

They have chosen their pajamas, their stuffies and 3 books to bring to bed. In our house, the expectation for naptime is it happens right after lunch, for one hour, in their room, with the door closed. The key with this boundary setting, is to make it clear, and keep it consistent. Again, I recommend keeping the plural in “books” to a bare minimum. By this I mean choosing their pajamas, what x number of stuffies they have in their bed (pro tip: you choose the “x” so it doesn’t end up taking forever to scrounge up every stuffy in the house), and what book(s) to read. Your adorable little monkey is responsible for choosing whether or not they go to sleep.īut since toddlers love to have some control, you can give them a few more things to be “responsible” for.

You are responsible for choosing the time, the space, the duration, and the surroundings and environment of the naptime space. You both are responsible for certain things. Think of naptime like a division of responsibilities. How you respond to this can make or break your sanity. This is their way of exploring and understanding the world around them. It is in their developmental nature to test boundaries and push limits. Toddlers are more willful than a 90-year-old set in their ways. Now you need to set some clear boundaries. So you’re staying consistent with the nap time, the place and the routine.
#Get paid to nap for free#
It’ll give you all the knowledge you need to help your baby (or toddler) take great naps! Download for free here 💤 2. If you haven’t already, download my FREE Ultimate Naps Guide. Best case scenario this means outside time with all the equally helpful fresh air, but you can also host a little dance party, build a simple obstacle course, turn on some youtube kids exercise videos, or any other creative idea that requires only a moderate amount of work on your part.īottom line is, if you stay consistent, even when your 12-36 month old is revolting against nap time, things will likely bounce back, and your little one will go back to taking a nap, or at the very least, enjoying a pleasant hour of quiet time. Ideally that means a separate room instead of on-the-go car seat naps, at a friends house, or on the living room couch.Īdditionally, it is much more likely that you will find success when sticking to the plan, if you give your toddler the opportunity to burn off all that shocking and unreasonable amount of energy for the nap. You should also make sure that they have the same sleep space for naps. For example: finish lunch, clean up while calming music plays, go upstairs, read a book together, say goodnight. Something manageable that doesn’t feel like ONE MORE thing to do (like those annoying school surveys). Keep it simple, but have a clear transition into a few simple nap time steps. I also suggest having a consistent naptime routine. It’s a chance (for you both) to have some time to rest, play with stuffies (do the daily wordle), read a few books (watch Love is Blind), and lay quietly while talking to oneself (ditto). Try and think of it as more of a “quiet time” than a nap. When you’re in the thick of the nap strike, you need some strategies to mitigate the day drinking. Trust me, it’s totally worth it to push through and hold onto that nap until your toddler is at least 3 years old. It seems super obvious: the nap is more work and trouble than a hormonal teenager constantly breaking curfew, so the logical thing to do is DROP IT! However, the reality is, your toddler still needs this rest to reset their little brain.ĭropping it now will be a regret far greater than that ill-advised juicer purchase. I have 3 things you can do to lessen the pain of toddler naps and get your little one back to napping faster than you might think! And I get it.Īnd you’ve come to the right little blog post. You thought you were in the clear, that you’ve found your way to that light at the end of the tunnel, only for toddlerhood to smack you right across the face like the volatile ninja that it is.
#Get paid to nap full#
And you thought toddler naps would be easy…You would think that you have paid your sleep dues by now, right!? I mean, come on.įirst the traumatizing newborn days, then the crap naps (and straight-up nap refusals), you somehow survived that unmentionable bout with co-sleeping, the hard work of sleep training (that totally paid off though), more sleep regressions than postpartum hair loss (which is saying a LOT), and those random and scaring “bad nights” that you chalked up to teething, tummy aches, and a full moon or two.
