What would you do if your 3 year old is noticeably tired but is screaming their head off because you put them down

Question

My three year old no longer naps everyday. I can definitely tell when a nap is necessary, but she now hates nap time. What do you do when your noticeably tired toddler screams bloody murder for at least 45 mins every time you put them down for a nap? I let her cry herself to sleep, but i always feel bad.

Answer

Will she look at books in her bed? Listen to soft music? I wonder if that might calm her enough to sleep. Maybe call it quiet time instead of nap time🤷‍♀️.

Answer

I tell my 2.5yo he doesn’t have to go to sleep but that it’s quiet time in the whole house so he needs to stay in his room and do quiet things like read a book. I say we all need to rest up so we can do fun things in the afternoon. If that fails we watch TV together on the couch 🤷🏻‍♂️

Answer

I hit the wrong button!! Cry themselves to sleep is what I was going for

Answer

If you know she needs a nap, then you put her down for a nap. That should be pretty common sense. She's very clearly overtired so I'd be putting her down much sooner than you are. There's no reason for her to get to the overtired stage.

Answer

I'd put her down earlier. She might be overtired. I don't mind leaving a 3-year-old doing some softer, protest crying, but if she's red-faced and crying hard, I would go in and settle her.

Answer

When my daughter started fight naps, and was harder to get to sleep at night, we dropped the afternoon nap and swapped it for quiet time. She’d either watch a movie, or have a bit of iPad time to have a chill out. She was just over 2 and a half. 
She was absolutely exhausted the first week or so by bedtime, but she adjusted pretty quickly. I just felt it wasn’t worth the half hour fight to get her down for a nap, then having her up til 10pm

Answer

Give him a book or small toy to play with in bed

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Neither. Clearly he needs sleep but i would never let him cry himself to sleep. I would calm him down and then put him to bed and if neccessary stay with him until he falls asleep.

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I would call it quiet time. If she doesn't want to nap then she could look at books quietly but the rule is stay in bed for at least an hour.

Answer

Literally dealing with this as we speak with my 2 year old. My husband is now WALKING her to sleep like she's a newborn...after I tried rocking her and letting her cry. We have a party to go to in an hour, she's rubbing her eyes, fussy, TIRED. But refusing to sleep. We usually just let her have quiet time if she's refusing nap tho

What would you do if your 3 year old is noticeably tired but is screaming their head off because you put them down

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