How to start "quiet time"

[Deleted]

How does "quiet time" work? DS is almost 3. He used to be an excellent napper, 1.5-3 hours plus STTN 10-12 hours. We converted his crib to a toddler bed on Sat, and he hasn't napped there since He gets out of bed, pounds on his locked bedroom door and yells "all done sleeping!" He was sick Mon-Thurs, so I let him nap with me in my bed, with moderate success. But I don't want to keep doing that. He's then a HUGE GRUMP until bedtime when he promptly passes out and STTN.

So how do I start doing "quiet time"? That he needs to play quietly in his room for an hour or so, while I rest? Do I turn the baby monitor off so I don't hear him pounding on the door? But then what if he breaks something or gets hurt alone in his room? How does quiet time work?

[Deleted]

He needs to have a way to know when it's up - a timer with a sound, a clock with a light.
I'd start with a shorter time (20 min) and add to it over a week or so.
If possible, have some quiet time toys that you only take out for quiet time so they're interesting.

Bedtime needs to be earlier - probably about an hour - if he's not napping.

[lilac05]

We have an analog clock in his room. I would show him when I'd be back, but the catch was that if he was loud, I'd reset the time. It was rough for awhile.

It didn't last long, though, and he went back to napping during that time (he's 4 and still naps 2-3 hrs every day). Your DS may, too, since he's also just getting used to the new bed.

[Deleted]

Over the last several months J has stopped napping. I think it was a combination of decreased exercise with the frigid Temps and being able to sleep later in the morning since he is home now.

Anyways, we have always just put him in his room and set him up to nap. Sometimes he did other times he didn't. If he was whining a lot we would bring him books to read. The last few weeks we have been taking him in his room, rocking him a bit and snuggling while we listen to his lullaby then we put him in his crib with a pile of books and tell him we will come to get him when quiet time is over. This weekend he will move to a full bed. We will do the same thing. We have always stressed that it's quiet time and even now just call it quiet time.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2015 9:42:38 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

He needs to have a way to know when it's up - a timer with a sound, a clock with a light.
I'd start with a shorter time (20 min) and add to it over a week or so.
If possible, have some quiet time toys that you only take out for quiet time so they're interesting.

Bedtime needs to be earlier - probably about an hour - if he's not napping.

Good ideas, thanks. Yes, bedtime has been roughly an hour earlier. But he's a huge grump from like 1pm (normal naptime) until bedtime at 7:30ish. At 31 weeks PG I'm having a hard time dealing with an angry toddler for 6+ hours straight. He needs a nap. He knows he needs a nap. He was still napping only a week ago. But he won't stay in his bed.

[Deleted]

DD is terrible at quiet time in her room to be honest. She comes out 2454523 times, wants me to come in, bangs on the door, generally whines. We both hate it.

I've finally told her she can play wherever, do whatever but I'm not assisting.

She usually dumps a bucket of blocks out on the LR floor and plays for an hour or colors at the kitchen table.
Sometimes I turn a show on in her playroom so I don't have to see her/be by her.
She will also read books for a good 45 minutes on OUR bed. Whatever kid.
She now has a dollhouse in her room for Christmas and will do that too. Nice!  

She does totally get though because right after lunch she'll say, "I need some quiet time now." 

It just works better for us. I also moved bedtime up too. She's fast asleep by 7:45 now when it used be 9ish.
I miss my hours of quiet time every afternoon but night time relaxing isn't so bad either.

I hope come summer I can send her out to play by H and I'll get it back that way.

[Deleted]

Oh and grumpiness will get better. Did he just give up his nap? DD was a beast for about 3 months after she did and would sometimes pass out on the couch at 4pm...lol.

Now in the last 2 weeks she's been much much better.

[robot]

We use an Ok to Wake clock, and I think that really helps her to feel more in control, like she knows it will turn green and she can come out then. I also put most of the small toys in there, (this doubled as a way to keep those away from the baby, when DD2 was younger) - legos, small dolls, etc, so she has stuff to play with that she doesn't usually have out during the rest of the day.

[madringal]

I would try to push through this. Both my kids did that around this age, stopped napping for like a week or two, and then went right back at it. I'd keep telling him it is nap time, and tucking in like normal. But if he gets up and plays, I'd poke my head in and say "Get back in bed" or put him back in bed at least a few times.

I think most kids really need that nap until 3.5 at least. Obviously, you know your kid best.

[Deleted]

Wait until they are closer to 5. .

Honestly quiet time has never worked in our house. We do TV time instead in the afternoon to get a break. It's the only time the kids watch TV so it's not big deal IMO.

My now 8 year old turned a laundry back over, stacked 20 books on top to climb on top of her dresser to reach the fish food on a wall mounted shelf above her dresser and proceeded to pour three full cans of fish food into her fish tank when she was having quiet time when she was 3. Fish tank now resides in living room.

They either annoy the hell out of me asking if quiet time is over or destroy things so TV time it is.

My kids all stopped napping right before turning 3.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2015 12:09:34 GMT -5 madringal said:

I would try to push through this. Both my kids did that around this age, stopped napping for like a week or two, and then went right back at it. I'd keep telling him it is nap time, and tucking in like normal. But if he gets up and plays, I'd poke my head in and say "Get back in bed" or put him back in bed at least a few times.

I think most kids really need that nap until 3.5 at least. Obviously, you know your kid best.

I hope this is right! He's always needed naps. He dropped naps WAY later than his friends. He napped 3x a day until 10m, 2x a day until 18m, and was still going strong with 1 nap up until last week.

[karinothing]

DS is sometimes bad with naps since moving to his toddler bed. The light doesn't work for us for naps. I just tell him he is not allowed to get up until I come get him and keep telling him to go back to bed. Eventually he falls asleep.

[undecidedowl]

Jan 16, 2015 13:49:07 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

Jan 16, 2015 12:09:34 GMT -5 madringal said:

I would try to push through this. Both my kids did that around this age, stopped napping for like a week or two, and then went right back at it. I'd keep telling him it is nap time, and tucking in like normal. But if he gets up and plays, I'd poke my head in and say "Get back in bed" or put him back in bed at least a few times.

I think most kids really need that nap until 3.5 at least. Obviously, you know your kid best.

I hope this is right! He's always needed naps. He dropped naps WAY later than his friends. He napped 3x a day until 10m, 2x a day until 18m, and was still going strong with 1 nap up until last week.

I would try to push through, too. We went through the same thing when we switched DS1 to his big bed. I was SO frustrated being massively pregnant and having to walk him back to his room over and over. We finally got him an OK to Wake clock and put a gate on his door. We set the clock for an hour and whether he slept or not he needed to stay in his room. It took a while but he is used to it now. He frequently doesn't nap at daycare (even though he needs it) but he has gotten much better at home. It also seemed to be another one of those bad sleep phases because he kept coming out at bedtime for awhile, but now he is back to normal.

If he dropped all his other naps late, I agree that is seems like he would still need one now. Good luck!