So about two months ago, Riley discovered that it was a piece of cake getting out of his playpen. I discovered this in the middle of the night when I woke up in a cold sweat and he was standing right by my bed with his face about two centimeters from mine. Since then...life has become much more complicated.At first I figured, that'd he'd be too scared to jump out of his crib, so we started putting him in there instead of the playpen ("Why wasn't he in his crib in the first place?" you're probably wondering. Well that's way too long to go into so you may as well stop wondering.) Wrong. He hurdled the crib rail in like two seconds and didn't even seem to mind the fall to the floor.
As soon as we laid him in his play pen for naps or for the night, he'd jump right out and come outside. I had to completely retrain him by laying him right back down over and over again. One night, I seriously did it 35 times (i decided to keep track since I had nothing better to do.) It was the worst few weeks ever and i felt like a big fat meanie.
He's finally started doing better, at least for the most part, but some days he still regresses back into his old ways. And some days, he jumps out of his playpen, but because he knows he's not supposed to come outside he falls asleep on the floor of his room (hence the picture).
But now, the best news of all......are you ready for it? I think he's trying to give up his nap on me. It's like the end of the world as I know it. The last few days, he has absolutely refused to go down and hasn't acted all that sleepy during the day.
Blog readers (even if I have never met you) please help me out. Isn't 21 months way too early to quit taking naps? What should I do? Could this be just a phase?
7 comments:
Sorry I have no advice for the nap thing. That is so crazy. I can't even imagine the day when Emma can get out of her crib by herself. He is such a cutie though. So happy you did a new post.
Oh that is so frustrating! We are so lucky that Kathryn never climbed out of her crib... and that she can't open our doors. (once she can, we are likely putting a lock on the inside of hers so she can't get out if she tries).
I would imagine it is a phase. We have been through this phase 3-5 times with Kathryn and I make her take a nap. She'll play in her bed for an hour or so but eventually go to sleep. And when the phase is over, she is great again and has no problems. We've had to let her cry/scream herself to sleep several several times. I hope you can figure it out!
Okay Lacey, you don't know me, but I know Sam. So I hope you don't mind my posting.
First of all, I am sorry that sleep has been such a struggle for you guys. I know it is frustrating.
To me, yes 21 months is too early to give up a nap, but SOME kids do it. My MIL insists that my husband refused to nap after 18 months. I can't even imagine, naps are my sanity.
That being said, don't give up. Continue with nap time as a routine. There have been several times when I thought my daughter (now 3 years and 4 months) was giving up naps and as long as I persisted they just became phases. B/c she is older I have given in a bit and allowed her to just have a "rest" time, its basically like a nap but she doesn't HAVE to sleep, but I still get an hour and a half break. I put her in my bed (b/c she was keeping her little sister up in her room) with books and she's to lay in there for an hour and a half reading, relaxing and typically she does fall asleep.
This is a long post for such a simple suggestion, don't give up. Be persistent and I bet you it is just a phase. I always panicked during those phases b/c I hate the idea of them not having that nap time - its mommy's time! Good luck!
Oh, Lacey, I thought I had problems! This is crazy! I definitely agree that he's not ready to give up nap-time and it's probably just a phase. Sorry, I don't have any advice except to be persistent and consistent with his schedule. Good luck!
Lacey you don't know me either, but I am one of Sarah's friends and I was in the same grade as Sam in school.
I understand your frustrations. My son Jake climbed out of his crib at 23 months and I was worried that he was going to hurt himself. So we decided to put him in a twin bed with a guard rail. I was so worried about it, but he did great. He wouldn't even try getting out of bed. A couple of months ago he did figure out he could get off his bed, so now we have a child-proof lock on the inside of his door. So he tries the door and usually gets back into bed or sometimes falls asleep on the floor during nap time. But he is getting his nap and I am getting my break!
Good luck!
sorry about the problems....but that is a cute pic! and i think it is soo funny he just crawls out and sleeps on the floor!! haha....you should just get one of those mini couch things that turns into a little bed (my parents have 3 at the house) and let him sleep on that in the room and then just get a babyproof door handle so he can't get out!
Lacey- I've met you a couple of times when you were at your in-laws house, but you probably don't remember me. I grew up with Sam too.
I can totally sympathize with you, naptime was my only sane part of the day until my daughter, Janelle, stopped taking them! I have to agree that 21 months is pretty early to stop naps. I would say just keep on trying. Janelle went through phases where she wouldn't take a nap one week and the next week she was fine. We also had to put one of those childproof door knob thingys on her door so she would stop coming out so many times at bedtime, it helped a LOT! Good luck!
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