New kid nap woes

[torontokids]

I just hope the provider didn't hide the fact that he's a terrible sleeper from me...I had to terminate a client once for being a terrible napper (he was PT and co-slept so I had to retrain every week).

[Fun&care]

I have one little one who is about 17 mo, been here since 12 and she is a terrible sleeper. She is the toughest one I've had so far to sleep train. Her parents were the same- got her up as soon as she woke thinking she was done napping when it had only been 45 mins. I told them you should always wait at least 10 mins before getting your child up, as often they will doze off again. You have do it EVERY naptime or even in the morning pretty much until your child grows out of naps altogether. It seemed to help a lot although she can still go through phases where she has issues again so I sometimes wonder how well the parents stick to this rule. It really does work though- read it in some baby sleep book.

The other thing I have found with experience is no matter what is going on at home, when they are with you if naptime is 2 1/2 hours then the kid is gonna have to adjust to being in his playpen for that long, sleeping, screaming or just playing quietly. So I let them all cry it out and the less you go in, the faster they learn. I go in to check if there is a dirty diaper, lay them back down and I'm out. Leave him for the entire nap and after a few days you will probably find he will either go back to sleep or play quietly. The more you go in, the more you get him up early before the others, the longer it will take. HOWEVER because he is new, you may want to be more gradual and offer some form of reassurance the first few days but after that, he has to learn!