25 Month Old Super Cranky After Afternoon Nap Until Bedtime

[Spectra]

In the the morning she's great, but after her nap she's a monster until bedtime.  She becomes super clingy, whiney, and throws fits.  She wakes in morning at 6am (her choice not ours, she use to wake at 8am) naps at about 12pm until 1:30pm and goes to bed at 8pm.  Any suggestions?

[debo620]

sounds like she needs more sleep?

are you waking her after 1.5hrs?

I would think that with a 10hr night--the nap should be 2hrs or so.

but if it was me, I would aim to have her asleep by 7/7:30----so aim for 11hrs at night. If 7:30 is better, then maybe a 1hr 45min nap would be better.

[rinajack]

Hmm, I am inclined to agree with PP, but will watch this thread with interest.  My DD is nearly 2, and her night is now under 10 hours, sometimes under 9.  We are putting her to bed, but she just plays and plays, still wakes early, and daytime nap not getting any longer....she does seem to be getting upset a little easily, but then is also easy to calm, so I don't know if she needs more sleep or not.

[Spectra]

No, I'm not waking her at all.  She use to sleep 2-3 hours in the afternoon, now it averages an hour and she wakes 2 hours earlier in the morning.  Have no idea why.  I've tried getting her to go back to bed both at nap and night but she refuses.

[rinajack]

is she teething 2 yr molars?

[Spectra]

Hmm, never thought of that.  How can I tell?

[rinajack]

One way to rule it out is to give pain relief at bedtime/naptime, and see if it improves sleep, or even give it at that cranky time to see if her mood improves, although I suspect if she is OT, she needs it to help her catch up on some sleep.

Other than that you can try to feel/look in her mouth, then there is chewing things, rosey cheeks etc etc, but I personally would try the pain relief option, trying it at the early wake may also help.

[Spectra]

Nope, no teething, but now she's absolutely refusing to nap in the afternoon, screams and cries for hours.  I'll let it be without any nap for a few days to see what happens.

[rinajack]

What a coincidence - DD won't nap today either, it is 3:15pm and she is still going OK, well as OK as the terrible twos will allow anyway

Can you type out what your routine used to be, and what you have been getting lately?

[Spectra]

Well before any of this started she would wake at 8am, nap at 1pm to 3pm and go to bed in the evening at 8:30pm.

Then she started waking earlier and earlier in the morning and was waking at 6am, refused to go back to sleep and when she would nap at 12pm or 1pm (didn't matter) she would only sleep for 45min to 1hour.  Then would be cranky until bedtime at 8:30pm.  This lasted for probably 2-3 weeks until few days when she refused to nap at all.

Yesterday (second day with no nap) she woke at 6:30am (which was a nice change) and went to bed at night at 8pm.
This morning she woke at 7:15am (even better) and she has been less cranky last night and so far today and I will probably put her down at 8:30pm, unless she is really tired.

So, so far it seems to be getting better without the nap.  This really doesn't surprise me that much as she dropped her morning nap at 8-9 months.

[rinajack]

We are going with the same plan as you, but be careful to watch her cues.  If she shows you that she needs a nap, throw one in.  Most kids are unable to drop the nap cold turkey.

Good luck, and I am glad things have improved. 

Oh, also many go on streaks of no nap, then return to napping, so be open to that possibility also.

[Spectra]

Hehe, I'd be totally open to the return of the nap.

[rinajack]

LOL.  My DD asked for her quiet time today and is currently napping.  How are things going there?

[Spectra]

Oddly enough she napped on Friday.  She was brushing her Friday night and kept saying "It Hurts".  I looked closer and I could see those last back molars coming in.  So tonight I gave her some advil to see if it helps.  So maybe that was the issue after all.  I have no clue.  We'll see how the next few days go I guess.