Since my daughter turned
three, everyone was telling me to "drop that nap!" My daughter was always late to
drop all her previous naps, so I wanted her to keep it for two main reasons:
1- I wanted her to
be ready
2- I wasn’t ready
When she hit 3.5yrs her night sleep started going down hill. She was showing signs of needing to drop that nap. Miss E would
either fight going down at all for her nap, or she would sleep for three hours or more. The
long nap seemed like a gift- but what it meant was that she took forever
to fall asleep at night. Some nights it took over an hour for her to finally
fall asleep and that was with numerous visits to her bedroom begging her to ‘settle
down’ or sternly stating, “it’s sleepytime” over the monitor.
BUT- I wasn’t ready. How
would I get all my jobs done during the day without it? Where would I squeeze
in “me time” during the day? No nap- no way!
Finally a close friend gave me a reason that finally encouraged me to give it up. She said, “Think about all the things you WILL be able to do during the day. Not
having to race home in the middle of the day for her nap is a bonus.” Ok I
may be losing out in some areas, but having the freedom to go out and stay out
sounded wonderful. I was ready to give it a go.
For
quite a few weeks, Miss E would be really tired during the day and she would even
fall asleep in the car. I decided that on some days I would pop on a movie
after lunch and let her snuggle her cuddly toy. This allowed me to have some
time to myself and it gave her quiet time without the sleep. This really worked well for us.
Ok- occasionally I do offer her that midday nap. I am very concerned about Miss E becoming ‘overtired’ so if I
really feel that she is just not going to make it until bedtime without a
meltdown – I limit the nap to 1 hour and I put her to bed later in the evening.
Since accepting that Miss E
was getting older and saying ‘farewell’ to the nap, night times have improved
ten fold.
Even though friends and my
own expertise were telling me to do something, until I was ready to make that
change, I felt it just wasn’t going to work.
Are you ready to drop that
nap?
Sleep well,
Janelle Jeffery
