Toddler Having Trouble Napping

I would lay down with him and see if that would help with getting him to nap. Sometimes,on my day off I have done that when he does not want to nap.
I would try laying down with him,may be putting on a dvd he likes. Once he falls asleep you can get up and do what you need to do or take a nap with him. Before he goes to bed at night try a nice warm bath and let him play in there a little while. I think sometimes that and a nice sippy cup of milk will help relax him. good luck

At 2 years old, sleep/nap tweaks happen. The child is undergoing a ton of developmental changes. This is common.

Both my kids did that too.
Just KEEP to a daily nap routine... if he does not fall asleep to nap, then have a quiet time....
But keep to a nap routine.
It will pass.
Or what I did, is I stayed in the room, had them lie down... then I read a magazine or something, did NOT engage with them or even looked at them. Then they would settle down and fall asleep. It was temporary.

Also, make sure you have a wind-down time BEFORE nap time. Turn everything off... make it 'boring' and darken the room if possible. Have him put on his pj's too. This takes me about 1/2 hour, to wind down my kids. Both my kids still nap. My son is 3 almost 4, and my daughter is 7. My son and daughter are napping now in fact.
We have the SAME routine everyday for naps. I don't have to force it. They also are tired and need it. Or they get mega fussy and over-tired.
It is now auto-pilot in routine. They don't fight about it.

all the best,
Susan

My daughter has been in daycare since she was 6 months (she is now 2) I had no choice because I have to work full time. And ever since then we have adapted the same schedule as her daycare which has worked out great. When Gabby was 1 she transitioned to the toddler room and began to nap once a day after lunch for about 2 hours. I also remembered thinking to myself..how the heck is my daughter going to do this? She is never going to skip a nap or go "night night" in a room on the floor!! But now it's like clockwork. I found that changing our routine to mimic the daycares was the best so that we were keeping things consistent.

I may be way off on this, but have you mess around with the timing of his naps and bedtime? Does he nap from 1-3 (or even 11-1) and then is in bed before 8 ( and then sleeps a good 10-11 hours)? I think a too late naps and a too late bedtime can make a kid overtired and that makes it hard to settle down. I'm no expert, but I felt I got a lot of good insight from "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" I had a total love/hate relationship with that book. It can be a tough read, but over time I came to appreciate it. One thing that book advocates is if your child has one nap, make it in the afternoon rather than the AM, and also, do not let the afternoon nap be so late that it interferes with an early bedtime.

I hope something I said helps and you don't have to read the book, because it is a dry read and honestly, the suggestions in it did drive me crazy on the days when I was feeling raw over my son's sleeping schedule.

Hi, V.:
Is nap time always at the same time like from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.?
Do you try having soft lullabye music and giving him a baby massage with baby aroma therapy.
Just wondering. D.

I hear your frustration! My daughter is almost 3 and has been the same way since she was 2 1/2. She sleeps from 8 pm. - 8am. which is great, but NO naps... ever! I too have tried everything I can think of to get her to nap, and she just doesn't. I thought it was lack of activity, so we increased that, and still nothing. I really believe she's just finsihed with naps, and that may be the case with your little one. I have pushed her bedtime up to 7:30pm. and she's asleep by 8pm. which is nice, but it is a triing day with a crabby toddler until that point. I don't really have advice, just letting you know your not alone. One thing that may work is, limit his amount of sugar, try to do something relaxing for about a 1/2 hour before you put him down for nap. Like reading, singing to him. Good luck to you & hang in there. This too shall pass!

my son went through a similar phase... we just had him do "quiet time" at same time every day he would have to go to his room for an hour, he could read books or listen to music. 9 times out of 10 he would fall asleep.

My son is 2 also and I could have written your question myself! Everything applies to my son also. I work full-time but have a family member keep him at our house. Some days he will easily take a nap and other days he fights it to the end. I have tried to see what varies between these 2 kinds of days but can't find any differences. Almost every night getting him to sleep is a battle of wills. It can easily take an hour to get him to sleep. By the time he does fall asleep he is just completely exhausted. I just keep telling myself 'this too shall pass'. Good luck working through this phase.

try the nap a little later... i tried feeding at noon.. at then sleep at 1.. hope this helps..

My daughter is 2 1/2 and is some days skipping naps. I have been able to get her to go down by, telling her when you wake up we are going to do something she likes. We can't do it if you are tired and don't take your nap. Sometimes it is going to the park, other times it is just doing a puzzle.

I to am a stay at home mom and we need those hours off in the middle of the day!! Please don't give up your naps little ones.