10Mo Old Resisting Naps, Sitting up in Crib

Updated on March 02, 2010
J.P. asks from Beverly Hills, CA
11 answers

My 10mo girl recently leared to crawl and sit up in her crib on her own. When she sits up, I don't think she knows how to get back down. Up until this point, she has had 2 very routine naps per day. A morning one from 9am-10:30am and an afternoon one from 1:30pm-2:30pm. She wakes up at 7am and goes to bed at 7pm. Since learning to sit up, she refuses any naps all day long! She just sits up and starts crying/screaming. I've tried returning to her room to lay her back down but as soon as she sees me she cries harder. If I don't go in at all ("cry it out") she cries up to a half hour until she gets hysterical and I immediately go in. Any advice on what to do??? It seems like too much of a coincidence that she all of a sudden wants to eliminate naps. It's true that she doesn't appear as tired as she used to by 9am, but if she goes without it she gets very irritable/cranky until she finally naps. Help!

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So What Happened?

How do I teach her to lay down???

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M.N.

answers from Los Angeles on

I read to my kids maybe rock her and read in the morning nap until she is tired then the afternoon put her down as usual.

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S.G.

answers from Reno on

Your daughter has learned something wonderful, and new and wants to practice her new skills, which is making it hard for her to go to sleep. Just like she learned to sit up and crawl she'll learn to put herself back down.
Someone said to go in and lay her down without a word and leave. I agree! Then if she sits back up wait five minutes before going in (only if she's crying), then stretch the time out to ten, 15, and so on. After an hour of trying you can get her up, and try again at the next nap. Try to be patient and not react to the crying, because your babe is looking to you for the appropriate response to the situation, if you're upset, she definitely will be. Stay consistent and she'll get back on track.
Best,
S.

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J.P.

answers from Los Angeles on

I know. My first son's sleeping cycle was that he slept 2 hours and was awake 2 hours during the entire day...and the slept for 12 hours at night. this one took a 1-3 hour nap every day until he was 4.

#2 was born and after 3 weeks old, he only took 2 naps a day. By 12 months, he was taking a 20 minute nap....IF we were lucky. He's a GREAT sleeper at night - never wakes up! He'll sleep from 7:30pm, even though he really wants to be up until 11pm, until 8:30am most mornings. All naps stopped for him at nearly 3.

#3 slept a bunch until she was about 10 months, and then went to 2 nap a day. At 23 months, she now sometimes doesn't even take a nap. But, she's in bed at 7:30pm and sleep until 7am.

They are all different, so if she isn't cranky, when she is awake and you are feeding her regularly, so you know it's not her blood sugar, then let her decide, to a certain degree. You are sitll the parent, but I'm sure you'd hate it if you wanted to play and someone made you lie day - ok, me niether - I'd die for a nap! LOL

S.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

I have a few thoughts... one is that babies and toddlers who are learning something new often have their sleep temporarily interrupted. So the good news is that it's temporary, although you're likely to see this crop up a few more times.

Second thing is that you really need to come up with a sleep training plan and stick to it. I'm with you that the "cry it out" method (as most people understand it) is too much for you and your baby. Check out http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-sleep-training-the-basic... for some guidance. We ended up going with the Sears method because that fit our parenting style the best. However, I think one of the moms on there said the thing she'd learned after trying a couple of techniques was that she really just needed to stick with something.

The last thing is that our daughter changed from two naps to one at around the same age. I was kind of jealous of our friends with babies the same age, because they had two naps for another six or seven months. But one was really all she needed (it's a long one, though... 2.5-3.5 hours).

Hang in there. I hope this helps.

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B.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

First off- teach her how to lay back down, spend time during the waking hours on this. Until then if she's stuck go in help her lay down (don't just pick her up and lay her down) then leave. Do all of this with out a word. Just help her lay down and leave. The hardest part will be being consistent, you're the mom- don't give in.

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S.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

First, teach her to lay down by pushing her over-softly of course. She'll get the hang of it.
Second, at this age many kids start to realize that mommy goes away and they forget about the she comes back part. Try sitting with her while she falls asleep. If she just sits there or plays and doesn't sleep then you'll know that's not it. If she sleeps then sit with her for a few days and then each day inch out of her room more until you can go back to putting her down. Peek-a-boo is an excellent game at this age. When you put her down, play it through her door.
Good Luck

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A.K.

answers from Los Angeles on

You don't "teach" her to lay down, you soothe your baby and give her the love and comfort she needs. She may need to fall asleep in your arms and then you can lay her down asleep. She will get it, when SHE'S ready.

Crying it out is something I believe to be incredibly cruel and horrible.

She isn't eliminating naps - her little brain is going thru A LOT of changes and her body is reacting to all these new and wonderful things she's learning!!! This time is going to fly by - I say you spend as much time with her as possible and enjoy it.

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M.N.

answers from Los Angeles on

I totally agree with Stacy. My little one has done similar things as yours with rolling over. He learned that skill and then rolled all over his crib until he would get stuck in a corner and scream. Sometimes it might take an hour of walking into his room every five minutes to reposition him but eventually I always got him back to sleep. It doesn't last forever but does require your patience and willingness to spend an hour or so trying to get her to sleep.

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L.T.

answers from Los Angeles on

It might be that she's ready to drop that second nap and go down to one nap a day. My daughter did this around 11 months. The first couple of days trying to get into a new routine can be a pain but it's not so bad. Around that age my daughter stopped taking her morning nap and is now down to one nap after lunch, from 1 until about 3.

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M.L.

answers from Kansas City on

try one 1100 o'clock or 1200 nap instead of 2 naps

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R.B.

answers from San Diego on

She will learn on her own.........but if this is new to her, she will figure it out. Don't go in there and give it three days - she will learn!! She STILL needs those two naps....sleep is so important at this age. Typically babies don't drop their second nap until 15-20 months (around there). If you need more help, go to www.3daysleepsolutions.com and get Davis' video. She is amazing!!! Good luck! :) BTW - I let my babies CIO and people always tell me that they are the happiest babies - because they are GREAT sleepers!! That is a babies ONLY outlet when they are frustrated. CIO never lasts long if you put your baby down at the right time for naps/sleep.....it only lasted a few days and they don't cry anymore. Just thought I would throw that in b/c of a post I read.

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