Giving up Naps

He is just pretty excited to be free of the crib, so let him get use to this new way of sleeping for a little bit. He still needs his naps and you are lucky to have him napping this long (my son went until after 4, but this is not as common as we would wish for little ones)

Maybe start haivng a story time and a quiet time around his schedueld nap time and ease him into resting. This extra freedon of being able to get out of bed is normal and since he is older it will be a little while before you can get him not to just get up and wander around.

OK, this may be a little extreme but may work. Take everything out of the room but the bed. Put one of those toddler proof door handles on the door, looks like a big softball give it a week or two. If he gets over it great, and start adding things slowly back. It worked on suppernanny.

When kids get this age it is quite common to skip naps. I would start putting him to bed earlier if he is not napping. Tell him that he will have an early bedtime or a naptime, it is his choice. At three he should be able to understand this after a couple of nights. Or you could try just having quiet time. But at three unfortunately, he might be getting too old for a nap every day. If he starts throwing tantrums in the middle of the day, he might be over tired and will definitely need a nap. My sister puts her now three year old in time out in his bed if he starts throwing tantrums and he falls asleep in a few minutes. But you have to be consistent and keep putting him back in bed until he can control himself, meaning no more bad behavior or tantrums. Good luck!

time to give it up.. put him to bed a little earlier at night and see what happens.. good luck

Hi...I can't believe I am going to be giving supernanny advice but...we tried one thing she did and it worked. Turn off the lights, put him in bed and sit right inside the door quietly, don't respond if he talks to you, just be there with him. Every night move a little bit more out of the room. He wants to be with you and this will achieve that but also teach him when it's time for bed, it's time for sleep. Good luck...hope it works for you! :)

Hi M.,
We are going through the exact same thing only my (very tall and physical) daughter will be two next week. This began in the middle of June and we are finally getting her to sleep, although we have had to make some major changes. Previously my daughter had NEVER slept with us, always went in her crib awake and would play herself to sleep, and would play peacefully when she woke up. Now, we have to rub her back to get her to fall asleep and she comes in our room almost every night. I bring her right back to her bed but I have to rub her back and wait for her to fall asleep again. I am looking forward to hearing the other posts b/c our life has been difficult at best since this beagn and our daughter is not getting enough sleep, she is tired all the time.

Not sure this will work for you but when my son was small, I used to lay in my bed with him, shades drawn, soft music on and just stroke his eyelids until he fell asleep. At 3 he would then nap for 2 hrs.
At the time I had an almost 2 yr old also and she would lay on the bed and just fall asleep too...got two napping at the same time! bliss!

When my son was his age he began the same thing. He was a great sleeper until age three and then began shorter or no naps.

I started a quiet time in the afternoon. I would put a movie on and lay down with him on the couch. It was our alone time and a nice rest for me and he always fell to sleep. It usually took around 10 minutes for him to go to sleep and then I would get up and do my chores. If you don't mind him napping on the couch, you could give that a try. Even if he doesn't always sleep, at least he's resting.

It seems to me that he doesn't need naps anymore. My suggestion would be to spend quality time with him during the time he takes his nap. Tell him he needs to be quiet so his brother can take HIS nap. For example, read him a book, play a game with him, watch a movie with him while the 17 month old is napping. Then put the 3 year old to bed early at night. See if that works.

Debbie E below gave great advice. I was going to say the same thing. But I did this with my son by sitting OUTSIDE his door, with the door closed. I would sit in a chair and read a book. He would come out of his room, slowly opening the door, see me there and close the door. After a while, it does stop! I wouldn't lock your child in there with one of those things on the door knob that someone suggested, only because I wouldn't want to be locked in any room myself! That would scare me not being able to get out, and I am sure it would scare a child even more. Also, my mother used to lie with me as I fell asleep, sometimes I did that with my son, but then you are locked into that. Well, good luck with whatever you try!

Hang in there M.!
I have 2 girls, a very energetic, constantly into everything that you can think of 3 1/2 year old, who doesn't nap and a very mellow, "somnetimes" side kick to her sister's antics 2 1/2 year old that loves to nap!!
Naps have in the past worked but as my oldest got older I let her have "quiet" play time in her room. She shares it with her sleeping sister. Well- then she wasn't quiet and would "redecorate" her room or try to climb on furniture.
I have now moved us downstairs to our tv room and pop in a favorite dvd, like toy story, elmo, or baby einstein with the gate up. I tell her I want us to have some "quiet" time while we watch the movie. Sometimes it works for the whole movie and sometimes only an hour. Maybe it will work for you.
Regardless I do it. I work nights (12 hr shifts) and need the nap time for me as well.

I have a 28 month old boy and I had to tape the safety door knob onto his door b/c he could break it off as well. At nap time I put him in his room for a minimum of an hour. If he's quiet/happy I'll leave him longer. Often times he'll eventually fall asleep. Luckily he accepts this routine. Sometimes he'll complain a little at first but that's it. If he wants to bring a toy in I let him. If nothing else he learns to be ok by himself. He doesn't always take a nap but at least I get an hour to get stuff done! Hope this helps. Good luck :)

~R.

When we switched my son's crib to a toddler bed, he took a while to adjust. A simple thing that seemed to help: turn the bed so that the opening in the rail is just far enough from the wall so he can get out. Feeling more enclosed, but able to get out, seemed to help my son at night. Might not do much for nap time, but worth a try.

Oh M., I know how valuable those naps are!!! Here's what we did. We made naps "quiet times" she had to stay in her bed for an hour and read/play quietly. There were consequences for getting out- what ever hurts the most. we settled on an extra 5 minutes in her room. Once the newness of being able to get up wore off she resumed naps most days. The other thing we had to do was catch her in the act of climbing out if bed. I'd stand buy the door and listen and when I heard her getting up I'd open the door quickly and say "get back in bed!" It startled her a little and made her think I was bionic women and instilled a bit of a healthy fear of Mama's rules!! Mama means business!! I think once he gets over the new skill/freedom, you may find he stops the fight!

Hi M.,
I have a similar problem with my son, who will be 3 in October. He seems to nap great for everyone but me! So sometimes, when he is dog tired and I am desperate for a few minutes of peace, I will put on one of his dvds and tell him he needs to have rest time. A lot of times he will lay himself down on his own and fall asleep but even when he doesn't do that, he at least sits quietly for the hour and has some down time. Now, I am not promoting tv by any means but sometimes you do what you have to do to get your child to wind down and get some sort of rest. And for the record, it's always an Elmo video or Barney or Sesame Street - something educational that he watches so at least he's learning, too!

Good luck!

A. B.

Hi,

How about lying down with him and rubbing his back until he goes to sleep. It may be a pain but you will be happy for it in the long run. My kids 5, 7, 9 take a rest after lunch every day that we are home. It is good for them and me. I need an hour of sanity. When they go to school, I just put them to bed earlier. A rest time after lunch is what I have always done. About 90% of the time they sleep. If they don't sleep, they need to lie quiet for at least one hour. They get up at 5:15-5-30 and are going all morning. We do not watch t.v. so we are go, go, go . The quiet time is good for you and good for them so you can recharge your batteries. I suggest never giving up that nap or quiet time as long as you can. It may be a pain to lay down with him every day but when he gets used to the idea that you mean business and this is nap time, he may start to go down by himself. Good Luck. This is my opinion.

A.

Hello,

I am a mother of a 3 1/2 year old boy and a almost 7 year boy. I was lucky with my oldest when he was little, I used to put him down at 8:00 and did not hear from him until I woke him up in the morning. My 3 1/2 year old is different. I have a hard time putting him to bed. He likes to go in my bed, so I let him and once he falls asleep, I put him in his own room in his own bed which a race car bed because he loves race cars. We figured that would make him want to go to bed. But no. When I put him to bed while he is sleeping, he does get up at some point like around 3:00 in morning and comes into our bed. As for naps, I would not put him down for a nap anymore. I know that he tired. My son gets very tired too. Sometimes once in a while he is on the couch watching a show that he likes, he will fall asleep and that is his nap, but normally he does not take one. I would just cut out his daytime naps. I hope that this helps.

S.

I have found that finding the right "time" for a nap is thr trick...not tired no good.. overtired forget it. So it really takes some time to find the antural nap time for your child. Routine is key. My daughter will be 3 in Jan and she is in her big girl bed and while it is easy for her to get up we made it something that she loves because it is all DORA ( her fave right now). I also limit the amoint of play things that she has at her reach in her room. This helps her settle down and not be distracted by toys. We have an established routine and do our best to stick to it everyday as far as bed and nap time. I have found after a day in the water or running aorund the park the kids are asking for bed or nap. Plenty of excercise makes for happy and tired kiddies. i used to rock my daughter but now we do a story and sluggle time with me either gently rubbing her back for a few minutes or holding her in my arms. I play lullaby music and it seems to work for me and any other people who babysit her. I also noticed that if my daughter was fighting a nap it was because she had to poop and could not settle down or she was going through a growth spurt and was still hungry. I would satisfy the need and then try again for a nap. Good Luck and I hope this helps!

Hello,
We have been through this twice. My oldest daughter would ask if she could get up when she went into a bed.
But then came my youngest daughter, and it was a fun game for her, but she was afraid of the dark so she would just scream in the middle of the night. My son also loved this game and he was not unlike your son playing and gettting into things.
It got to the point where I would sleep on the couch to make sure he would not come out of his room.
It took about 3 or 4 days with both of them. But we changed our bedtime routine putting them down a little earlier and reading books in the bed with them and whenever they got up we would put them back. There was one thing that helped.
There was a hook and latch on the outside of the door that was there when we moved in.
One night out of desparation with my daughter I locked it.
She started to cry and I told her that when she got back into her bed I would open the door. She got back into bed, I unlatched it and she found out that she wasn't in control anymore. The same thing all so worked with my son. Although with him we had to get him a twin size bed, he hated the toddler bed because he did not feel as secure as he did in his crib. We put bed rails on it and propped some of his animals, also we got him a real cool sheet and comforter set.
As for the naps I would still make them have quiet time in the afternoon for my sanity and theirs. They would either have to go into their rooms and look at books or I would put on a movie close the shades like a movie theater.
I would tell them they didn't have to sleep just have a little quiet time and more times than not they fell asleep.
It will get better and I know it is hard to be patience when you are really tired, but they have a new found freedom and they are testing the boundries. Good Luck!
Jennifer