For about the last week or 10 days, it is getting sooo hard to put LO down for a nap! Prior to this, we had a good little routine going, and he was super easy to put down for a nap. The lengths of his naps varied (sometimes would wake after 30 minutes, but mostly slept at least an hour each time), but for the most part, I was feeling really good about his napping.
Our problems began when one day we went through our normal naptime routine, but when I put him in his crib, he sprung up and started acting like a little monkey! He was hopping around his crib, pulling himself up, bouncing, squeeling, etc! Since then, every time we go into his room, he gets excited, not sleepy. With this in mind, I've tried to start going into his room 20-30 minutes before naptime, so that he can crawl around, explore, burn some energy. When he starts getting fussy, then I do our normal sing/cuddle/bounce, until I can tell he is relaxed, then put him in his crib.
The last couple days, though, it is a nightmare to get him to relax for his nap. He will start getting fussy, but when I try to start the singing/cuddling, he pushes away and wants down. When I put him down, he starts crying to be picked up! We do this a few times, until I figure he must be tired if he doesn't want to crawl around anymore, so I put him in his crib. At this point he now starts screaming bloody murder! I do pu/pd, which is really just pd, and pretty soon he lays down, still screaming, and then goes to sleep after getting in one last scream. If he does wake up after 30 minutes, it is nearly impossible to get him back to sleep. If I try pu/pd he gets out of control upset. He thrashes around in his crib, like a little ping pong ball, and his poor little head gets banged on the crib bars from every angle. It is horrible to watch!! Sometimes I hover over him trying to stop him from hitting his head, but it's just not very effective, and I worry that then he will get used to me standing next to his crib until he goes to sleep. A couple times, I have just had to leave the room, because it upsets me so much, or I just get him up, because I can't bear it, but then he is tired and grumpy.
Sorry for the long post, but I'm just so confused, and hoping someone has some insight! A couple other notes worth mentioning: he is sleeping through the night from about 7:30 until about 5:30 (early waking is problem #2); I know he is getting some teeth, so I've been giving him teething tablets just before naptime, which does seem to help him sleep longer; and he has fallen back asleep in our bed when I nurse him in the morning if he wakes up too early a couple times (at 5:30am it is hard to muster the energy to prevent this, but I DO NOT want it to become a habit!).
Here is roughly our current rountine, highly dependent on when he wakes in the morning:
6:00am Awake & BF
8:00am Solids
9:00/9:30am Nap
10:30/11:00am Awake & BF
12:00pm Solids
1:30/2:00pm Nap
3:00/3:30pm Awake & BF
5:00pm Solids
5:30pm Walk
6:00pm Bath
6:30 BF, books, jammies
7:30 Asleep
Any advice is appreciated, as I am totally lost!!
