Toddler nap

[Chiwi]

My daughter is coming up to 2. She naps for around an hour in the afternoon most days, she definitely still needs a nap as the days without are a bit of a nightmare- she becomes delerious.
For the past few weeks when she wakes she becomes absolutely distraught for up to 90 mins afterwards. She will scream, cry hysterically and shout "no" or "this way" until we move to another room, but that doesn't comfort her. She gets more cross if you stroke her or kiss the top of her head, it started with her only doing it if it was me getting her from her nap but now she does it if it is her dad or siblings too.
I have no idea what's going on or what I should be doing? It completely ruins the afternoon and takes a huge physical (I'm heavily pregnant with PGP and carrying her around is hard) and emotional because she is so very distressed.
Does anyone have any experience of this or idea of what the hell is going on?
Oh she is also the same if she wakes herself or we wake her.

My DS was awful when he woke at this age until he's had a drink but I bet you've tried that already

What time is her nap/bedtime/wake up? My son is sometimes like this and it’s usually he’s slept too little, at the wrong time, or occasionally for too long..

Low blood sugar, snack shoved at her immediately?

Could you try offering her a small snack?

Post nap rage… the only way around it is to drop the nap and an earlier bed time!

I tried everything-‘it’s not worth the rage!

My son has a rage after a nap sometime. I feel like he's super groggy. Not got a solution I'm afraid. But personally, I'm keeping the nap. Very wary about dropping naps.

Thanks everyone. We have tried;
Having a snack and drink ready
Having an activity ready
Having Peppa pig ready (no judgement 😬)
Going across to the park- although I can't do this every day
Having her favourite toys out ready
Putting her down and leaving her to it (I hated that)

Nothing works!!

I am starting to agree that the rage is definitely not worth the nap 😭

I’m having this at the moment with my 21 month old..not only that but she also won’t nap unless in the car anymore driving around like when she was newborn! I’ve just been doing any active / outdoor stuff in the morning then saving some tv time for when she wakes from nap so she can still have a bit more quiet time and come out of it slowly. She’s still a grump though so watching with interest! She perks up around bedtime when she has a second wind and starts running around giggling

@Roo0996 ah yes exactly the same, come 6 she is back to her normal self giggling away and being silly. I have been doing a lot of outdoor activities etc in the morning but with being heavily pregnant and the PGP that's getting less manageable!

I also tried everything- even giving a snack in his cot- desperate times!!

Could you reduce to a 40min nap so not in a super deep sleep when awoken?

I also wondered about limiting the nap time. My son has the tantrum when he'd had a super long nap. 2 and a half hours plus. He used to love a three hour nap but now at just over two, I think maybe we should limit them to 1 hour.

Don't suppose you remember what her sleep cycle length was when she was younger? Usually it's around 35-40mins - so maybe try waking her after a sleep cycle, when she naturally lifts out of deep sleep into light sleep, rather than waking her partway through a second sleep cycle.

We had this, I gently settled mine back to sleep, slept another 30-40-60 minutes woke up OK. Waking up crying or in distress signals lack of sleep. Most kids need nap till about 3 years of age, but then again they are all different (hence most and not all).
I would check sleep recommendations in terms of number of hours asleep in 24 hours and see if your one meets the numbers, then try small adjustments in terms of more/less and see what works.

Personally I'd not cut the nap, sleep is so crucial, brain development, mental health, physical help, behavioural issues all stems from lack of sleep so I'd be reluctant, but always do what's best for them, and what works for you.

Super helpful post @ZooKeeper19 thank you.

She sleeps really well at night- solid 12 hours and wakes up happy as anything sometimes chats away to her teddy for a bit before calling us (if it goes on we go in and get her).

The nap used to be 2hours+ but she started waking really early and refusing her nap so we gently limited the nap to 1hr30 (in line with the 14 hours of sleep recommended for her age). The hour has been her waking at that time.

Bit of an update on today- I did nothing differently.
She didn't wake by herself, I don't let her sleep past 3.30 usually as she then doesn't sleep as well at night. So I snuck in, usually the door opening will wake her but didn't today, and gently stroked her head until she woke. I didn't say anything, I cuddled her and sat on the sofa with something nice on TV and she buried her head in my chest but didn't scream and it took a while for her to get out of her daze but she did and was fine.
So basically who knows 😂