In an effort to make things both easier on myself and Peanut, I have decided to let her sort of decide when she wants to take a nap. I have figured if she is tired enough, she knows where to sleep. She has fallen asleep in her room a few times on her own and mainly has fallen asleep in the car on the way to or on the way home from whatever activity we are doing. I know this is "cheating" but I have figured that she is going through a phase where she wants to assert her independence so I ought to let her have some say as to when she should nap.
Well today my parenting philosophy came back to bite me in the butt. After sleeping for about 8 hours, Peanut woke up chipper as ever. I, however, had been up since 5am with a terrible leg cramp. Not so much fun. We went through our day preparing for company, going to the store, straightening the house, playing outside, and even going to the pool for a little while. I was certain that at some point she would take a nap, even if was on the way home from the store or the pool. Nope, she just kept going.
Let me just say too, I NEED naptime. As a pregnant mother in her third trimester in the middle of summer with a toddler, I NEED a break during the day. I don't care for how long and I don't even care if I don't get a nap myself. I just NEED a break. Today was not my day.
So as 5pm rolled around and Peanut had not yet taken a nap, I figured at this point no nap time would translate into an early bed time. So we went and played outside, had some dinner, and watched a little tv, all the while Peanut running around like the energizer bunny. So at around 6:30pm I took her upstairs for bathtime. I have her a bath, put her in her jammies, and read her some stories, sure that she was ready to fall asleep. She normally goes to bed between 8 and 9, so 7pm with no nap seemed reasonable to me.
I turned on her nighttime music and went to leave her room when she leapt out of her bed hysterical. Normally she is a really good nighttime sleeper and falls asleep on her own. Not tonight. She was running around, reading her books, and playing with her toys. She just did not want to go to sleep tonight. It was like she snuck out when I wasn't looking and got some Starbucks.
Finally, around 8:30pm I had enough. I still hadn't eaten dinner (daddy was working tonight) and I knew she was exhausted. So I finally put her in her bed, turned her music back on, and closed the door. After about 15 minutes of hysterics and banging on her door, she FINALLY fell asleep (on her floor no less). I went in and put her in her bed, snuck out of her room, and breathed a sigh of relief.
I am praying that today was just a fluke. It has to be right? She can't be outgrowing naptime already at just 22 months. Either way, I need a new game plan. I just haven't figured one out yet. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Maybe if she's ready to give up naps you could tell her she's going to have "quiet time" in her room. Have a bunch of books and quiet toys for her to play with, and then you can get a little break. I used to do this with the kids I was a nanny for and it worked like a charm.
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