Desperately need nap help!!

[samckeag]

Five years ago, I had a full daycare. I had three kids, plus my own, who all slept in the same room. Every day, they had 1.5-2 hour naps and I never had a problem. Not once. I closed my daycare after a while and went back to work.

Recently, as a means to supplement income, I have taken in a one-ear-old. In almost every way, he is a dream. He has an amazing personality, he's sweet and very smart. But he SUCKS at napping. He naps for only 45 minutes at a time. When I interviewed the family, they told me this but I thought I would be able to fix that since I struggled with sleep issues with my son and learned some tricks which I used on my other daycare kids which was why I never had any problems.

Nothing I seem to do works with this kid, and he does things I've never seen before.

I have put him on a strict routine (which I do for all daycare kids so they become accustomed easily) and so he naps at the same time every day. We have lunch, go down to the basement, change his diaper, read a story, get his bottle and his soother, and I put him in his playpen- the same thing they do at home on the weekends. He generally falls asleep pretty easily, but within 35-45 minutes, he stirs. Before he's even opened his eyes, he's crying. It's super weird. I've never seen that. I have started working in the basement while he's sleeping (I own my own website business) and wait for him to stir. I'll then go over and turn on his singing worm and rub his belly. Five times out of ten, I can get him back to sleep but if I manage to, he only sleeps for 5-10 minutes. He balls his face off when he wakes up. I have attempted standing there and coaching him to stop crying before I pick him up, but he doesn't stop! As I write this, he has woken up from his nap, I turn on his worm and rub his belly and his eyes flutter. But then he fights it. Now, he's been standing in his playpen, directly accross from me for 15 minutes bawling his eyes out. He refuses to sit (I have a full bottle and a book in his crib). He's clearly still tired - always is when he wakes up, but he refuses to go back to sleep. I am NOT a fan of the cry it out thing, but I am at a loss right now as to what to do. He absolutely needs to sleep more than 45 minutes because he wakes up cranky and crying. I've just never seen a child who whimpers before opening his eyes. I've just read about going over BEFORE he wakes up and rubbing his belly and turning on his worm, hoping he will transition sleep cycles without waking up, but the problem with that is that his wake up times are unpredictable (sometimes he only sleeps for 20 minutes) and I really don't think that will work. It's like as soon as he sees me, he's wide awake. But if he wakes up and I'm not there, he scream bloody murder!

Also, I don't like going over and picking him while he's crying. He's a VERY cute kid and I know he's coddled at home and I know they pick him up when he cries. They say they ignore it when he tantrums but I have a hard time believing that. How do I teach him that he doesn't need to flip out in order for me to pick him up?


HELP ME!! I need the break! He's a busy guy and I have clients for my other business I need to tend to and I can't do that if he doesn't sleep!

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!!

[Lee-Bee]

Sounds like he is waking after one sleep cycle and is unable to get himself back to sleep. I have found this VERY common in children who are rocked to sleep and who bedshare. If they don't put themselves to sleep all on their own at the start of sleep they are unable to put themselves back to sleep when they wake after a sleep cycle.

I don't know that I have anything more to share than what you have tried. Have you tried not going at all when he does wake. Maybe your good intentions are just fueling his fighting going back down as he sees you and is accustomed to having outside help when an adult is in sight. It will be hard for all but maybe try a couple weeks of not being near and not going to his aid when he wakes. He might just decide it isn't worth being awake and go back to sleep.

[hockey mom]

I had the exact same issue. The parents had warned me the 1 year old didn't nap but I scoffed because I always had been able to get the kids to sleep well. The child was used to being breastfed to sleep and I don't think the parents made an effort to establish a proper nap schedule.

. When I was able to get her to sleep, she would wake up after 30 minutes screaming bloody murder. I tried everything over the course of a few months. Eventually I just let her cry it out, though she never went back to sleep and I found it very stressful to hear her. Finally, after a year, I could get her to sleep without issues and have her sleep a solid hour and a half. I found that if I had some cuddle time with her then put her down and caressed her forehead for a few minutes lightly, it was enough to get her dopey and then I would leave. I also had a 2-way monitor in her room so I could shush her and give her occasional reassurance without going in to get her.

It was a year of pure hell getting to this point though.