27 month old refusing nap

[ArielG]

Hi there,

Us too! My LO is 27mo and is refusing her nap.

It started with night wakings and suddenly she wasn't able to self-soothe so we had to do a lot of work to get her back into it.

She's been sleeping less at night too.

So her nap used to be 2-2.5 hours (plus 11 or 11.5 hours night sleep) before this all started and now it takes her an hour or more to fall asleep at nap and bed time. It is so frustrating! Today she's just not sleeping at all. Keeps throwing things out of her crib and demanding I come in and put them back.

She is showing all the signs of being really tired before her nap (not listening, throwing food, getting more difficult) and she used to go down so easily! I just don't really know what to do.

I want to push her nap back if she needs that but it seems like she is getting into OT territory as it is. I've tried earlier and a longer wind-down...is there anything else?

I also feel like I have a tendency to be a little hard-nosed and that I feel like when it's nap time, it's nap time and I don't want to get into playing games with her throwing pillows and blankets out of the bed and then me having to go in and pick them up. I also want to be respectful of what she is going through and don't want to upset her or do the wrong thing so what do I do? I feel like if I try to explain that it's bed time and that I'm not going to come back to get her pillow for the 3rd time she will still throw it out and cry for me to get it....

And here's my other question, if it's taking her 2 hours to sleep (like today), when do I wake her? She's been fighting sleep at night too so I don't want her to sleep too late in the afternoon. Though I also don't want to further deprive her of sleep by waking her after a shorter nap. She has been waking up earlier than usual and not able to go back to sleep and on nights where she takes forever to finally sleep, she still wakes up at the same time and then gets a short night.

[ArielG]

Here is an update on today.

She took 2 hours to fall asleep. Finally, when I firmly told her it was time to rest and to stop jumping and banging the walls, she did lie down but then mantra-cried until sleeping at 2:30.

She woke up at 3:00 screaming and more upset than I've seen her in a while. I held her because she was so miserable and tensing her body and sobbing, pushing away from me and saying "no!" but then screaming if I tried to lie her down so I just held her and shushed her until she calmed and reached for her crib. This seems like major OT to me. She hasn't been this out of her mind since she was first sleep training and OT (she is Spirited and easily overstimulated).

She slept until 4:00 and then we kept it really mellow and I put her down at 7:45. She is awake in there still and ramping up a bit. It's like this every night lately; protesting and asking for more songs, hand-holding, etc then quiet for a while after we leave then suddenly awake and talking kicking, singing for an hour plus.

I'm stumped. It seems like she's really OT especially given her crazy nap(s) today but it seems so weird...like, how did she get there? Is it cumulative from her staying awake longer at bed and nap and not sleeping in in the morning?! I don't know what to do! I obviously can't force her to sleep but there's got to be a solution.

[nevinsmama]

This does sound like massive OT nap dropping nonsense. Maybe some tooth craziness in there too, just for fun? Maybe some developmental things going on? Any new skills that could be throwing this off?

Argh, nap refusal is so tough! OK, I understand not wanting to get engaged with the pillow heaving interaction and what all, what about sitting in the door quietly just being there and working your way back out until this settles out? I wonder if she needs a nap cut to 1.5 hours or so? How much A time before nap and BT? HAng in there!

[ArielG]

Hi,

So she's right around 5.5 hours A time before nap. We bumped up from 5 not too long ago and may be able to push to 6 when she's getting better rest.

I wonder if it's just her increasing independence that's got us where we are? No teeth. She's got her molars. I think it may be developmental too.

She's done alright the last couple of days and has only taken 30 minutes or so to go to sleep and her naps have been shorter (around 1.5 hours) but still only 10 hours at night by the time she finally falls asleep at night (usually at 9 and then up at 7 on the button .

So right before this started happening, she was napping 2-2.5 hours and sleeping 11 hours at night. Is it possible that she just suddenly needs way less sleep? 11.5 total hours seems like too little.

Anyway, we're hanging in there and will see how it pans out.

I think I will try your chair idea though.

I'll update soon and thank you!

[nevinsmama]

Great! I am glad she is settling easier. Have you tried a much earlier BT, maybe within a 12 hour day? Keep us posted!
OT- your avatar is JUST precious, what a cutie!