screaming after nap

[Crispy Chick]

HELP!

My LO has been on one nap for about 4 months - he is now almost 19 months.  All was well, although we have been having difficulties getting him to nap nowadays, but it is easing up a little using WI/WO.

Problem is he used to sleep at least 2 hours, now he is often waking at 1 and 1/2 hour or less and is REALLY grumpy and can scream for 30 mins (back arched etc...).  Is he still tired???  if so, not sure what to do about it.  have tried later nap - not noticing any real difference.  If he does wake early he stands up and screams for someone to go get him, so there is little chance of him re-settling!

any advice?  No.2 is 5 weeks off so getting axious about sorting these things....

thanks 

[*Becky*]

can you post your routine. Do you think he could be teething?

[*Liz*]

We went through this when J was 15 months and it was a really tough period - just a massive tantrum after every nap.

Waiting for your routine but for us the issue was UT for his nap and then short nights with too long of an A to bed - so basically he was OT.

We got the nap back after pushing the A back a bit.

[Crispy Chick]

Hi

Our routine is like this:

7.30 am wake and brekkie
11 am snack
12.20pm ish lunch
1pm story and down for nap (not happy to go for nap these days)
3 pm - wake - good day and wakes happy - anything less than 1 1/2 hours and he can scream for 20 - 30 mins after waking and getting up.
5pm - tea
7.30pm bed

I am wondering if he is UT for nap, but then on the days he wakes early he certainly gets OT for bedtime, so i guess pushing the nap back might be the answer?  i just don't know  what to do with him after lunch if we push the nap back as i don't want hm running off playing and getting all over excited!!

look forward to your comments

thanks

C
x

[*Becky*]

yes I reckon push the nap back a bit to 1.30pm. I would try to just do lunch a wee bit later so you can follow your usual routine so maybe do a snack a bit later to keep him going. Essentially try to push the whole day forward a little.
Nice routine though
Keep us posted
bx

[*Liz*]

The other option at this age is just something low key after lunch - like trying to colour, trying to do playdough (we roll it out and cut little shapes out of it and he feeds his 'biscuits' to his teddy), or very simple jigsaws - then books and then bed.

J does all those things at the table so no running off!!

I did need to move to 6hrs A pre nap at this stage I'm afraid, and started to get happy wake-ups after 2 hrs. I found the pm A could be shortened a bit as he has used up all his energy in the morning so I didn't actually need to push the whole day.

[Crispy Chick]

ok thanks guys

think i will try a 1.30pm nap for a few days and see how it goes....  might try a combination of pushing lunch back and also low key acitivites.

see what happens.......

[*Becky*]

keep us posted - I think we are in this too...

[Crispy Chick]

Ok i still need help.....these naps are getting harder to figure out......

Have been putting him down about 1.30pm - still screaming for a few mins then he can go quiet and chatter for a bit - the last two days i have discovered him still stood up after half and hour!!!  as a consequence he is going to sleep later and later.

The strange thing is he is now happily sleeping for 2 or more hours - which is making it really late when he gets up.  I just can't figure this out. any ideas?

[*Becky*]

the good nap shows that the A time once he falls asleep is right for him I guess. What A time is he doing now?

[Crispy Chick]

Hi

I think he can stand activity of 6 hours or even more before his nap - but this is making him really late in waking, although he still goes down ok at night - very puzzling!  does this sound normal?  for example, he can happily go to sleep at 2pm - wake at 4.15pm and still go to sleep at 7.30pm.......

[katie80]

I would think that if he's going down at night ok and sleeping through, then it works for him.  If you start to have issues in the night, maybe you could wake him at 4 instead of him sleeping longer than 2 hours.  Or, push bedtime back a little bit.  I'd give it a few days and see if you can find a pattern.  If not, there's probably nothing to fix! 

[*Liz*]

I have heard of LOs being like this before - so if the night is good and you are both happy then that is just fine  .

My DS does 6 hrs pre and 5 hrs post nap now.

[Crispy Chick]

Hey, thanks for advice.  I am suceeding in getting him down a little earlier in the last few days.  He is taking a long nap and to be honest the screaming that was happening (which was why i started this thread) is stillhappening, particulaly if iwake him - he just seems to wake up really grumpy!!!

Think i will stick with later npa and let him have as long as he wants, and see if it starts causing night time probs or EW!!

ta