Help! 18 month DS won't nap at home any more...

[amyboo]

I'm desperately look for some words of wisdom/advice from other Mums who might have been through this. My DS has been in creche 4 days a week since he was 4.5 months old and since starting creche has been a great napper. He would happily sleep for up to 2 hours in his cot at creche and at home just after his lunch. As DS is now 18 months, the creche have moved him into the big kids area where he sleeps on a mat with a pillow and a blanket, not in a cot. And basically, he now refuses to nap at home! We've had about a month now of no napping in his cot at home. We end of taking him out in the buggy (which doesn't always work) or I have to sit and hold him till he drops off. It's starting to drive me crazy. Could this just be a phase? Anyone else has this trouble?

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Have you tried putting him to sleep on the floor in a similar way to the creche? That might work, if he sleeps that way at nursery.

The buggy is probably worth persevering with. My DD has never (apart from a couple of rare, isolated occasions) liked to nap in her cot, but sleeps very well in her buggy. Initially we had to walk her, then we got a Baby Dream Machine pram rocker so we didn't have to spend hours pushing her through the streets for her nap. Now she sleeps in the buggy without any rocking required, so I just set it up in her bedroom at home, or in any quietish room when we're at someone else's house (which has made her brilliantly portable!)

A trick for getting her to sleep which has been working well recently (DD is 20 months) is to get her all set up in the buggy, lying in the dropped sleep position, cuddled up with her favourite comforter then reading her one of her books. I read slower and slower until I reach the last page, then I quietly list the names of the things in the picture, quieter and quieter, slower and slower. 85% of the time, her eyelids droop closed and I creep out the room and leaver her to it.

Good luck