My two-year-old appears to have given up on naps entirely. I still need a bit of time to myself during the day, and I think it's good to encourage her to do the same. But she absolutely hates being alone and entertaining herself. Does anybody have any good tips on transitioning from naptime to quiet time? Right now, the most I ever get is about ten minutes of her in her room alone before she freaks out. I'm hoping to extend that longer with time but also hoping for some ideas on how to do that.
Both of my kids stopped napping at 2yo, happily they started sleeping through the night at the same time. I would send my daughter to her room with a video to watch & told her to play quietly or watch the video & quiet time was over when the video was. Worked for us :) Good luck
When my kids were little, we would have an hour of quiet time in the afternoon. I often called it quiet reading time and all of us, including myself, would sit and read or do something quietly alone for an hour. The deal was that each person could nap, read or do a quiet activity and it was a time to do your own thing and think your own thoughts. It might not give you a full hour to yourself at the beginning, but it does become a habit and kids become used to a consistent routine.
We had quiet laying down time. My daughter would have to lay quietly in her bed for at least an hour, and most of the time she ended up falling asleep and having a nap anyway.
I feel like quiet time is necessary for everyone, even if your daughter doesn't sleep. My children are 4 and 2 and they still have 1.5 hours each afternoon for quiet time. My older child looks at books or plays quietly in her room, and my younger son usually naps in his room. If you're consistent about quiet time, then it will become routine. Just don't let her somedays stay down and play and then other days try to have quiet time- that won't work. Perhaps provide a special afternoon snack treat if she stays in her room quietly for an hour to build up her "stamina" for alone time. Once my oldest was 3ish, we got a digital clock for her room and she could stay in until the first number was 3 (e.g. 3:00). That helped too.
Tell her a certain time, like when I come get you it's time to get up or stop your quiet time, or whatever you'd like as a signal to her that it will end and that the time is not up until then. Then just enforce it. Tell her not time yet. She'll get the idea very soon and she's old enough to understand the idea well. Usually they will go to sleep. I gave my kids a book or some quiet toy in their bed if they said they didn't need a nap and they usually looked at the book or toy for a short time and fell asleep.
Hi N.,
I personally wouldn't make it a cry it out ordeal. My daughter was the same way at 2-didn't want to be alone. She also seemingly started to give up her nap at 2, but I believe this is common for kids to experiment and then go back to the way things were. That's what happened with us.
What I did was I called nap time quiet time but did everything the same. I would lie down next to her (tell her mommy was going to rest too), put on her nap music and tell her that we couldn't leave until the music stopped (1 hr). For the first 2 weeks she just played in her bed and then started to nap again. She didn't neccessarily nap every day, but it was a nice break for us both. I could rest and sometimes sleep with her.
I know this doesn't give you the freedom to do things around the house, but if she starts napping again it will.
Good luck!
I recently had a chair delivered and it came in a big huge box. My grandson and daycare kids have been loving this box for almost 2 weeks. They sit in there with toys, without toys, with a blanket and pillow, and with books. It's awesome. I let them use the battery operated lanturn until they ran the battery down. I'm thinking of getting a tap light and sticky taping it up with that hardware tape that is so handy.
If you can get something like that, you can put it in your living room. Let her use markers all over it and give her a tap light with a few books and a favorite blanket. Teach her to have quiet times in there. She may not be 100% quiet and she may be in the same room you are in. But she may like it as much as mine do. My kids are taking turns napping in it!
we do books on cd. Just make sure they have a beep to turn the page.
When she freaks out, go into her room and tell her that it is quiet time. She can play or rest or look at a book, etc. but she must do it quietly. You are probably going to have to do this for a few weeks but eventually there should be longer gaps of quiet in between the freak outs.
One friend has her son have quiet time in the afternoon. He watches a movie an d has a snack. Half the time he falls asleep. The rest of the time he just watches the movie quietly and she gets an hour and a half of peace.
Good luck.
LIke Nancy, I didn't call it 'nap time' anymore. I didn't care what the kids did, as long as they were quiet for an hour. They could read, sleep, play a quiet game or puzzle... as long as I didn't hear them! Granted, it was a little easier with 2 young one's to entertain each other, but regardless, your daughter needs to learn to have some quiet, restful time, by herself.
I used to set a timer so my kids knew they couldn't come out of their room before then. More often than not, they'd stay in there even after the timer sounded.
I like the box idea too! Also maybe get her something that plays music and puts lights on the ceiling or something. Make sure her room is dark enough.
