19 month nap help needed (please!!!!)

[jul28baby]

DS would willingly go down for his one nap and be asleep within 15-20 min for about 2-3 months but now he is fighting it big time.  He gets up around 6:30/6:45am and I PD for a nap around 12:15pm, we slowly worked up to that time.  He was sleeping 12:30-2:30/3pm but now by the time he falls asleep it is closer to 1:15/1:30pm.  He is playing/chatting, etc.  Not sure what the deal is.  We have been doing meds b/c I think the eye teeth are coming but the nurse said to lay off them as they can cause excitability in some kids.  The nurse suggested the following:
*have a quiet time about 30 min before the nap routine
*stop the meds
If that doesn't help then push the nap out to 1pm.  I have been doing sleep reminders...the first after 30 min then the next 10 min later.  At that point it is about 1:15pm when he is alseep.  The first reminder seems to do nothing.  I'm wondering if I should just stay out of his room completely or keep doing the reminders.  Any thoughts, experiences, advice.  WE are now going on being up 6.5 hours...way too long.  I also have a DD that I have to PU from school at 3:40pm so I can't fuss too much with naps and letting him play.
Please help!

[jul28baby]

Today he was up at 6:30ish, I PD at 12:30pm for his nap after a long book reading/soothing and he played till 1:15pm.  I didn't go in his room this time.  Well he was up screaming at 2:10pm and still is 15 min later, clearly not enough sleep.  He also only had a 10.5 hour night so I know he was tired today.  I'm wondering if I need to go back to a noon nap rather than 1pm as some people have suggested.  Please help if you can!

[jul28baby]

Any help would be great!!!

[<Catherine>]

Hi

I would try for an earlier nap if you can, I found this has worked quite well with my DS in recent months (older than yours I know) when he's been messing around with his nap. I would try the nap at 12 for a few days and see what happens. He does sound OT.

Teeth do cause havoc though, DS suffered quite badly with those.

[jul28baby]

Did a 12:05pm nap today and he went right to sleep but was up at 1:30pm.  I'm glad we didn't deal with the messing around but it will be a long afternoon.  We try to stick with a 7:30pm BT to avoid EWUs but I guess we'll see how it goes.

Pretty sure I can feel an eye tooth coming in on top so hoping they all pop through quickly so I can finally stop blaming teeth on sleep.

[jul28baby]

So here is how it has gone....
 In the last 6 days I PD at:

Thursday: 12:40pm...played till 1:30ish then slept till 3pm
Friday: 12pm, went right to sleep but up at 1:30pm
Saturday: 12:30, played till 1pm but slept till 3pm
Sunday: 12:40pm, played till 1:10 then slept till 3pm
Monday: 12:15pm, asleep by 12:30 till 2pm
Tuesday (today): 12:15, played till 1:35pm then I went in and did a Sleep Reminder, he then cried till 2:05pm, I went back in and layed him down and he went to sleep at 2:10pm (so he was up for over 7 hours)

I don't see any rhyme or reason on the timing.  Does anyone else?  I PD early today to allow for playing but he just seemed to do more of it.  Now I have to figure out what to do when it is time to PU DD from school in an hour.  I hate to let him sleep passed 3:30pm.

[lpperry]

I don't think 20-30 minutes of playing/winding down by self in bed is a big deal. My 2 1/2 year old has always needed that long to get to sleep--even as an infant. He has never just gone to sleep in 5-10 minutes. He's always singing, kicking his crib, throwing things out, etc for about a half hour before going to sleep. It's not that he is not tired or that he doesn't need a nap--it just takes him that long to settle himself down.  He sleeps for 2.5-3 hours, so I know he needs the nap!

My suggestion is, since you know it now takes awhile for him to fall asleep, to put him down 30 minutes before you want him to be asleep.  I would shoot for 12:30 and if he is asleep by 1 or 1:15, that's great. If not, it's not going to hurt him to be awake in his crib for awhile.  Some days, mine doesn't sleep for some reason. He still has to stay in his crib for the nap period. I usually do 1.5-2 hours if he doesn't sleep.  I need a break and even if he doesn't sleep, he gets a break as well. 

I don't exactly know what a sleep reminder is, but if it is you going in there an telling him to go to sleep, I'd skip it. I'd only go in if he is crying and needs some help settling down. If he is just not sleeping, I'd let him be. 

I used to put my lo down at 1:00, but as he got closer to 2 1/2, he started taking longer and longer and longer to fall asleep--Sometimes he wouldn't be asleep until after 2:00. I bumped up nap to 12:30 and it helped a lot--usually asleep by 1 or 1:15 now. 

[Kay Dee]

I think I would try a 1pm nap for a few days and see if he settles more quickly as he sounds UT to me at the moment. x

[jul28baby]

So both pieces of advice are good and exactly why I'm struggling with what to do.  If OT then I would think a 12/12:30pm PD would help but if UT then I see the advantage of a 1pm nap.  Today he was up at 8am, slept 8-8pm so I PD at 12:30pm and he played until I went in and did a reminder to go to sleep, he did fall asleep around 1:15ish and was up at 2:45pm.  I took both kids on a walk to collect leaves and it was about an hour so I know he got energy out but it still took him awhile to fall asleep.  He is only sleeping 1.5 hours these days when it used to be 2+ and he's not tacking sleep on at night.  I might keep with the 12/12:30pm nap for a few more days and then see how a 1pm nap goes.  Today would be day 2 of a 12:15ish nap and so far not so great.