Naptime crying 14 mo old

I have had a 14 month old in my care for over 4 months now. The child still cries when I put her down for nap. Wouldn't you think that by now she would know the routine since it is the same 5 days a week? I figured that it would take her a few weeks to get used to the routine but now I am 4 months in and she usually still spends the first 15 minutes of nap time howling before she falls asleep.

I can't decide if she is just really stubborn since she does have that tendency or whether she is really thinking someone will come if she cries and avoid nap?

I have had other kids start and take a few weeks to get used to nap time but none of the other children ever went 4 months without getting trained to self soothe and nap. The other children always learned to just accept it when I laid them down in the playyard and went to sleep quietly without all the yelling. Even my PTers learned faster than this :p:p:blink::blink:

I bet if you ask mom you will find that she still goes into her child when she cries when she is put down to retuck her in, rub her back, reassure her or whatever. Unless both of you stop that she will continue to cry in hopes an adult will come back.

For other kids they are so overtired from the busy play morning they actually cry to relax - the clue here might be that it is for a consistent amount of time and then she stops.

I have a 13 month old that will cry from the minute I start going up the stairs to the minute I close the bedroom door. And that's it. It's a like a switch. Then she sleeps for almost 3 hours.

Yup - I have had kids in care who just 'needed' to do this ... it generally lasts 2 -10 minutes depending on the kid and than they are asleep ... their self soothing mechanism - not my cup of tea.

My newest one his mom said she did not want him to CIO in the crib - during the transition period she would rock him to sleep but he still SCREAMED the entire time and then out like a light and she would transfer him to bed ... well seriously if he is going to CRY when you hold him anyway what the hell is the difference to just putting him down in the bed and keeping him company with a 'shhh' and a back pat for a minute or two ... which is what I ended up doing and to be honest he cries LESS that way and goes to sleep faster for me than trying to 'rock' him to sleep....but dude ALWAYS cries first before falling asleep even in the buggy or the car :rolleyes:

I know a lot of people use upstairs bedrooms for the children to sleep and close the doors. I'm wondering if this child is afraid because she doesn't like being alone in a strange room, although after 4 months it should be familiar. I don't have any problems at naptime but I am using the same room for 4 out of 5 of the children and I'm in the room until they all fall asleep. I don't have any screamers right now because I just got 2 newbies adjusted but the one was a bad screamer all day long. I'm lucky. Just wondering if you have the time if you could stay in the room for a few minutes and soothe the child?

Hmmm not sure about staying in the room. I put each of the children in their own separate room and it is always the same room, same bedding, same location so that they get used to it pretty quickly and know which is 'their' spot to sleep.
I am surprised because she goes down quite happy, waves bye to me and then when I start heading towards the door will stand up and cry.
If I go back in to put her down again (i have tried that) it gets worse (louder) and more intense so I have given up putting her down and retucking her.

I am not sure if she sees me that she would sleep. It is something to think about

maybe she's seeing what she can get away with... testing you. If she's all happy and waving when you put her down but cries when you walk away, I would think that she's just trying to get out of taking her nap. I would just walk away consistently every time. If she knows you're not coming back, maybe she'll start to go to sleep.

I have let all of my newbies cry it out from day 1. No hesitation, no re set, no going back in. And they all understand within a few days. One of mine still cries when I put her down, but only until I shut the door, then it magically stops. She's pretty stubborn by nature though, so I don't expect she will stop that any time soon.