Thursday, March 24, 2011

Wow, it worked

A few weeks ago I was talking to some moms about naps. I was so surprised when a couple of the moms mentioned how their kids would tell them when they needed naps. One, maybe A, would just grab a blanket and lay down to sleep. Whaat?! I was incredulous. Another mom said yes, she would put her toddler to bed and just tell him to take a nap.
Really? You mean just put your toddler into the crib? And he's still standing...hmm..
I've never done that before. I've always sung D a lullabye before putting her in her crib whether for naps or for nighttime sleep and I guess I would never think to divert from that.
But, armed with this knowledge I think I might have tried putting D in her crib once or twice for a nap without singing a lullabye and she was fine. Took a nap. Huh.
But what's really a "wow" is what happened yesterday. I put D down for a nap. She rolled around, sang, talked to herself and then maybe 40 minutes later started calling out for me. Usually, we would ignore and then if she started to cry, we would pick up up and just say "Oh well, I guess she didn't need a nap."
Yesterday, however, we knew she needed a nap. She had gone to bed late and woken up early. So, when she started screaming for mama. I said to G, "I'm just going to go peek in and say, 'D, take a nap!'...that way she knows we're not ignoring her but she needs to take a nap."
Eeks. I was really afraid that it wouldn't work and she would go bananas...
But it WORKED! Hallelujah! After I went in and made my statement, there was not another peep from her and she took a nap! Whaat??! Craziness.

1 comment:

  1. Way to go being the parent and knowing her needs enough to be sure they are met. :)

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