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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

dd incredibly miserable after afternoon naps - what could be wrong?

27 replies

lacarete · 09/01/2009 16:48

DD is 19 months. she wakes up after her only nap (which I'm sure is too short at about 1 hour) and is just soooo miserable for hours afterwards. I can't put her down without her yelling, she doesn't seem to have any specific pain, she won't eat or drink I can't get her to sleep for any longer, she's clingy and shouty and it's very difficult to know what to do! It's been like this for months. any ideas?!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

BoysAreLikeDogs · 09/01/2009 16:49

Might be low blood sugar

Have you tried a plain digestive and a cup of milk on awakening? Or give her the snack just before nap time.

HTH

fishie · 09/01/2009 16:50

when is the nap?

PuppyMonkey · 09/01/2009 16:51

I am miserable on waking too. Cup of tea usually sees me right.

Ok, maybe milk then?

AliceTheCamelHasGotTheHump · 09/01/2009 16:51

I wake mine up with a biscuit and a drink which she has in bed before even getting up. It helps.

BonsoirAnna · 09/01/2009 16:53

It's a horrible phase they go through. There have been threads about this before. It's vile, and you have to comfort her for ages, but it will end one day, I promise. My extended breastfed boob-addicted DD would even refuse to be comforted by a snack of breastmilk. Grrr.

I feel your pain.

PaddingtonBore · 09/01/2009 16:56

Ooh - my DD is (touch wood) just coming to the end of this phase. Lasted from about 18-22mo. She wouldn't be comforted - drinks, cuddles, snacks, story books all flatly refused in preference to grizzling hard for a good 15-30mins after waking.

Original poster

lacarete · 09/01/2009 17:08

this lasts a good hour or more - it's horrendous!

she does go for chocolate (tried in desperation) but other than that won't eat and it still doesn't sort her out beyond the eating of it. had thought it might be blood sugar so might carry on trying to find something else she will go for.

have tried milk and same, she stops while she's drinking and then starts again a min or 2 later.

nap is about 2.30 - she's not ready any earlier. she goes off nicely after a little grumble butwakes up so grizzy

OP posts:

BonsoirAnna · 09/01/2009 17:29

In utter desperation have been known to give DD a teaspoon and an open pot of Nutella

Original poster

lacarete · 09/01/2009 17:32

oh my god - that would cheer me up!

OP posts:

suwoo · 09/01/2009 17:36

My Ds does this too, it is normally when he has had less than his normal 2 hours. My theory after reading Dr Sears Fussy Baby, is that he doesn't like the transition from sleep to wake. He also wakes up 4 times a night (sometimes more) and used to cry horrendously each of these times too. He was 2 in December and seems to be getting better.

biskybat · 09/01/2009 20:31

My dd is the same, she has never been a happy waker. If she has an hour or less at nap time she wakes miserable and clingy. If she has 2 hours (very rarely these days) then she is fairly happy after a few mins.

I compare it to when I've had naps in the daytime, it can make you feel groggy and out of sorts as it is not a quick 15 mins powernap/refresher or a nice long restoratative sleep either and you can end up feeling a bit bleurrr, iyswim.

Not sure what you can do about it though. I just deal with the clinginess by getting out as she is never clingy when she is at toddler groups etc.

noonki · 09/01/2009 20:40

If either of my DS's sleep after 3pm they are grizzly little ones for ages.

I am the same if I nap (those were the days) in the pm after 3 I wake up and feel horrendous.

Lazycow · 09/01/2009 20:49

Ds was like this a lot. He had long phases of waking up crying from a nap and always woke up crying in the morning, Gradually over time the phases got shorter.

Then one morning when he was around 2 I remember waking up and hearing happy chatting in his room and told dh I was sure someone had swapped ds for another child as he never did that .

I can't remember how long it took exactly but eventually he stopped and now he is 4.1 I have forgotten he did this until I saw this post. It will pass.

Sparkletastic · 09/01/2009 20:55

Both my DDs have done / do this. Basically a version of a tantrum when waking from nap. Blood sugar thing doesn't seem to hold water IMO - occasionally milk / biscuits / sweets / chocolate can curtail it but not always. DD2 is 2 and still in the midst of it. Nothing seems to work. Drives me mad but DD1 was just the same and it started to diminish and eventually stopped completely by the time she got to 4 years. Cold comfort I know - hope your DD grows out of it sooner!

Pinkjenny · 09/01/2009 21:22

My dd is like this too. In fact my mum rang me at work today and played her crying down the phone to me!

I generally just give her a bit of time to wake up and don't talk much. Failing that, bribery with chocolate or crisps seems to work, so she can't be feeling that bad!

Lazycow · 09/01/2009 21:29

I found it easiest to just accept the crying . Once I knew there wasn't anything I could do I just used to hold him and cuddle him while he cried.

The key thing for me was to give up trying to stop the crying and to accept it. It is hard though especially if you have another child to look after and sometimes you just aren't in the right frame of mind or you need to go somewhere so it is exasperating.

Weirdly though some of my most tender memories of ds at this age involve me holding him, hugging and reassuring him while he cried and just accepting that it would take as long as it would take. On some odd occasions he fell asleep again when he was done crying (though not often)

Karoleann · 09/01/2009 21:37

Milk and TV alwasy worked the best for me!

shortcircuit · 10/01/2009 00:12

I would say her nap is too short & she is grumpy because she is tired.

If she goes to sleep immediately after lunch, she shouldn't be hungry after just an hour.

Assuming you're not waking her up, leave her & see if she settles back to sleep.

Think about how you would feel if you where very tired - she just needs to learn to settle herself back to sleep.

fledtoscotland · 10/01/2009 01:09

was about to say milk & a biscuit but have been beaten to it. i find too if i get a nap during the day (unlikely but wishful thinking) i feel grouchy when i wake up

juneybean · 10/01/2009 01:52

Is she getting a long enough nap?

BonsoirAnna · 10/01/2009 16:30

It's not about length of nap - my DD could sleep for 1 or 3 hours at that age and still scream for an hour upon waking.

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 16:42

agree with anna, dd1 could sleep anything from 20 mins to 3 hours and still take an hour to stop crying, sobbing, screaming and generally being little miss sunshine for an hour.
ds1 and dd2 marginally better, but dd2 screamed for hours before she went to sleep, so it wasn't much consolation...

biscuit def worth trying (but you have to get in before the whinging starts) otherwise you just have to accept that they grow out of it eventually, but that it is tedious whilst it lasts.

did i really just say they grow out of it?

am i turning into my mother?

BumpermightsuetheSindie · 10/01/2009 16:58

Interesting as my DD is like this too, sometimes.

I woulder if waking up in the dark has an effect, especially in the winter when it is dark early? Would a night light help?

madwomanintheattic · 10/01/2009 17:25

bumper, with mine i always made sure they knew which was a nap and which was 'night' using light cues, so all naps were in 'light-ish' conditions, and the blackout blinds drawn in the summer for 'night' sleeping...
does that sound freakily gina-ish?

it made no difference to the squawking tbh, but made me feel jolly well as though i was doing the Right Thing.

worth a try.

that said, if any of mine were still afternoon napping by the time it was dark, i knew i'd blown it anyway. there was no way i'd get them back to sleep for bedtime! (besides which, i had to leave time for an hours worth of whinging before i cooked the dinner lol)

jumpyjan · 10/01/2009 17:34

Up until about 12 months DD had a morning nap and a short nap about 3 o clock and she used to wake up in a filthy mood. I was glad when she dropped that nap.

She has up until now been napping from 11-1 but we have just moved it to after lunch and I notice a similar thing. Not quite as bad as before but she is definitely grumpy - when she woke up from 11-1 nap she was always happy and fine.

Not sure about duration as they all seem different but DD (23 months) naps for 2 hours.

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