Any Nap Advice for a VERY Talkative 22 Month Old??

Hello,
My daughter had similar problems with naps when she reached this age. One thing that seemed to help was telling her that she needed to lay still in her bed and be quiet so that she could go to sleep. Part of it is teaching them how to go to sleep, and that this is what they need to do. Hang in there, it is probably just a stage and she will start napping again just like normal. Continue being consistent, even if you have to keep going in and telling her she needs to be quiet and lay down, and she has to go to sleep. I hope you find something that works, this is what worked for my daughter and we got another year of naps out of her before she cut them out almost entirely. Believe me, you don't want that yet even though some people will tell you she is phasing out the naps I believe if you hang in there it will become easier and she will nap again. Good luck.
A.

B.-
I had one of those two years olds myself about 8 years ago. Samantha is now 10 and still loves to talk. The only thing that worked for me was I would let her take her afternoon nap in my room and I would lay down with her. As she talked to me even at two I could tell she was a very gifted child. As she talked and I whisphered back I would gently run my fingers over her eye brows, and gently caress her little face, kind of a face massage if you will. Sometimes she would ask me to rub her head or run my fingers through her hair. After about 15 or 20 minutes her eyes would get drowsy and she would fall sound asleep for 2½ to 3 hours. It was nice. It gave me time to relax with her and answer her little minds 101 questions, or it seemed like 101, probably actually only 5 or 10 that lead into more. Even now as a 10 year old she will ask me to lay down with her occasionally. It seems so special to me. As she enters into her emotional preteen years it assures me that our special communication time is a bond we will never out grow. Give it a try. The first couple of times you might fall asleep with your little one.

B.,
She is probably teething again getting the rest of her teeth. Maybe ask her if she can tell you if the pain is what makes it hard to sleep or ask your pediatrician. I suggest giving her tylenol half hour before nap time one day to see if she will sleep. my guess is she will. Hope this helps.

She may no longer need the daytime nap. Try that.

Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, this book saved my life when it came to any sleeping issue and i still refer back to it today if he has any no wanting to sleep right flare ups. I started to use it when he was 8 mos to help get him to sleep at night and thru the night. it worked like a charm. I bet it would help in your situation. I got it from amazon.com for under 10 dollars.

hmmm.. I've got a chatty kathy too but she always took her naps. But one rule we still have to remind her of (she's 6 now and she seems to come up with the best questions as we are tucking her in) is that there is no talking during nap time. I had to get pretty firm with her. It helped that this was the rule at daycare as well. She had the other kids to mimic. Other than that, I don't have much to offer.

Good luck!

My daughter did the exact same thing. She still needed the nap, but I shortened it to a half hour. (This was very difficult for me, because I loved that quiet hour or two). She still talked and sang herself to sleep at night, but not quite as long. I think putting her to bed a little earlier might help too. My daughter is 4 now and still spends time talking to her stuffed animals and looking at books. I think she has a wonderful imagination and just needs this extra time to go to sleep.

Dear B.,

I don't know if I can help with the task of getting your daughter to sleep more, but I do know that with my kids, whichever developmental task they were working on at the time, whether it be walking, talking, or whatever, they would practice it even when it was time to sleep. My daughter would practice walking,(on my head)when we both should have been sleeping.

Most likely, as your daughter masters her task of learning to talk, she'll get back to a more normal sleeping pattern.

Be as consistent as you can be in what you expect from her in terms of routines and bedtimes, and reassure yourself, that this too, shall pass.

Having said all of that, I do recall that one of my kiddos needed more support in getting to sleep than the other two. It seemed that the more tired she got, the faster she moved and the funnier everything got. The other two slowed down or got the crankies when they were tired. (much easier signs to spot) Once I figured this out, I knew it was time for serious sleep intervention when she appeared to get her "second wind".

Perhaps her incessant talking is the sign that she's tired. In that case, she needs help to transition from talking to seeping. Hmmmm.... a massage coupled with calming music? I'm guessing that maybe if you can distract her from speaking for a while she'll remember how sleepy she is, and nod off.

Good luck Mama,
D. T

Did you get any responses? I didn't see any. I am having a similar problem with my 20 month old who is all of a sudden averse to napping. I am a stay at home mom and have really logged the time with winding down and keeping a consistent schedule... but she seems to be giving up her nap. She still seems to need one and now it is hard to get her to bed. I am looking at this as a phase. Perhaps that is what is going on with your girl? My daughter is teething. We are really having a rough time and I feel wiped out from the soothing. Crying it out hasn't been working.....

My daughter (now 13) stopped napping entirely at 2. She also slept 12 hours at night, and her pediatrician said she probably just didn't need to sleep during the day. Check with your friends whose children nap and see if they also sleep at night. Chances are, you'll find the nappers average 8 hours or so at night--that's what I found out.
Since your child is agreeable to staying in her crib and blabbing to herself, I'd continue with the practice to give you a bit of free time. Until she starts to vocally protest, or climb out, I wouldn't worry too much about this. If she is pleasant and not cranky, I would think she's fine.

Hi B.,
My advise is to pick one ritual before sleep like; same music always played, one calm book read calmly, and leave her be. The trick might be patiently sticking to one ritual for two to three weeks everyday. Try not to get discouraged if it doesn't work right away the sameness is important.
Some children grow out of nap time earlier than others. She might be cranky while transitioning out of them. You can't force anyone to sleep if they are not tired. My younger son grew out of naps early and then got to the point that if he had a nap he wouldn't sleep at night until late. Hope that helps
R.

If she is still sleeping well at night, and this is just her nap time activity, maybe she just doesn't need more sleep. Some children need more than others, and perhaps she doesn't need a nap in the afternoon. If she isn't getting all kinds of cranky in the evening and still sleeping well at night, she might be getting some nice, alone time during this naptime. I had a daughter who loved to talk endlessly, and sometimes sing, when I thought she should be sleeping. But I let her just 'rest', and things turned out just fine.

this may be a strange question, but... Does she have any toys in her crib? Is she talking to them? My 3 where out of cribs before 2, and never had any "entertaining" type toys in them. Since bed should be a quiet, calming place, I could never understand putting noisy, loud toys in their cribs. anyway, sorry rabbit trailed a bit there.
I definatley feel 22 month olds still need at least 1 nap a day. Have you tried changing her nap times? Really watch her and look for "tired" signs, maybe her clock changed a bit and your missing "her" nap time? Does that make sense?
Just my 2!

I hate to break it to you, but your daughter is in the process of giving up naps. There is nothing you can do to force her to sleep when she is not tired.

What you can do is move her bedtime earlier and still try naps on days she is particularly tired. If you really want her to nap on any given day, you'll have to wear her out in the morning... a trip to a jump park, the zoo, etc.

My daughter gave up naps at the same age. It takes a month or so before she isn't crabby and tired.

B.,

Some kids quit taking naps at an early age, sounds like she's one of those. I think (and I have a medical degree from a bubble gum machine BTW) that as long as she has some "Quiet Time" during the day, like you're doing, that should work; keyword: should. I would be more concerned about her nighttime routine than the naps.

My son is 4 1/2 and is just starting to stop taking naps, but we do the same for him. We tell him: "You don't have to sleep, but you do need to be quiet". We usually play a CD that runs for 45 minutes to an hour. If we play that, we tell him that he has to stay in bed until the music stops, if he's still awake when it's done he can get up. Half the time he falls asleep.

Your daughter is younger, but that might help. If she's fussy I wouldn't insist on the nap, but try to get her to bed early, and maybe have a down day the next day where she has a quite, low-key day at home, if that works for you.

It may just be a phase she's going through, and pretty soon she will be back to napping. When my son was about this age, he also didn't want to sleep during naptime so we tried a little reward activity. We bought a little treasure box at the craft store and told him that while he took a nap, the "gummy fairy" (we used fruit snacks--we call them gummies) will come and fill his box with treasures. The catch was the fairy would only come when he was actually asleep. We also had sleep rules, which we wrote on a chart and read just before naptime and bedtime. They were 1. Stay in bed 2. Close your eyes 3. Keep very quiet 4. Go to sleep.

I would have to listen in and keep checking and when he was asleep I would sneak in and put the treasure box with a few gummies right by his bed and he would get it once he woke up. It worked like a charm and he went back to his regular napping schedule. I chose gummies over candy because he usually ate fruit snacks at some point in the day, so we just had that be his after nap snack. Good luck!