I can already tell that Elliot is approaching the age of 2. Now don't get me wrong, she's still a good girl most of the time. But the issue we're dealing with as of this past week is her nap/bed time. What has happened to my sweet girl who never resisted these important times? Nap time has been the worst. I still put her in her crib for naps & usually it's no problem at all. But over the past week she has skipped her nap 2 days in a row & is constantly climbing out of her crib & opening her door. After returning her to her crib about 5 times, I tried putting her in the big girl bed. Of course she would just get out of there too. I even attempted to lay down with her & hold her so she couldn't move. But she is the wiggliest kid around & that lasted about 5 minutes. Then I tried putting her in the crib again, thinking she might want it this time around. Of course she didn't. So my last resort yesterday before I'm ready to ship her off to boot camp was to put her in the big girl bed & close the door. This door she can't get out of for some reason. Of course there were tears, screams, knocking on the door, etc for about 45 minutes. But finally there was silence. I didn't want to risk waking her to see where she ended up, so I waited until I was sure she was asleep to peek in on her. And there she was on her bed asleep. Whew! Since she slept in the big girl bed for her nap, I figure why stop now & put her in there again today. It was more of the same, maybe 15 minutes less of tantrums.
As for bed time...she used to be really good about sleeping in her big girl bed at night, but this past week she constantly gets out. So I did the same thing & closed the door. Tonight there was barely any crying. She went to the door once to make sure I had closed it & then got into bed & didn't get back out. Hopefully this phase will pass soon & she will no longer fight it. I am at my wits end.
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We are still in that phase unfortunately. She had her ups/downs during the school year but the summer has been terrible. She has seriously napped about 12 times the whole summer and she does the same thing as E. At night it's a whole different game as there is another kid in the mix and she likes to go into his room and bother him. It drives me nuts! I can hear them now as I type! Landon has always been a good sleeper and gave us little problems where Emerson has always been a challenge with sleep. Hopefully this is just a phase that will pass....and before Davis arrives. :) Sounds like you are doing all the right things though.
Good for you for sticking to your guns and not giving up. Nap times are a must at our house. If you remember me posting about this, C went through about two weeks of this. She screamed non stop and would just finally sleep but after that two weeks she went back to going down super easily. I'm getting ready to put her and Sage in the same room. Shoot me now.
I have absolutely no advice to give you. I wouldn't even know how to handle that! I guess someday I will, but not yet. How frustrating!
That is so hard! I think if she is getting better at staying in her bed with the door closed keep going with it. She may cry less and less and just get used to it. Try to stick to the same routine.
Kira has had several phases of fighting nap time, and now she hardly ever naps. We still have quiet time though and I think it's as good for her as it is for me. We all need a little down time.
Scarlett is still in her crib so I don't have any advice for you. Hang in there, though! It seems like "boot camp" is working for you. Hopefully, E will be in her big girl bed for good by the weekend. Hope springs eternal!
I hope that things calm down for you soon too, I know how precious that nap time is when you are pregnant.
And you look so great in your pregnancy picture, seriously, so beautiful! So glad that things are going so well for you.
i have no problem letting my kids scream a little before nap time. i need it just as much as they do.
Oh man, that stinks! It sounds like what you are doing is working, so i would just keep doing that! Even when Kelly doesn't nap (which let's face it he's 3 1/2...I'm lucky he still naps most days!) he has to have quiet time in his room and I get my quiet time too! I even take a nap sometimes. It's great.
Hopefully the crying will get less and less. Harrison has been having melts downs all the time. What happened to my sweet little guy? I guess they all go through a stage like this...
Wahoo! I'm officially stalking your blog now. Thanks for the invite! Your blog is super cute.
Dominic never figured out how to climb out of the crib. We put him in a big boy bed when he was potty training so he could go to the bathroom. Garek still hasn't figured it out but I'm sure he will soon. He LOVES climbing. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sure I will be needing it soon. :-)
Yeah, we are definitely seeing signs of the "terrible twos" too! I'm not liking it.
Eleanor has the door closed and lights off at night, and the door closed at nap time. She also yells when you put her down. At nap time she goes down with a book, she reads a little once she stops yelling, and then lays down.
Ugh. I remember this! Jacob went through this phase (around the same time, too!) Some days he wouldn't sleep at all. We would literally have to drive him around the in the car just to get him to sleep for 20 mins. As soon as we picked him up to bring him in the house...back awake. Ugh. Sucked. I thought for sure his napping days were over. But, thankfully, we kept sticking with it and now at 2 1/2 he takes the longest naps ever! Stick with it, it should get much better once you're over this crappy hump.
Oh my gosh! I hated when Cru learned how to crawl out of his crib!!! You are doing the right thing! I always felt bad doing the cry it out thing because we were living with my parents and I always felt like we were disturbing (they did not make me feel like that of course) and now I regret it! Cru still struggles at night. We are starting bedtime bootcamp this week though! Wish me luck!
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