Dad Advice: How To Get Your Kid To Take A Nap

Dad Advice: How To Get Your Kid To Take A Nap

J.R. Braet: Time to move your kid into a bed. At least then he won’t be a danger to himself during nap time.

My daughter has “quiet time” in her room where she gets to be by herself and play with toys that are too small to have outside her room on account of our 1 year old son. She’ll usually play for about 25 minutes and then crawl into her bed and fall asleep.

Cody Maynard: Time for a real bed. Get a low setting frame. Pic up a camera offline for $20. Put it in his room so you can see. Close the door and stand outside the door. Every time he gets up say get back in bed. You will blow his mind lol he won’t know how you know. A couple days of it and he will except nap time. Worked for us.

Michael Sharp: If he can climb out there is not much point in using a cot anymore, time to put him in a bed. We started by putting a mattress on the floor, so he didn’t have far to fall. Agree with the comments that he might not need naps any more, at least not every day. Which sucks for parents!

Kyle Patrick: We have a 4 year old and a 2 1/2 year old- both of them are finished with naps. My 4 year old cannot fall asleep until at least 4:30 unless we are in the car- which 4:30 is too late in the day for a nap. Our 2 year old cannot fall asleep at night, and will literally lay there for hours if he gets a nap, so no Naps! Early bedtime usually about 7:30-8, this gives momma and I some time to relax and play games at Arkadium together before bed- it works out good for us.

Darren Barnstable: Routine seems to be the trick with our little guy. If we go off of his usual routine its tough for him to nap or go to bed, but if we stick to the regimen it seems to go quite smoothly. It doesn’t have to be an hourly itinerary either, you don’t have to plan out your whole life, but certain habits like cleaning up toys, reading a story, etc. Before going for a nap, and sticking to a certain timeframe during the day will help establish a routine.

Bhoiskie Gregonia Gijal: If it’s nap time:

• pick him up
• carry him on your chest
• his head resting on your shoulder
• hum a lullaby while gently swaying from side to side.
  Sometimes, we need to get back to basics and forget the crib.

Jarrod Ott: If he can “barely keep his eyes open” he still needs that nap. He’s just learned a way to keep you coming back in there until it passes. My 2 year did this by climbing under his mattress and getting stuck over and over. Finally I duct taped the mattress to the frame. There was a day of frustration and then he started napping again. I don’t know how to fix a climber though.
Shayne Frampton: You cant force a kid to have a nap if he isn’t going to sleep just give him a snack and a cuddle or something every kid is different and has different comforters just be patient with him I’m sure this will change soon anyway my daughter started not wanting naps at this age now she only has a nap when she is playing up at home otherwise not at all.

Andy Murphy: What we do is he cuddles up, we turn off all the lights in the living room, watch one of those Nick Jr shows that are about 15 min long, turn off the tv, after about 10 min of that, he is usually out, then it’s off to his crib.

Do you have dad advice for crib climbers and/or how to get your child down for a nap? Share it with us and the Life of Dad community!

Flickr photo by Fuzzywuzzy.