My darling young lady seems to be at a critical time in her life. A time where she feels that she no longer needs naps. She is wrong.
The last few weeks she has spent much of her nap time, playing with her stuffies and generally destroying the room.
Now, she might feel fine afterwards and might make it to bedtime with very few no-sleep toddler meltdowns.
But I am not prepared for this yet.
I need nap time.
And so does she. Whether she likes it or not, her tiny little body still needs a rest. The reality is that when she doesn’t sleep at all, she often won’t make it to bedtime without a lot of tears and a few trips to the naughty spot.
Naturally, being a social media addicted mom, I have whined all over Twitter, Facebook and even Vine about the lack of proper nap time.
Apparently this is what the kids call napping these days. #toddler vine.co/v/brhW9rzgAjd
— Crys Wiltshire (@CrysWiltshire) February 14, 2013
This has brought about a few (unsolicited) pieces of advice from other mom friends about how maybe my daughter has grown out of naps and I should let it go.
Fantastic. When shall I expect you to come pick up my seething mini tyrant for the evening?
So here is my advice – I don’t know if I’m qualified to give parenting advice with just my first, but everyone else seems to – to any toddler moms going through the same transition.
I have had a few other friends that tried the concept of “Quiet Time” with their older toddlers and figured maybe we would give that a try.
We now tell Lilly that she has to have quiet time instead of a nap. This tends to quash the typical stream of excuses she regularly comes up with around nap time.
Lilly: “But I can’t sleep Mommy. I not tired. See (pointing frantically out the window) it not night time.”
Mommy: “You don’t have to sleep. You can play with your baby or read your books, but I think you should maybe try to sleep too.”
Taking away the condition that she has to sleep takes away her need to fight going into her room at all. She understands that she has to stay in there, but she doesn’t have to stay silent or even stay in her bed. This just gives her a breather. A pause. She takes some time away from anyone, away from the TV and her toys and can simply chill.
More times than not, she will quietly play with her baby, reading books, etc, for the first hour or so. Then she passes out.
Victory.
Even on the days that she doesn’t end up falling asleep (like yesterday), that couple hours of quiet time seems to give her enough relaxation to help her unwind for the last stretch of the day.
Now, if only I could line up a regular housekeeper to come in each day during this time…then Mommy could have some quiet time too. That would be really ideal 
Sharing the link-up love, here are some great places I found for Monday link-ups.
A Mama’s Story
The Better Mom
The Modest Mom Blog
The Naptime Review
Naps are super important for our health. Most people don’t get enough sleep as it is and when you are very young like your child is it’s very important she get enough sleep. It’s also important what time we go to bed. If we go to bed late we don’t get as good of a sleep.
For sure. This is something I am working on for myself too. I need to get to bed earlier and get more sleep. Unfortunately children don’t always see the value
Oh, my gosh! I WISH my son would have “quiet time” when he refuses to nap. Instead, he screams bloody murder when he doesn’t want to nap. He only has two modes in the crib: dead asleep or screaming. No middle ground. He will cry for hours. Trust me. I’ve tried. Luckily, right now he’s on a good napping stretch!
I completely agree – and I am a first time toddler mom too! Good for you for holding your ground and giving your child the gift of rest. It just happens to be the gift that gives back (thank the Lord for naps for moms too!)
Leah @ simplehomeblessing.com
I have taken away my almost 3 year old’s nap, otherwise she will sleep for 2 – 3 hours and be awake until 10:30 at night! Now, she is usually good for 3 or 4 days without a nap, or if I leave her on her own long enough, she’ll fall asleep on the couch, like today. Because I don’t know how long she’ll sleep for (and I don’t really want her sleeping until 6:00 or 7:00), I do some light housekeeping, prepare supper and have a bit of quiet time for me too. I miss nap time though!
We were in a stage where she didnt want to take naps other than at preschool. I really missed those naps. She just turned 3 in December and she is back to taking naps again and I get a little break. Hopefully it will last for a while.
Irene
I really love this post. Unsolicited advice is not helpful. You are right. You need the break and so does she. Way to handle the problem!
Ahh the elusive mommy quiet time
My youngest (I have 3) is still taking awesome naps, and I enjoy every last minute of them. She sometimes plays for a while in her crib before falling asleep but she eventually passes out thank goodness! Both of my boys stopped taking naps altogether around 2 (because they just wouldn’t do it anymore, and they weren’t going to bed easily at night anymore) but I’m hoping my little girl keeps it up a little longer.
Stopping by from Monday Mingle!
http://rationalmindofacrazywoman.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-new-gig.html
Who cares if you’re “qualified” or not? If something works for you, do it, and share if you want, because odds are, it’ll work for someone else too. And those it doesn’t work for? Well, they can try something else.