Current problem:
How can I get my son to nap?
My son's napping schedule has gone up the creek. He used to sleep in his buggy for about 2 hours, falling asleep on the way back from playgroup at around 11-11.30am. He naps once during the day. From speaking to other mums, this seems like an early nap.
He now does not fall asleep, although he seems very tired. If he does not fall asleep at this stage in the day, we have very great trouble getting him to nap, i.e. We can't.
Can anyone suggest what might be going on here?
Things I have tried:
Walking him in his buggy for longer. He doesn't fall asleep and gets very upset.
Giving him his lunch at 11.30am when we get home. This totally fails. He is either too tired or not hungry enough to eat.
Taking him to his room and reading books and trying to settle him for a nap in his bed. He seems to want to be in bed, but gets increasingly upset at not being able to fall asleep, until he's more or less hysterical.
Temporary solution:
No nap, if he seems to be able to struggle through.
Although he has been day weaned for 3 months, I have been BF him to sleep on the occasions when he seems like he us going to melt down through tiredness. Obviously, this is not a good solution. This has only been on one or two days.
Background:
My son has always woken frequently at night and we have BF him back to sleep. Over the 3 months, we have been sleep training often, with success, but he regresses quickly. A permanent improvement is that he is able to get himself off to sleep at bedtime.
We are sleep training again and he is down to one brief awakening at night. He will now accept water rather than boob and often seems very thirsty. I can handle this and, in fact, often wake quite thirsty myself.
Our napping schedule has always been as outlined above. I did not engineer it, he has just fallen asleep at this time. We have no other means of getting him to sleep in the day. At weekends, we go to the playground and he slept on the way back - or used to!