Hoping someone can help as at my wits end!
DS (26mo) has always been a pretty good sleeper both at night and during the day. He always loves going down for his lunchtime nap and goes off to sleep no problem. Most days he would sleep still for 2 hours at lunchtime if left to his own devices BUT he never seems to wake up happy after this sleep anymore. He is always at the least grumpy, and recently is waking up full on rigid, screaming, red faced and inconsolable for half an hour or more. I've tried letting him sleep as long as he wants. I've tried getting him up after half an hour / 45 / 60 minutes to see if that worked better but to no avail.
Today he fell asleep in the car on the way back from the park this morning. I let him have an hour but then had to wake him up for preschool and he was just beside himself sobbing, redfaced, clinging to me and in the end after 20 minutes in the car park and then in preschool they had to prise him screaming off me and carry him in .
He does love his preschool, it's definitely not that, it also happens on non pre school days (he only goes 2 afternoons a week), and they rang me 5 minutes later to say he was fine, but I am still a wreck!
I don't know what to do - I'm wondering whether to cut that sleep out altogether but he does still seem to need it; he has on a few days managed without it but is exhausted by the end of the day and then struggles to cope the following day. But then I can't go on like this!
Also to say he never wakes up screaming like this in the night, and he always wakes up fine and happy in the morning. It's never happened at night. But it's happening almost every day at lunchtime and I am frazzled! Oh, and it happens regardless of where he sleeps at lunchtime too, we're almost always at home for his sleep but today it happened after he'd slept in the car, too.
Any advice welcome, thanks [sob]