I have a 4 year old (5 in June) daughter and we are having a problem with getting her to sleep at night. She still takes a short nap during the day. If I allow her to skip the nap even if I impose "rest time" she is a walking nightmare from about 4:00 in the afternoon until bedtime, but she falls asleep instantly. However, when I do allow her to take the nap, she takes FOREVER to fall asleep at night. So, it would seem that we were in the in between stage of giving up the nap and not quite ready for that. Just wondering if anyone else has been through something similar. I'm going to try earlier nap today (so there's more time between nap and bed) and although I generally try to wake her after an hour I'm going to start with 45 minutes today. Any other advice is appeciated. Thanks moms!
Thanks everyone for your advice! For the past 3 days I have been allowing her a short (20 to 30 minute) nap at about 12:30 and then allowing her to watch a PBS program followed by a light snack afterwards. This has worked great. I also bought a light up clock for her room and at bedtime I tell her "I will be back to check on you when the big hand is on the 8." (or whatever number we choose). It has only taken her about 30 minutes to fall asleep each night. For now, I plan to let her still take that short nap as I feel it definately makes us all have a much more pleasant evening, and my husband can still spend a little time with her in the evening when she is in an okay mood. Once we make the transition to this shorter nap, which I feel will be good to get us through the busy summer months, I plan to cut the nap out completely in anticipation of her beginning full day kindergarten in the fall. Thanks again so much to everyone!
OH I think we have all been there.
I used to put mine, now 13, 11 and 8 down at 7-7;30 when they gave up naps. We had the same routine; bath, teeth, story, bed. I just beared with the whineys until the evening time.
What I did with my older ones (now 18, 14, and 8)was use the same routine seemed to work best. IE: each night at time X they took a warm bath, then at time Y we crawled in bed and read a story, and at time Z we turned off all the lights except the night light. Also notes, anytime you change a routine or schedule it takes two weeks for it to totally become a part of their day.
Hope this helps,
G.
Hi E., we went through the same thing when our son was 3. I know your nightmare! However, it is best just to bear through it ... no nap. It will take a few days, maybe even up to a week, but it will be for the best in the long run. My son goes to bed by 8:30 every night now.
Best of luck!
D.
Hi E.~I also have a daughter that will be 5 in June and I have a 2 year old son. Very small world! My advice is to cut the nap out completely and try to survive those witching hours for a few days. Maybe from 4-7 have some down-time or play that doesn't over exhaust her. My daughter stopped napping before she was 2, but I have a girlfriend with a daughter our girls age and she is in the same boat as you. Her child doesn't go to bed until after 10pm. I really think eliminating the nap is key. Good luck! A., Louisville-KY
We've been going thru same thing with our son for past YEAR, also 5 almost six, I just play it day by day...some days I can tell he needs a nap, others I stretch him and just put him to bed right after dinner. It all depends on his schedule...he goes to school three days per week (preschool). A lot of moms have told me to drop the nap, but I think sleep is too important...At this age, if he's tired - he sleeps, if he's not tired - he doesn't... I think it's more stressful on us than them... I stlll put him to bed at same time, and he may lay there for more than an hour... but at least he's in bed with the opportunity to sleep... I once read that a mother's job is to provide the opportunity for rest/sleep but we can't make them sleep. Even if they don't sleep, at least they are resting body and mind. What more can we do?!
.
Hi E. - You are definitely in the transitioning-out-of-the-nap stage. I found that what worked best for us was to skip the nap and just go to an earlier bedtime. I'm not sure what time you are putting her to bed, but when my daughter didn't nap, it was dinner between 5p and 5:30p, bath at 6 and in bed by 7p. She fell asleep easily, was not a walking nightmare towards the end of the day (unless she was particularly overtired for some reason) and she slept until 7a the next morning. It's just like when your daughter lost the other naps, the transition period is a little rough, but it passes pretty quickly. Good luck!
Your ideas are pretty much best, see if that works. You can also move her bedtime back 30 mins at night if she does nap. I would not let her nap past 3pm, you might try waking her 30 mins earlier in the am and then putting her down to nap earlier. Our son took a nap until age 5 and he still needed it but I stopped them to get him ready for Kindergarten. Only let her sleep an hour or wake her before 3pm, whichever comes first. Try bedtime around 8:30 if she sleeps till 3pm. Or, take out the nap time and move her bedtime up at night to 7:30. When my son would get grumpy around 4:30 or so, I would make him go to his room for rest time where he had to be quiet and color or read, play blocks, cars, etc That way they are not grumpy to you. :O)
Just wanted to mention one thing. I read your "So what happened" and that you mentioned cutting out the nap for kindergarten. It may not be necessary unless she just becomes ready for them to stop. My son is in kindergarten this year and he still has a 30 minute nap after lunch so you may want to check with the school she will be attending. He had actually stopped naps on his own before he started school, but he says that some days he does fall asleep at naptime.
Instead of a 45 min. nap try waking her up after about 20 min. My son likes his "power naps" around 2 or 3 and they really help him get trough the rest of the day! Good luck!
it sounds like you're doing and trying the right things. I went through the same thing and for me at about the age of 5 1/2 my daughter outgrew it. The crankiness due to not naping and the eternity it took at bedtime if she did nap...it all went away. So, from my experience, I did the same things you did and sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn't, but she did outgrow it.
