Naptime nightmare, please please give me some ideas

[gracej]

Please please give me ideas.
Believe it or not, for the last 1.5hrs all I've done is trying to get DS1 to take a nap. It is driving me nuts.
Everyday is the some thing. He is waking up at 5am which is far too early. At lunch time he starts falling asleep in his highchair because he is so tired. As soon as I put him in his bed to sleep he won't have it.
In the afternoon at about 4, he is so tired that he gets grumpy and difficult and it is impossible for me to sit and have a conversation with someone else.
He is absolutely fine going to bed at night, it is the nap times that are such a problem.

I've tried:
putting him to sleep later at night
putting him for a nap before lunch
putting him for a nap after lunch
giving him lunch half an hour earlier
getting angry
not getting angry: giving him a hug and kisses before putting him in his bed
closing the blinds
opening the blinds
staying next to his bed
getting out of the room

Nothing works. He really needs to sleep much more he is so tired.
what can I do, please help me! I have a 4.5month old baby and I have to constantly leave him to cry because of this problem with DS1 and it brakes my heart. I hate to leave my baby crying.

[tortoiseSHELL]

How old is he? Could he be dropping his nap? They can go a bit freaky when they start dropping sleeps. What about only giving him a nap every other day, or 3 times a week or something - take him out in the afternoons he's not having a nap, or do something quiet like drawing. He'll hopefully then be a little bit more tired and so wake up later, which will mean he's not so tired later in the day.

[JoshuasYummyMummy]

You could try giving him his lunch a bit earlier. Then leave enough time to have a bit of a play before putting him down for his afternoon nap.

[JoshuasYummyMummy]

Whoops sorry just read your post again and you've already tried this

[amidaiwish]

how old is he? sounds to me like his sleeping patterns are changing

there's nothing wrong (imo) with him having a little nap on a cushion watching a calm TV programme (had to do this with DD1 as she refused to nap, was an early riser and then exhausted). and if he doesn't nap then he probably doesn't need to, a quiet rest is probably enough for him.

you may find then he sleeps longer at night but it will take a while to settle down. putting him to bed later at night isn't the answer if he is still tired in the day i found.

[gracej]

Hi tortoise, he is 2.5years old. I wish he would be dropping his nap, life would be much easier without naps. The problem is that he gets so so grumpy when he doesn't have one that I think he really does need it.
Acually, I think that if he slept till 7am he probably wouldn't need a nap during the day, the problem is that he wakes up at 5am and he will not go back to his bed. Up until a couple of months ago he used to wake up at 6am, but never after 6am.

He goes to sleep absolutely exhausted, precisely because of his lack of day sleep. He still wakes up at 5am, it is as if he had an internal clock of some sort.

If you have any other ideas I really would appreciate them. I am so tired of this.

[gracej]

Hi amidaiwish, it appears that your DD1 was similar, early riser and not wanting to nap.
Your idea of getting him sleep somewhere else sounds interesting, I am not keen on TV though. He has a development delay and I prefer to avoid TV as he needs to learn through play,etc...

[tortoiseSHELL]

At 2.5 he could be dropping a nap - mine all dropped it one day at a time - so one week would sleep 6 days, the next, 5 etc. You could try letting him sleep Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun and see what happens.

[gracej]

Right, I'll try that. Any ideas on how to get him to sleep for longer in the morning, I think that would really help him.

[WaynettaSlob]

Is it feasible to take them out for a walk after they've has their lunch? DS1 would always fall asleep in the buggy.......
It might sound like a pain having to go out for a walk when you might like a break, but once they're asleep you could sit in the park or something.

Or, something else we used to do when DS1 started going through this phase was, rather than sending him to bed, we would put on a movie, and he would curl up on the couch and watch it - it didn't make him go to sleep, but he certainly got a bit of "down-time" which he really needed.

good luck.

[gracej]

thanks for the ideas waynettaslob. Taking them for a walk after lunch is an excellent idea. I take the car to go everywhere unfortunately (nothing is close to us). So what I'll do is on mondays, wednesdays and fridays take them for a walk after lunch and hopefully he will sleep in his pushchair!brilliant.
I thought I would get ideas about how to get him to nap in his bed, but it seems that the consensus is to forget his bed and find an alternative place.
Will se how it works out. Thanks!!!

[Jaynerae]

My DD dropped her nap at 2 and she followed the pattern your DS is. Seems like she needs the nap - but refused to go to bed and was tired and grumpy - I gave up trying to get her to nap - and after a week of no naps and me griting my teeth she was so tired her body cloack shifted and she began to sleep a bit later each morning till she slept till 7 to 7.30 ish. His body clock just needs time to adjust.

[gracej]

Hello Jayne
thanks for that, I knew there would be someone out there that went through the same!
I have been reluctant not to give him naps because he needs to be alert for his therapy (he has a developmental delay) and his playtime with me. But since it worked so well for you, I think I will give it a go.
We are going for a week's holiday soon, so maybe I'll try it then. No naps for a week.
Thanks again.