18 Month Old Not Napping...

My daughter was doing the same thing (20 months), she used to go down wonderfully and now she puts up a fight. I read The Happiest Toddler on the Block and tried one of their methods it has worked great. What you do is start singing a song, then say "Mommy will be right back, I forgot something" (or just any old reason to get away. Then you leave and come back, you repeat this a few times staying gone a little longer each time. Eventually they fall asleep waiting for you. This has worked great for my daughter and now I really only have to leave once or twice, we have only been doing it for about 3 days but I have a feeling she will start going back to bed by herself very soon. Hope this helps

My daughter goes through periods like this every so often where her sleep patterns change. You will need to move his bedtime up if he isn't getting a nap. Kids this age still need 14-16 hours of sleep a day. Also, I would still try the nap every day. He may be going through a phase and will get back into the routine in a week or so (although he may sleep less at naptime).

My 17 month old started this last week. She wakes up at 8am and goes down for a nap at 10:30 - 12:00. She refueses to take her second nap at 3:30 I even tried pushing it later sometimes it works and some times it doesnt. By 9pm she is exausted...not sure what advice I can give you other than I am feeling your pain.

She is also waking up through out the night crying.

I am a very tired Mommy

I don't know how much help I'll be, but I do understand where you are coming from! My little guy is 17 months old, and I thought he had dropped his naps forever as well. We actually found that pushing his bedtime EARLIER made for easier naps during the day. Our schedule was similar, now he sleeps from 7:30 p to 8 am, and goes down for an hour to hour and a half nap at 12:30. He's a new child! I never thought I'd be a mom with kids with such an early bedtime, but it's made a world of difference! Definitely something to try. Sometimes they just get themselves so tired, they can't relax to get the extra sleep they need.

R.,
Sleep issus are definitely no fun. I have 3 kids. I completely agree with what the other Mom said about pushing his bedtime earlier. Kids are fussy more times than not because they are tired, parents just don't realize it or they don't think that's the problem, but many times it is. Anytime that any of my kids have fallen out of their normal sleep routine, sometimes it has been because they are in a growth spurt, could that be the case for your son? Seems like they are one way or the other, they will either sleep alot more during a growth spurt, or do just the opposite, and their sleep routine will get really messed up. Stick with it and things will get back to normal. Hang in there :)

R.,
You are not alone, my 16month old precious daughter goes to sleep at 9:30pm at night and wakes up at least twice a night(she has NEVER slept through the night)and then wakes up for good around 6:30am. She only takes one nap a day and if I'm lucky it last 1 and 1/2 hours max. My son who is nine was the complete opposite, he slept through the night starting at about 2 months and slept 10hrs or more. He took 3 naps a day until he was 2yrs. I have done nothing different with her than I did with him. So good luck and remember they grow up before you know it and no matter how tired you may be at least that is more time you get to snuggle with them before they get to old and want to be on their own and then you can get some rest until they become teenagers, and you will be up again at night worrying about them until they come safely home. Stay Strong!:)