Sleeping child

Never wake up a sleeping child. I have heard that many times before, but why not? says who? what happens if we do? I have the answer to all of these questions. Answer #1: because we can't. Period. Answer #2: Who cares who said it. Answer #3 You get a cranky, crying, upset, and a you-are-gonna-wish-you-had-never-waken-me-up kinda child.

It is very important for babies and toddlers to take naps during the day. Besides the fact that children have to have a certain amount of hours of sleep a day, bad things happen if they don't get their naps. What type of bad things? well, let me tell you my story.

Velani was up all day playing and watching the cartoons she loves. She read some books and ate a yummy lunch. Mommy was busy doing important things too, like doing chores. Mommy asked Velani to take a nap after lunch and she said no. She was too busy, so mommy didn't insist like other days. Mommy figured she would just go to bed early. Needless to say mommy regretted it later. I am the mother and she should do what I tell her, right? but this is Velani we are talking about. She is not just any little girl, she is a little girl with an attitude and mommy just doesn't like to fight with her all the time, so she just lets her have her way sometimes and this was one of those times.

At about 6:30 pm Velani was completely out. I guess for other mothers that is okay, but for a mother of a diabetic who has to have a snack before bedtime is not. She had just finished her dinner an hour before and we still had to wait another hour before we could give her her snack. I decided I would let her sleep for an hour and then wake her for her snack. Bad idea. When I woke her up I had the crankiest daughter ever. She was screaming, kicking and crying at the top of her lungs. I tried to hold her, sing to her, kiss her and just about anything to calm her and nothing worked. All I got in return was more kicking and crying. This went on for a good 30 min when she finally went out again. 15 min later we were going through the same thing over again.

It was a really bad night for all of us, except Mia, she was completely out and happy.

So as you have now realized, that's why you shouldn't wake a sleeping child, especially if they didn't have their nap. I am sure there are many other reasons, but this was mine. Lesson learned.

Note: Velani had a few bites of her snack and her blood glucose was fine the next morning. She also slept with us.