Nap time woes

[Littledragon]

Thus far, I've been really lucky when it comes to naps. I've had other issues, but napping has never been one of them THANK GOD because I need that 2 hour break...well...until now.

I have a 22 month old that just started and he's not napping well AT ALL. At first, it was just that he cried before falling asleep. So, I sat with him and he would fall asleep and that was great. His first day, he slept for 2 hours. His second day, about an hour and a half - yesterday 45 minutes and today - 25 minutes.

Normally, this would be OK, however, he cries when he wakes up and he's LOUD. Not only that, but he CLIMBS out of his playpen! Today, I went in and gave him a toy and a sippie cup of water and he played. But LOUDLY. He yelled, screamed TOYS, banged, thumped. I went in and shhhed him a few times, but then when I would leave he would just cry.

I don't know what to do! I'm actually thinking about terminating him and it's only been 4 days. Normally, I can handle it, but today he woke everyone up - including my son. I'm not willing to sacrifice my naps times. And with him climbing out and running around my room, waking up the other kids...

How long do you give time to learn how to nap before you term? He doesn't nap at all at home....

[Littledragon]

I should say, obviously, I would like to work on this but being as he's not even 2 yet, is it possible to expect him to be quiet if he's not sleeping? How do I teach him that?

[Momof4]

Well, I always say - have a long talk with the parents. What has his schedule been up to starting daycare? What time do they put him to bed at night?

I tell my daycare parents that it is imperative for all children to nap or rest quietly for 1 1/2-2 hours daily because I work pretty much from the time I get up until I go to bed on cleaning my house and prepping for the next day and my day is NOT done when the children leave. So I ask them to respect that I need them to work with me on the naptime break so that I can rest and have quiet for a bit in the middle of my busy days. I'm very honest with my clients because they have no idea how difficult it is to care for 5 children, when they all only have 1 child at home. I always have the parents shifting their child to our nap schedule at least for a month before starting daycare.

If you can't work out a solution with the parents, then you know what you have to do. Maybe they can find a daycare where naptimes are not important because they have older children who don't nap. Don't feel guilty. You have to do what is best for you.

[Littledragon]

Thank you. And I agree. I ended up talking to mom and she was totally on board. I was afraid she woudl take offence, because I sent her the email when I was still frustrated but she was like "thanks god". She said he only naps around4 or 5 if the afternoon and then he's up till 11 or 12!! WHAT?? And she said then he's up at 5 in the morning! She said she needs her sanity so she wrote down everything I've been doing for nap times and she's going to do it at home. Hopefully it will work. I wasn't aware (even though I asked) that his sleeping habits were so bad. Well, hopefully, this helps everyone get on board