Thursday, August 14, 2008

Ponderings from Me: Transition to NO Nap

The dreadful transition from that oh so precious afternoon nap to no nap occurs sometime between age 3 and age 6. Marc Weisbluth, author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child states that at age 3- 91% still nap daily, at age 4- 50% still nap about 5 days a week, at age 5- 25% still nap about 4 days a week, and at age 6 the nap is pretty much gone.
My daughter transitioned out of her afternoon nap at around 3 1/2. She had been a good sleeper and good napper since she was 5 months old. Always had an early bedtime and no problem going to sleep at night. Then, around 3 1/2 my great napper started staying awake for hours when I put her to bed at night... just talking in her bed or whatever until 10 o'clock or so. This went on for a week or two. (I was not ready for her to not have a nap.) Finally, one day we skipped her nap and did a quiet time instead. That night she went right to sleep at 7 o'clock. From then on, she has been fine without a nap and goes to sleep immediately at 7 o'clock and wakes up at about 7 o'clock every morning. A nice, solid 12 hours of sleep.
And then, then follow-up question: what do they do during their past naptime? How can I continue to get stuff done?
I have a bunch of quiet activities that my 4-year old pulls out during her "quiet time". She knows that I have stuff to do during naptime and has become quite good about finding quiet activities to occupy herself. You may also try having them play in their room, spending sometime with them alone, having them watch a short show, giving them a stack of books to "read" on your bed, or?? Readers please share any of your ideas. And good luck finding solace in no naptime.

1 comment:

Ruth said...

Yes, books, and a few special toys with tiny parts (my little pony and princess dolls) that she can only play with while little sister is sleeping.

 
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