma the other 3 days and then with mom and dad on the weekends with no schedule. He would cry for an hour and half when he first started with me. Eventually after a month he would cry 30 minutes before falling asleep. The second day with me was always better at about 15 minutes of crying. It was very difficult to sleep train him at only two half days a week and luckily he is gone now!

Crying in bed is a learned repsonse. So the reward for crying is getting him out of bed. In my opinion the reward (getting him up when he cries) has to stop. Just get him up only when nap time is over.

Good luck

I should also add that the infants I mentioned above are now 17 and 18 months and still take two naps a day at this schedule!
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Miss A 02:01 PM 07-26-2017
My 10 month old wants to nap 1.5-2 hours after he wakes up in the morning. His schedule looks like this:
6/6:30, wake up.
Play, bottle, breakfast.
8:30, nap. This naps is anywhere from 45 minutes to on occasion 2.5 hours.
Play, lunch, bottle
11:30, nap. This nap usually lasts 2 hours, as long as he didn't nap 2.5 hours that morning.

Then he does not usually nap again and is ready to go to bed by 8pm.
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Ariana 02:03 PM 07-26-2017
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I guess I'm just frustrated and trying to figure out why this schedule works at home, but not here AND his naps are 1-1 1/2 hours at home.
Is it possible they are lying? I have had parents that lied to me constantly about nap routines and healthy sleep habits at home. I had an incident where I texted both mom and dad asking how kid slept and got two different answers!
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e.j. 02:05 PM 07-26-2017
Do you think he'd be able to skip his morning nap without being too cranky? I'd try doing that and then, if he gets cranky, have everyone start the afternoon nap a little earlier. You could gradually work back to 1:00 nap time as he adjusts.
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hwichlaz 04:49 PM 07-26-2017
My infants typically nap at 10am and 2pm.
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Tags:napping issues, trouble - sleeping
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