Having Sleep problems...Help!

Updated on March 15, 2007
S.P. asks from Littleton, CO
8 answers

I have a 14 month old son who needs to take two naps a day, but will only take one early morning nap. He use to sleep from 7pm-7am, but now goes to bed at the same time and wakes up at 5am. So by 9:30am at the lastest he is grumpy and ready for a morning nap. He'll take a two hour nap, which is great, but it doesn't last him until bedtime. He becomes extremely cranky by 3pm, but won't take a nap. I've been using this time as a resting/quiet time and leaving him in his crib for about an hour. Instead of sleeping he talks to himeself, plays with his socks, etc. Because of his one early morning nap and his crankiness, we've been putting him to bed a little earlier. I'm not sure what to do, he's just not the same happy little boy when he doesn't get his sleep. Help?!

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So What Happened?

Thanks for all the helpful tips! We are trying to push his morning nap back little by little, so we'll see what happens!

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L.

answers from Denver on

Try to give him 11:00 lunch (keep him up till then) and put him down to nap after that. Then he might take 2 or 3 hrs nap and then might sleep later in the morning. If he is still waking up too early try making is bed time 30 minutes later. I have three kids, and after 1yr they were usually taking 1 nap unless they were sick or whatever. As he gets older he is going to sleep less. By the time he is 2 or 2 1/2 they do give up the naps. My 4yr will only fall asleep in the car or sometime when I think he needs it I will put a video and he'll fall asleep watching.

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M.D.

answers from Grand Junction on

I was having sleep problems with my daughter, until I found The Sleep Sense Program. It has truely changed our lives. If you would like some info on it you can e-mail me at ____@____.com I would love to share it with you.

M.

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S.L.

answers from Denver on

Sounds like your son is ready to transition to one long nap a day. My son was about the same age when that happened with him. We put him down around 12:30 or so to start. I know this is a sad time, but my son started out taking 3 or 4 hour naps (more if we were really lucky) and it was nice to have all that time in one big chunk instead of spread out.

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M.G.

answers from Denver on

I just wanted to add that our daughter has went through that a few times and we thought it was new sleeping behaviour we had to adjust for only to find out it was a side-effect of teething. Just think about it or look into it. Those pesky teeth have all kinds of side-effects (or growth spert side-effects at the same time going on) and the last for months. Though I do think the sleeping changes have only lasted a month when it happened to us.

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S.G.

answers from Colorado Springs on

I would try to only give him a shorter nap in the mornings so maybe he will rest in the afternoon

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K.D.

answers from Salt Lake City on

I agree with Jack's Mom - start pushing back his morning nap slowly until it's after lunch and then he'll only have one nap. In the mean time, I would still consider keeping the "quiet time" in the afternoon whether it's 20 minutes or an hour, it gives him a break (and you). And as you move his name, push his bedtime back as well. Hopefully this will help.

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J.

answers from Salt Lake City on

Ugh! We've all been there--it's awful but just know it will get better with time. You could try pushing back his morning nap 15 minutes every day until he's taking one big nap in the middle of the day. This might be tough, but he eventually will go to just one nap, and it's usually sometime in the second year. If you try that, he might go back to sleeping in past 5:30, which would be great! Or, try waking him up early from his morning nap (only let him go one hour) and then he might go back to an afternoon nap. Good luck, and hang in there!

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N.R.

answers from Colorado Springs on

I would agree with all the comments so far. My daughter is now 23 months and would nap 2 times a day but only for an hour each - which wasn't working for our daily schedule (also have a very active 4.5 year old son). So, at the first of the year we started dropping the morning nap and just going to an early afternoon nap. So, we have lunch and then she goes down for a nap around 1230-1pm and my son has quiet time in his room for about an hour or so. She will sleep 2-2.5 hours and still go to bed at 8pm and wake at about 7am. My son on the other hand is an early riser. He has woken up at about 6am since he was 18 months old - no matter what we did - he wakes up at that time and still does. Just wait - when they are teenagers - we won't be able to get them out of bed! Hang in there and good luck to you! N.

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