Here is my situation. My son just turned one and ever since then he has given me hard time about nap time. I have not changed my routine in any way but I am going nuts. Also he is so clingly and he whines alot. Is this normal? How can I help him be more less clingy? And what about naptime?
First off I would like to thank everyone for their experiences. As for my son well he only wants to take one long nap a day. Usually from 2:45pm till about 5:30 or 6:00pm. It is great. We get to do lots of things together during the morning. As for the clinging, he was teething the past week. He is doing less clinging this week.
Again I am grateful for everyones input so thank you all.
I agree with the other moms. At some point kids start giving up the afternoon nap, but can't quite handle going without it. What I did with my kids was move the morning nap to later, so they are better able to skip that afternoon nap. He may also be cutting teeth, and suffering from a little seperation anxiety. Motrin for the teeth, and patience with the seperation anxiety and it will all pass. Good luck.
I'm in the same boat minus the afternoon nap skipping. My son still gets tired for both naps. Your son may just be ready to move the morning nap up a little later and take 1 long nap a day. I dread the day that the afternoon nap goes away, because I work from home and use that time to work.. but I know it's drawing near!!
My son is more clingy too - and I use a baby sling carrier - it lets me pick my battles and get my things done w/ 2 free hands. Mine goes up to 35# on toddler weight for the hip hold - check it out, you can get them on ebay for practically 1/2 the cost of retail - www.hotslings.com - Jesse's also clingy because he's teething terribly...
It will pass... and one day - we'll wish they wanted us to hold them all over again!! Keep ur head up!
My daughter did this also, just stopped taking naps shortly after she turned one. I used to have her do a "quiet time" and I would put her in her bed with some soft toys and a couple of books. I would leave her in there for about 30 minutes, if she wouldn't stay longer. That worked well and seemed to give her enough of a rest that she wasn't as grumpy as going without her nap entirely.
Right around one they go through a clingy separation anxiety phase.
My son dropped his afternoon nap around 10 months. It took a while for him to transition. One nap wasn't enough, two was too many. Eventually he got it worked out.
i don't know if this helps but when my son was one...we had a similar situation. turns out he was teething. try giving him some motrin 1/2 hour before his nap. it worked like a charm and then my boy's molars came in...the no nap thing is crazy.
S.
Definetly a stage thing but also a transitional thing. Check for teething 1st. Their gums become slightly red and sometimes you can see a little white spot where the tooth is coming in. I used Humphries #3 and Hyland's Teething Tablets for both both my kids. One worked better for my son the other for my daughter. They are homeopathic (basically chamomile) and work great. Also play around with his schedule. Our daughter went through it and she just needed to drop the am nap and move up the afternoon one. Worked great. She's 3 now and given up the afternoon one too but she still asks for "quite time". I just let her lie down and play soothing music for her. Most times she wont sleep but will "rest" for about an hour. My son on the other hand still napped until the summer before school started and he was 5 1/2. One thing I learned with both is that nap time is never set in stone. You need to adjust as their bodies needs change.
It's perfectly natural at this stage . . . my daughter went through this stage too
You may have to indulge the clingy part for now to get the nap. Can you give him a little extra cuddle time? And then either lie down on the floor next to his crib or let him sleep next to you on your bed (never a bad thing for moms to give themselves some nap time too!)? That comfort time with you may help him fall asleep.
My son turned 1 in January and he was the same way. I broke him by putting a shirt of mine under him to let him know mommy was in the bed in some kind of way. And if that didnt work i made him stay in the bed no matter how hard he cried. And now he takes one usually. But if he doesnt i make him stay up until 9 then it is bedtime.
Just stick with the nap schedule you've had and chances are since he is so young and still needing 10 to 12 hours of sleep a day that he'll take back to it. I sometimes lie down with my son who has always given me a hard time about sleeping. It lets me rest as well which is an added benefit.
It sounds like your son is going through two things. First, a little seperation anxiety, normal for this age. Give him extra cuddle time, but also make sure he knows it's okay to have independent time, stay where he can see you, keep talking to him, even while you can't be holding him. You want him to get more independent at this stage, not less independent. But if he needs to be held, by all means do so.
Second, he may be getting ready to go to one nap. This will mean a change in routine (just when you thought you had a good one!) It will take awhile, maybe a couple of weeks. You want to drop the morning nap, not the afternoon one. Ideally, he will eventually take a 2-3 hour nap after lunch time, you will find out how blissful this can be! You will need to keep pushing his morning nap back, a little at a time, and get to a point where he will eat lunch, then sleep. This may mean eating lunch at 11 am, but as he gets older, he will be able to stay awake longer in the morning.
There's no reason for a one year old to give up napping, they need that rest time. So if this is important to you, stick with it. It took me lots of time and perserverance to get my son into a good routine, he's 2 and 1/2, and still naps every day. He loves his nap, and so do I!
Sounds like the separation anxiety stage if he is being clingy. Kids will start that between 12 and 18 months so that is normal. As far as the nap, that might have part to do with it too. If he is still taking a morning nap has he made it longer? If not you could either try putting him down for that nap an hour or so later than normal and see if he'll take one big nap a day or try moving his afternoon nap a bit later. My son turned 1 a few weeks back and he has been trying to drop his morning nap which isn't good for me cause that's when I can jump in the shower without worry!!! But he'll at least give me a half hour to 45 mins then.
Oh, and he might be getting some new teeth in too. They can start getting their first set of back teeth in around this age too which may be throwing him off. Just work with some different times of putting him down for naps and see what he'll agree too. If he fusses for a while that's fine, he should fall asleep on his own.
Good luck!!
S.
