My son just turned 17 months. He has not ever been a consistent afternoon napper. We have recently dropped the morning nap completely, and I have weaned him from nursing to sleep at naptime. He used to sleep for an hour and a half in the a.m. (if he took a morning nap - he has skipped it regularly since about 12 months). His afternoon nap has always been a challenge. Here is his "problem".
He falls to sleep (on his own in his crib usually) and then wakes about 40-45 minutes after falling asleep. The last couple of days he wakes up screaming "lie down lie down lie down". Before he was always just wake up crying. I know he is not ready to get up, I have tried getting him up at that time and it is a disaster (lots of crying until he falls back to sleep in my arms). If I hold him and shush him he rocks back to sleep in about 5 minutes, but will just keep crying if I leave him up there to settle himself. I can not let him cry too long (5 min is my max) because he shares his room with his brother who is 3, and is napping at the same time.
I always figured it was a burp or something that was waking him (he would often burp a bit when I picked him up) but now that we are not nursing at naptime, I don't think that is the problem. I also wondered if it was because he was falling asleep in my arms, but now he doesn't do that either so the feeling of waking in a different place than he fell asleep shouldn't be an issue. AND now that we are down to just one nap a day, I thought that would help too, but it doesn't seem to.
He never woke like this in the morning when he napped. He would sleep sometimes up to two hours straight for a morning nap. He doesn't do it at bedtime either. He has ALWAYS done it during his afternoon nap.
Does anyone have any suggestions, other than letting him cry (not an option with another sleeping child in the room). I am not willing to move the 3 year old, since we have just recently achieved getting them both to lie down and sleep in there at the same time at nap time. I have a 3rd baby on the way and it is important to me that they be able to do this in the same room. Has anyone else experienced this with a toddler? It has been going on for so long, I am really ready for it to end. I'd love to have that 2 hour window to get outside in my garden during naptime this summer!
Thanks for your help!
J.
Well,
Things are getting better. THanks for all the great advice. I think maybe he was still dealing with some sadness/separation due to the weaning process and combined with being a little over tired from ending his morning nap. I've been putting him down a little earlier, and he has been getting better every day! Today he went down at 12:30, and is still sleeping now at 3:00! That's about the longest he has ever napped in his whole life!
Thanks again for the help.
Jess
Hi J.
If he only wakes like this at afternoon naptime is there something that is wakeing him up. a truck passes at that time of day or you start the dishwasher. If you listen closely you may find the pattern. Good Luck :)T.
There's nothing wrong with letting him take his nap in the morning. I would just let him take his two hour nap in the morning and then not take an afternoon nap. Nap from like 10:30 to 12:30. Eat some lunch. Then after he eats supper every night put him down for the night.
is he actually awake ? both me and my son have had night terrors. i dont have them anymore, as it is usually a kid thing, but my son has them occasionally. sometimes it appears that the child is awake, but they arent, and its really hard to console them, basically you wait it out until they go back to sleep on their own. it sounds like he calms down for you when you hold him, so thats probably not it.
KUDOS to you for still nursing your son. my son is also 17 months and i am still nursing him. way to go!
is the room dark? do you use white noise? is there a temperature issue? nightmare? allergy?
maybe talk to your child's doctor to see if he things theres something else going on. this sounds really strange, but its probably nothing big, cuz your child sounds like he is pretty healthy otherwise.
maybe its a teething issue! i know that teeth can bother a lot! so perhaps some tylenol or something before nap?
good luck and let us know what happens
The 45 minute timing and waking up screaming really make it sound like a dreaming issue to me.... For some reason he is not sleeping deep enough at nap-time to sleep through it as he does at night.... OFTEN is it OVER-tiredness that prevents deep sleep, maybe an earlier afternoon nap? ... Not sure at his age, but you could try teaching him that he can control his dreams. If nothing else, talk to him as you lay him down about dreaming of pleasant things. I know it works with older kids and adults.
