Any help appreciated...?

Question

My 3 year old has given up her naps. Not only has she given them up but she now wakes up between 6am-6:30am everyday. We have tried no sugar, no cartoons, keeping her up later, running her around as much as possible. She goes on total melt down through out the day and as mean as can be. Do you have any advice to get her to sleep later in the mornings or take naps to bypass these meltdowns? Thanks so much.

Answer 1

I don't have any advice about sleeping later, both my kids are up between 6-6:30 everyday and has been that way since birth.

Have you tried instituting "quiet time"? We have it in our house. Both my kids (5 yr old and 22 mos) have no problem with it.

For at least 1 hour every day, my kids need to be in their room, relaxing, reading a book, doing puzzles, something quiet. They usually end up falling asleep anyway. It does wonders for both the kids and myself.

Answer 2

My 2 year old has cut naps out of her daily routine also. She often does get "crabby" at about 4 pm and I make her "rest" by laying on the couch or in my bed and I read to her or we watch a movie and she does fall asleep sometimes, but it helps with the "crabby" hour. One thing that I have also learned with my child is when she gets up too early I tell her "Go lay back in bed, it's not time to get up yet" she usually does and falls back asleep, sometimes she resists getting back into her own bed so we let her come lay in our bed and she usually falls back asleep then also. She is now going to bed at about 9:30 pm and gets up at 8:00 am and rarely takes a nap. I hope this helps, even a little. Best of luck with this!

Answer 3

Well she is three and in that stage in life the toddler does tend to become a pain in the butt. (But an adorable one!) That is just a stage and when they hit about 4 it usually goes a way within a couple months, but a good thing to do to help with that grumpiness during the day is to put on a movie and make her lay down. Tell her you don't have to go to sleep, but you need to lay down and rest. Make sure there are no distractions like younger siblings, older siblings, etc. Don't talk to her and sit nearby and read a book or get on the computer. Hopefully she will fall asleep.  

Answer 4

you are not going to want to hear this but for a three year old this is normal.

for nap time try every day putting her down at the same time 12 or 1 in the afternoon. lay down with her turn off the lights maybe watch some cartoons on low just trying to relax her. the first few days she might fight it or just lay there awake but if you do this everday around the same time she will know that its relazing time and most likely fall asleep.

trying to keep her busy by runner her around is only going to make her want to stay up so she dosent miss anything

Answer 5

sit down with her in the day, lower the lighting or shut curtains, a put a cartoon on with her, she'll soon fall asleep during melt down moments

Answer 6

lie down with her after lunch and read some repititious books

Answer 7

Sounds typical to me sweetie.  just when you figure out their moods they change.  I've gone through this with 7 of 'em.  Patience is all you got...to wait 'em out till the next phase hits!

Answer 8

well i make my 3&5 yr olds lay down after lunch for "quite time" they lay in their beds and watch a movie. movie vol. low no snacks sippy cup with water one cause other wise they want 20 refills, it took about two weeks but now works great. good luck.

Answer 9

Over all try putting her down and telling her we are going to rest ( not nap) put a movie going or something and get her to lay in her bed or on the couch , and tell her she has to stay there and rest for how ever long you want. With any luck she might fall asleep but some times resting will help prevent the melt downs.  

Answer 10

Sounds like too much stimulation in the routine. Make bedtime calm and consistent. The resting idea is good. Try for a little over an hour. Sometime when children get over tired, they have trouble sleeping.

Answer 11

You may have to just ride this out, April.

What no one tells you about the "terrible 2s" is that the 3s can be just as bad.  Sounds like you've reduced all the worst stimuli (TV, sugar) already.