Revenge of the Night Owl
February 24th, 2011 by ariana
Just a quick update to yesterday’s discussion.. I did NOT tell daycare to keep him from napping and so he napped for a little over 1 hour yesterday and was up until 10:30pm!!!!!!!!!! As frustrated as I was with him, I actually felt bad because he kept saying “I’m not sleepy Mommy” almost apologetically.
So, this morning I spoke to the daycare director to find out what their policy was on if parents did NOT want their children to nap. She told me that New York state actually requires that children sit on their cots for a minimum of 30 minutes and have quiet time (!). So what they would do to encourage him to stay awake is give him some books and/or toys to play with on his cot. Thank god daycare is totally supportive of whatever we want . The director couldn’t believe when I told her how late he’s been going to sleep (later than she does!)
So I THINK this is the right thing to do but what if he is really tired and wants to go to sleep? It seems cruel to keep him from sleeping… But then again, I CAN NOT HANDLE another 10:30pm bedtime night.
Just wanted to give that update because the question of how daycare would handle it came up in the comments. Wish me luck tonight!!!!!!!
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We have the same situation. If we let ours go until she fell asleep, I don’t think she ever would. I mean on New Year’s Eve we left early to come home and put her to bed around 10:00 and she was still going strong at 1:00 AM when I finally said, enough is enough! BED!!!!
It is such a hard decision, I either let her take a nap and have a happy toddler until bed. Or have her not take a nap and possibly deal with a not so happy toddler but an early bed.
The decisions we have to make!
We have also had a very similar situation (only minus the daycare). Our youngest son, Isaac, has almost always been a great sleeper. However, when he was 2 1/2 I noticed on days he napped he wouldnt go to bed at night until 11 or midnight. I personally like my quiet time after my kids are in bed, so this was completely unacceptable. I simply cut out his nap, still enforced “quiet time” for an hour, and he now goes to bed at 7 and sleeps til 7 or 8 the next morning (and this is 2 years later)! I personally think not all kids need a nap if they get plenty of sleep at night…good luck!
LOL @ Vodka
Kimberly, I haven’t considered melatonin, but will definitely keep it in mind. I think I will try aveena sativa (homepathic remedy) first and see how that goes.
@Jane, thanks so much for sharing that..I need to know more about this sleep sticker chart!!!!
Hi – Just wanted to comment since we had a similar experience. We were up to 11:30pm with our 2 y.o., I think, at the latest, so I can commiserate. She didn’t seem sleepy at all either. And I totally thought she would drop her nap asap. But once we took ourselves out of the equation (got her to fall asleep on her own, in her own room, using a sleep sticker chart), she started sleeping at a normal time again (9p-7:30a) and still takes a nap (1-1.5h). A lot of kids do drop their nap this early, but just thought I would share how we got her back on track.
*vodka
Yeah I second the vodak. LOL
Forget melatonin. Have you considered trying vodka?
Just kidding!
Maybe once he lays eyes on the giant new bed, he’ll just want to crash, nap or not.
Good luck!
jbhat
I’ve started having “rest time” for my son, and I make him stay in his room and play quietly until I come get him. This is easier than it sounds, and he comes out several times to test the waters, but sometimes, he’ll just end up falling asleep himself. Good luck!
Have you considered trying melatonin? My pediatrician colleague recommends it for little ones who have trouble falling asleep, or to cope with an out-of-whack bedtime, or jetlag, etc. She assures families that there are no side-effects, that it’s completely natural and safe. It’s a short-term solution, not an every-night-for-a-long-time type thing… my sister uses it occasionally for my niece and it kicks in within 15 minutes… she literally looks like a wind up toy that’s winding down… pretty funny.
But if you give it about 30 minutes before you WANT him to fall asleep, as part of the bedtime routine, you may be able to get him on a better bedtime schedule. You can buy liquid or crush up tablets, mix in a bite of yogurt or applesauce, or whatever… start with 3 mg and work up gradually from there (no more than 9 mg.) The idea is that after a few nights (or maybe a week) of this routine, that it resets the circadian clock so that he gets accustomed to sleeping at a reasonable hour. Good luck!
Best of Luck! I believe the state I live in has the same policy. I actually was wondering the same thing about daycare’s rules about napping a while back when I found out our nephew didn’t nap during the day.
He thankfully goes to bed early with no nap, but like you if they need him awake longer in the evening then a nap is required!
Crossing my fingers and hoping for sweet dreams tonight!