20 min. car nap = 3 hr. crib nap???? PLease help me understand...

[deborah_r]

Can someone with a firm grasp of baby/toddler sleep explain to me how, if I get Kai home before naptime, or if we are already home, he naps for about 3 hours. Yet, if I can't get him home fast enough and he dozes off in the car, he immediately wakes up when I take him out of the car and then is WIDE AWAKE and will not go back to sleep? This totally craps on my day every time this happens, and I can't find any way to keep him from falling asleep while I'm driving.

It is driving me crazy, on top of the fact that he refuses to go to sleep until 10pm lately, even though we start the routine at 8pm.

[kfcboston]

I'm right there with you! How much talking and singing and even poking do I do in the car to avoid the 10-minute "nap"? Suffice to say, A LOT. :)

[JLiebCamm]

I HATE when this happens. All the things that I wanted to do during naptime are out the window, and I usually have a crankier child to deal with!

[JacksMommy]

While I can't exactly claim to have a firm grasp on baby sleep issues since I still can't get my DS to go to sleep before 10 PM myself, I have read just about every single book out there, so... I think this has to do with babies having a sleepy time and then if they get past this time, they can't fall back asleep even if they really need to. So I think what happens at those quickie naps is that they fall asleep, wake up during the transfer and then are already in their "awake" pattern so the nap is a goner. This has happened to me countless times and it's so frustrating when I'm counting on the nap! Then if we ever drive anywhere later in the day, DS conks out and bedtime gets even more screwed up. Sigh! I basically have become a total nazi about naptime to preserve my sanity and his. And since I have a garage, if he does happen to fall asleep in the car, I just leave him in it in the garage with the baby monitor on, and he'll sleep the full nap time. If that won't work for you, would it work to take the whole car seat out to prevent him waking up? I've never tried it...

Anyway, HTH and good luck! You're not alone!

Laurel
Working Mama to Jack, 6/4/02
EDD #2 12/24/02

[Momof3Labs]

Sounds like Colin. Ever hear of a power nap? Adults take them, and they are 10-20 minutes, just long enough to refresh and recharge (and make falling asleep again very difficult). We would jump through hoops to keep Colin from sleeping in the car because if he got a power nap, he would be done for the day (like not driving for more than a few minutes close to naptime, etc.).

[deborah_r]

Yes, I've thought about the power nap theory, but the difference I see is if I take a 10-20 minute nap some afternoon, and it has that effect, it is different because I do not take a nap everyday at that time for much longer. I would think he would be kind of programmed for the sleep at that time. But I guess that is probably what it is.

[lmintzer]

We know that drill. I always called it "resetting". Jack could not be transferred at all if he fell asleep in the car. Even a 5 minute nap, and it was all over.

For Joshua, if we get home and he's only been sleeping 30 mins. or less, I can carry him up to the crib. It's as if his body is still in "nap mode".

For babies who are more touchy about sleep, no way. They "reset" and it's all over. They wind up even more riled up than before!

[Karenn]

Let me know if you ever find that someone with a firm grasp of baby/toddler sleep! I'm not sure they exist! ;) I don't even put any of the sleep gurus in that category!

We have that same naptime problem. I have no solution. Sometimes though, if he does fall asleep in the car I just keep driving around the neighborhood for an hour or so, so that he'll at least get more than a 20 minute nap. It drives me crazy too.

[deborah_r]

I always talk myself out of that (driving around), always convinced "this time" will be different! Ha!