Partying in crib rather than napping (21 month old)

[Peek-a-boo]

Today is the third day out of the last 5 that DS has not napped.  He cheerfully amuses himself in his crib with brief lulls (during which I get my hopes up that he's fallen asleep, but nope) chatting, thumping his feet against the wall, throwing his lovies around, etc. 

The first time it happened I believe it was because he got an extra hour of night sleep the night before and just wasn't tired enough.  Yesterday and today, however, I'm totally baffled.     The only thing different is that it is the weekend, so DH is home and put him down rather than me. 

To be fair, yesterday he did end up napping.  After about 1.5 hours playing in his crib his cries became frustrated and started escalating, so I got him up.  He always bf after his nap and so I bf him: he fell asleep while bf.  I let him sleep on my lap, just so he wouldn't get into a wild OT cycle. 

His normal routine is like this:
8:00 wake
1:00 nap (used to be 2 hours and 20 minutes, has turned into 90 minutes and seems to be stay there--or disappearing altogether  )
9:00 bed time

Am I right to just leave him be as long as he is content?  Should I move his nap time?  Earlier or later?

Edited to add:  I went to get him after 2 hours today and discovered that he had turned on the  light in his  room.  No way to move the crib further from the switch without putting by the window which would be less safe.  The light being on probably didn't help his settling.     If he throws another crib party, will have to go peer under the door to see if he's managed to turn on the light. 

[Layla]

Lol @ swicthing the light on (sorry ). What about trying for a nap slightly later... he should be ok on 5.5hrs A time (maybe add 15mins first) & it could be that he is not tired enough when you put him down & then rather than falling asleep he works himself up & doesn't fall asleep at all...

It sounds like just a phase & if extending A time doesn't help... I would just say leave him in there & do earlier bedtime. I would also try tiring him out in the morning... get him to run around & then do a slightly longer windown so that he is nice & relaxed (& tired) come nap time

let me know how you go

[Angelle]

sorry to read your post B.  i don't know if you remember but my LO was doing the same thing for a while.  skipping naps at least once a week.  miranda said B was doing the same thing so you might want to ask her.

anyway, i never found an answer.  this lasted for probably 4 or 5 weeks and then she just started napping again.  i agree with pp to try and move nap later or earlier.  i tried that with LO but she still didn't nap sometimes.  i don't really have any help except that if J doesn't respond to moving the times around, don't get too worried.  it may just be something you have to ride out and he'll get over this himself.

is it possible to pull the crib away from the wall just for sleep times even if it's in the way otherwise?

[Peek-a-boo]

Thanks Layla and Angelle!  

LOL, when I first walked in and the light was on, I thought,   DH left the light on!  But then realized, that DS had wiggled the crib out from the wall and done it himself, LOL--little monkey.

Hoping it's a brief phase.  

[DavidsMomma]

Bethany, Hi!  I am hoping it's a phase for you too!  You are right, our LO's are doing about the same thing.   What time are you doing bedtime on the days that he isn't napping?

I hope it doesn't last long for you!

[Peek-a-boo]

Ummmm . . . . I put him down 15 minutes early.     I've learned from experience that he simply won't go to sleep at an earlier than usual time, no matter how tired he is.  He ends up hysterical and we do wi/wo until near his normal bed time, when he'll then fall asleep.  Sometimes when we try a much earlier bed time,  he gets so worked up that he ends up falling asleep later than his normal bed time.   

If he gets into a really bad cycle, I can move it 15 minutes earlier every 3 days or so.  The other thing about him is that he's just never been a fabulous napper and if he gets too much night sleep, he won't nap the following day.  So, I'm even nervous about letting him sleep in as I think, even if he's making up sleep, if he sleeps 12 hours at night, it sets us up for no nap the next day.

He's weird.     But cute.   

[DavidsMomma]

If you only put him down 15 minutes earlier, does it end up affecting his night time sleep, NWings?  I only ask b/c it seems to be causing more NWings for us. 

Did he nap today?

[Peek-a-boo]

It seems like if  it's just one or two missed/short naps his nights are okay.  If it's a weeks worth of wonky naps, then it starts to causing night and early wakings. 

My LO has always seemed to do okay on less sleep than others.  Both of the last two mornings I've had to wake him up so that he didn't sleep longer than 11 hours at night.  My gut feeling right now is that he's trying tack the lost nap sleep on in the morning and drop the nap.   If I let him sleep 12 hours at night, I think that's what would happen.  I don't think he's ready for that (I'm definitely not ready for that, LOL), so we'll keep working on it. 

Today I know he was very tired.  We went to play group and I had to work hard to keep him awake in the car at noon.  Yet, in the crib at 1:15 he was having a party.  Today he started tossing stuff out of the crib and then getting upset, so I did a little wi/wo and he finally fell asleep an hour after going in the crib.  Has only been out for about 40 minutes now. 

Am thinking that today I would have been better off to put him down slightly earlier. 

[debo620]

oh Bethany....big HUGS.

Noah is not sleeping well right now either! doesn't matter what I do.....
our problem is that following a 11+ night and a 2hr nap---we have 2hr play sessions at night!
night sleep seems better if he only naps 1.5hrs.
but he gets so OT easily!
and with the time change coming up, our 6:30 wake-ups are feeling crazy early!

I'm jealous of your 8am starts!
I agree with Stacy though, you can only really offer them the sleep and then it is up to them. goodness getting the timing right is so difficult.
we used to be able to go by the clock when we first transitioned and he napped 2hrs 15min. now it seems I'm supposed to be a total mind reader and get him down for his nap at just the "right" time.

[Peek-a-boo]

Deb--you, Kris, and I all have boys about the same age, we're all pg and due about the same time . . . do you think they some how understand that we're pregnant and are reacting to that?  I know that sounds crazy, but it's too weird! 

Stacy--thank you for those tips . . . wise cousel.   

[debo620]

LOL Bethany, it is a possibility but our problems started right before I got pregnant! I think its just there age and perhaps sleep needs dropping again. Although I don't think ours can get much lower. It does make it tough though when I am so tiredn and seem to have insomia.

did I tell you i have a friend whos 19month old son still sleeps 11-11.5 at night and takes 2x2hr naps.   I think Noah slept that when he was 4 or 5months old!

[debo620]

well actually Stacy, our naps are consistantly short right now!   

[Peek-a-boo]

Ugh--

So yesterday I put him down a bit later, he feel asleep in 1/2 hour, but woke at 45 minutes screaming.  I got him up, he fell asleep on my lap, and slept for another hour.  I felt like he must have been OT, so I put him down a bit earlier today . . . I had a really good feeling about it.  He's been mellow and chatty for nearly an hour now, so much for my good feeling, LOL.   

He definitely has a molar working it's way in.  It's been swollen and now I can feel little pokey bits have broken throught the skin.  No idea if/how that's affecting this whole scenario. 

[Peek-a-boo]

Woo hoo--he finally fell asleep.   

[debo620]

yay, a nap!