Help! 1 Year Old Has Decreased His Naps & I Can't Get Anything Done!

I use to "set up" several places in my home where there were toys, stationary saucer, or blanket, so if I needed to do laundry, he would be near me in a chair or saucer or I would carry him on my back in one of those child carriers sometimes with all the movement, he would fall asleep and I could get things done! Even if I took a bath, I could let him play on the rug in the bathroom...that's how my "baths" began because I couldn't really see him if I took a shower, really enjoyed the soak, got clean and could still watch my son. It will get easier, and if stuff around the house doesn't get done, it's okay, don't stress over it....I did, and it got me nowhere. Looking back I wished I had "let it go" and enjoyed my son more!

My almost 2.5 year old son has repeatedly gone through phases where he doesn't nap. It's like he's trying to give them up, but he really isn't ready (he does get grumpy, so I know he needs the sleep). It can be hard, but if you just keep trying, your son may go back to longer naps.

Welcome to motherhood :). Sorry, but that is the nature of the beast. Your best bet is to secure him an an area where you are doing things, and find him some activities (even just playing with boxes or abnging on pans can work. It's all downhill from here on out...

Yikes. I am sorry this has happened, as I know you need the time to get some things done. You will have to institute a quiet time for each day. It can either be board style books in a playpen or crib, or toys in a gated room (that you can hear and/or see from the shower), or a good video. You can give rewards for good quiet times, if your child plays quietly each day. When my girls were young, they played in our gated living room with no dangers, so I could come and go and get some things done. I could always see and/or hear them, but I still was able to move in and out and get things done.

I hear you. My 2 yr old has cut out naps completely...unless it's inconvenient to me (like in the car).

People may disagree but things I have done include putting her (when younger) in the exersaucer while I showered (in the room or nearby with the door open), letting her watch a special TV show, bringing her in the bathroom (childproofed) with toys, etc. Another WAHM and I joked that we do work in the middle of the night now because we don't get daytime quiet time. I also include my daughter in things whenever possible. If I'm in the kitchen doing dishes, she gets some plastic bowls to play with. I brought in a toy stove so she can "cook" while I make dinner. Etc.

My stepdaughter also gave up naps around a year old so some kids do stop napping that young. (She used to lay awake on her mat in preschool, bored out of her mind. She still talks about it.) Personally, I think if my daughter really doesn't need the nap, then making her bedroom a place she hates (by making her scream for an hour) isn't helping. It just makes nighttime worse, IMO. If she's tired, I sometimes enforce quiet time and see if she sleeps, but it's not a given.

If he naps less, make sure he has an appropriately earlier bedtime to get the sleep at night. No nap might be annoying, but my child sleeps earlier and longer at night.

Put him in a safe playpen and check on him often! He will be safe, and you can get the "basics" done.... It worked wonders for me.

Hello, Maybe you could try puttng a radio in his room (where he can't reach it). Then put on some low classical music on it. The constant soothing noise might help.
Good luck with your precious little boy.
K. K.

Neither one of my kids were day sleepers. It was a trade off because they slept all night from just about the very beginning. You still have to lay your son down and not necessarily expect him to sleep, but he has to have rest time. That's what I did with my kids. I even did daycare and dang it, those kids layed down, at certain times each day and they just got used to it. They could talk to themselves, they could cuddle their snuggies, they could fiddle with a toy or two, but they had to be in a quiet area, curtains drawn, for quiet time. I never pushed the sleeping thing because I knew it wouldn't happen and they actually did better because sleep wasn't the issue. They had to be quiet and in one spot. Sometimes they would relax and actually konk out, but if only one did, the other one had to be quiet while the other one slept. If you get them into that habit, it just becomes a routine. Your baby doesn't have to be sound asleep in order for you to take a shower or do laundry or any of the other things you need to do. It takes practice and sometimes he won't want to lay down, but do it at the same time every day anyway and it makes it really easy when they get older because they're just used to it.
Like I said, my kids didn't really sleep during the day and there were some things I put off for the evening because that's when they slept really well.

Give it a try.

Best wishes.

Is he taking two 30 minutes naps or just one nap a day? That is about the time (around 1 y.o.) that my son stopped taking a morning nap and only afternoon naps. Then, slowly, the afternoon naps started getting longer...

try extending his naps with quiet time before and after, a couple fave toys & music & soft light, thats how we put our dd to sleep.

my 3 kids all noapped. anyhow if you want him to nap just put him in his crib and close the door. now he will scream for at least an hr 3-4 dys in a row. but its worth it. i am big believer that kids need naps all my kids nap until they start kindgarten.