Complete nap refusal

[rach321]

Girls I need help.

We've had EW for almost a year now but now we are having complete nap refusal - I'm at my wits end ! He sleeps for 2 hrs at nursery no problems at home but won't do the same at home and I've got no idea what to do now.  I can't put him to bed any earlier than 7 cos that leads to an even earlier EW and 5am is early enough! He can't stay awake any longer BUT he NEEDS to nap in the day! I can't do PU/PD cos I'm pregnant and my back cant stand it, WIWO just makes him even more hysterical.  I've left him upstairs with his dad now because I am seriously going to lose my temper with him.
I need suggestions please!

His EASY looks like this

5am wakeup and bottle
11.15 lunch
11.30 nap (should be 2 hrs)
7pm bed


Rach

[hillybean]

How old is your lo?  It's possible that his A time is too long and he's OT.  We've had issues in the past with EW when DD was OT.  I find that the longer the nap she takes during the day, the better she sleeps at night. 

[Tweakster]

Hi there, Rach how old is he now?  I think he needs more A time actually, so I would be tempted to push the nap to 12.  Nap refusal for us is always UT these days.  I suspect you need an earlier bedtime until it's pushed out.

What is your gut feel?  Are you sensing OT or UT?

We had just started an experiment with a later bedtime for Finn, he's really low sleep needs.  However, just as we were almost 5 days in, he got a reaction to his vaccines - MMR.  So it's a bit of a mess now.

But it seemed to be working, we had to wake him twice this week at 6 a.m.!

[rach321]

I've really got no idea anymore! UT/OT who knows? He's 18months old now, I've given up battling the EW, been doing it for almost a year now and am just resigned to the fact that he will always wake at 5am no matter what time he goes to bed - I've tried W2S but that doesn't work either.  I really do need him to take a nap during the day - he does 2 hrs at nursery no problem but I can't figure out why he won't do this at home. In total yesterday he had 30mins sleep - that's nowhere near enough especially when he only does a 10hr night. He will fall asleep in the car but I don't want to get into a habit of having to drive him to sleep everyday - that's a slippery slope I don't want to go down. What's average A time for an 18month old these days?

[londonmama]

We do nap at 12:00 at home, (12:30 or so at nursery), even with EWs.  It is a crazy long A time for your DS, but he is clearly low sleep needs so maybe try pushing him to 12:00 or even 12:15, just to make sure he's tired enough to sleep and then maybe that will reset him to napping at home??

[*Becky*]

My DS is 18 months and he does 5.45 ish A time before his nap. Also quite low sleep needs. I would have thought 6.5 hours is def enough time for him to be tired. Could some OT have built up?

[*Becky*]

6.5 hours A time seems more than enough for him to be tired. Could some OT have built up? My DS is 18 months and pretty low sleep needs and he does about 5.45 A time before his nap, sometimes 6.

[rach321]

Yeah I think its OT so am going to just wing it for a few days and see what happens...

[*Becky*]

good luck...keep us posted x

[babybarr]

What time does he nap at nursery?

Where / how do they put him down at nursery - I find it odd he'll nap at nursery but not at home and wondered if there were any differences.

Laura

[rach321]

At nursery they all have a little mat and sleep on that. He sleeps there no problems at all. He won't nap in his cot at all during the day now so he naps downstairs - its just like he has real trouble switching off he obviously tired but can't settle. He did finally nap today for 2 hrs - RESULT!! But tonight he was crying when he got put down for the night which is really unusual.  He's still got some viral lurgy but he's been much better today - do you think we should try a later bedtime. The last few days he's been going back to sleep after his 5am bottle which is really rare so I think he has been OT.

[londonmama]

I probably wouldn't go for the later bedtime, even though you had a good nap day.  Especially if you suspect a bit of OT.

[babybarr]

I probably wouldn't go for the later bedtime, even though you had a good nap day.  Especially if you suspect a bit of OT.

I agree - although I would watch for when he starts to feel better

Could you try getting a mat / blanket for him to sleep on at home?  Do the carers at nursery stay with your LO as he falls asleep?

[Tweakster]

Do the carers at nursery stay with your LO as he falls asleep?

This is what I was thinking.  They probably stay with them since they are only on mats.  Wonder if that's why he wants to sleep downstairs.  Sounds like he wants company ala SA.

[rach321]

They have to stay in the room with them at nursery so maybe it is SA.  Will see what the mats they use look like and see if we can recreate at home.