Four days. Four long days. Cordelia has spent the past four days declining to nap as normal, as if it was an option. However, I don’t think she realizes that she really needs those naps, and without them, her mood has been nothing short of a cocaine addict going cold turkey.
Also, in these past four days, other weird behaviors have emerged. Friday night, she sat between Aaron and I on the couch, playing tickle games and peek-a-boo with a pillow. Then, before we knew it, she was laying still under the pillow, fast asleep. It was still a half hour until her normal bedtime. She rarely falls asleep with other people in the room, especially us, so we were baffled.
The other strange behavior is a sudden aversion to her room and her crib at naptime. Yesterday, we tried to take her upstairs for a nap in the afternoon. Normally she’s happy to go upstairs, and looks forward to being in her crib, with all of her stuff. Half the time she’s the one telling me she wants a nap! But this time, it was met with whining and “Noooo, please!” and crying. Let me tell you, hearing your toddler begging with “Noooo, please! Please!” is one of the most heart-wrenching things to resist. We put her in her crib, anyway, thinking maybe she was just overtired, and the screaming commenced. (As a side note, I got a lovely bruise on my chin when she tried to force her way out as I put her in the crib, jamming her head into my jaw.)
After ten minutes of screaming, Aaron went in to comfort her, and then left again, which this time made things worse. She screamed even louder, until all went silent about ten minutes later. I peeked in after another ten minutes of silence, and found her asleep sitting up, hunched over her Dora doll. She slept for about a half hour, and then woke, picking up where she left off in screaming. Figuring the nap was over, I brought her downstairs.
She screamed so hard that she broke capillaries under her eyes, and had given herself a slightly bloody nose, too. I should also point out that she has my fair skin, and even a moderate cry leaves us with little red dots around our eyes from broken capillaries. The remainder of the day, she was clingy and grumpy, breaking down into tears if anything didn’t go her way.
Today, the nap was aborted before it began. I tried again to take her upstairs, was assaulted with the pleading and crying, and gave up before making it to her room. Later, while I was out shopping, she crawled up on the couch with Aaron, pulled the pillow over her head, and fell asleep again, this time sleeping for over an hour before we woke her, with difficulty, for dinner.
Bedtime for the past two nights has been a struggle as well. She whines and stalls, acting tired but refusing to give in to her exhaustion. However, once asleep for the night, she sleeps as normal: waking once or twice, but never upset, and always going back to sleep on her own.
While Cordy is a…spirited…child, sleep has been one battle she hasn’t fought since infancy. She appreciates sleep, welcomes it, embraces it happily, as long as it is on her terms. It’s not like her to fight the drowsiness, resist it with all her being, only to be overtaken by it suddenly, as if against her will.
I don’t know if she isn’t feeling well or if this is simply some new development in her behavior. She was somewhat disinterested in her food this weekend, so I’d like to think this is temporary. I have tried to remain patient, but my own exhaustion from the past four days is showing.
I want my happy toddler back. She’s moody, cranky, whiny, and demanding, all combined with a short fuse. Other than sleep problems and eating a little less, I can’t find any sign of illness, even though I wish I could point to some known, short-term cause for this. Anything to give me hope that this isn’t to be expected from now on.
(Edit: Hopefully my blog won’t crash in the next day or two. Blogger held me hostage this weekend and forced me to switch to the New Blogger. I’m still trying to make sure everything is still the same while learning about the new features.)
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FFM – Cordy often won’t sleep during naptime, but will happily sit in her crib and play with her toys or just talk to herself.
This morning she did another weird thing and demanded a bath. I’ve never had her demand a bath.
I LOVE that picture.
Agree with Sarah!
I know with my kids, once they get overtired everything gets all wacked out, even things that seem unrelated. It takes awhile to get them back on course and getting enough sleep. Good luck!
Welcome to my world. Dawson will not sleep in his crib at all. He refuses. He’ll fall asleep anywhere else and the second you put him in his crib he wakes up and screams as though he were going to die in there.
I just don’t get it. My mom thinks he’s ready for a toddler bed. She might be right, but we just can’t afford one now. Not that they are expensive, but even $80 is too much for a frame and no mattress.
Awww, I feel so bad for you. SlowMo gave up the naptime around age 2, but she would still lay in her bed and look at books or whatever entertained her for over an hour, so I still got a little break. TheBeast hates naps, and takes them whenever she finally just falls asleep, which is usually to a movie, bad I know!! And she’s started only sleeping for a half hour, which makes for a very crabby 14 month old!!!
My experience has been that my son started skipping the nap when he was around 2 1/2. It really sucked. It was a total shock. My afternoons were killed.
oh…losing naps stink…good luck
make her go to be early
Awwww. Bless your heart! I am going thru the same thing here. It started I guess about 3 months ago and has lasted since. He refuses to go to bed and just passes out ANYWHERE when he gets tired. He doesn’t like his room I guess:( Come by my blog sometime, I am holding a contest this week!
dang! that’s rough! especially after the smooth sailing you’ve had till now!
Maybe she is ready for a toddler bed?
Ear infection, maybe….????
Does she have her 1 year molars yet and her pointy teeth? Could she be teething?
I am going through the exact same thing with my little girl. While she is okay about going to bed at night, she has started screaming when we put her down to nap. It started suddenly last saturday. We tried leaving her to cry and after an hour took her up. She never fell asleep and after 8 days I was emotionally wrecked. It was so hard. However, she really needs her nap as she fell asleep this eveing on the changing table while my husband was changing her. She is teething right now with back molars so it’s not easy to come up with a solution. I also have a 6 month old, so I am really finding it hard. Best of luck to you. I hope things get better for you. Pauline