18 month regression crying inconsolably after nap

[Lgw20]

My 18 month old has been ill recently and I think teething (big molars).

Pre this, he did a big 2 hour nap and slept 11 hours overnight.

Recently he’s only doing a 45/55 min nap and waking sometimes at night crying too.

but the WORST bit is he is waking completely inconsolable from naps got up to an hour! It’s so hard to calm him.

have had him checked at doctors - throat, ears and everything is fine.

Has anyone gone through a similar phase to this? Thinking it’s part illness and part development regression.

just struggling! 😭

Yes I went through this with my first. It was exactly as you describe, at around 18months, inconsolable for about an hour after naps. I’m afraid we didnt find a solution. We used to try and distract with cuddles/cartoons etc but wasnt very successful. They grew out of it after about 4-6 months.

4-6 months 😅 oh gees!

Sorry!! If it’s any consolation, he is a good sleeper now he’s older. But I remember it was terrible at the time.

Haha it’s not even the short naps it’s the meltdowns after every one each day it’s like he wants holding but doesn’t! So upset! Xx

@Lgw20 Please tell me this got better?

Going through the exact same thing with my 18 month old, except it doesn’t matter the length of the nap, could be 3 hours or could be 30 minutes and he will still be inconsolable for a good 1-1.5 hours after it.

It’s pure misery for all of us, we literally wait in anticipation for him to wake and mentally prepare ourselves because it’s truly dreadful. Nothing helps him, he wants you, but doesn’t want you, snacks, drinks etc nothing.

It has coincided with a couple of back to back illnesses over the last month which have led to some night wakings and being upset in the night but would it really still be going on now? 🥴

@Lefmry Hey! Well it’s been a long time now as my boy is 3 years old but didn’t want to read and run.

like everything, it was a phase! For a long time he was unsettled after naps but then it just stopped. Don’t loose hope.

i couldn’t remember a time frame unfortunately but it did get better :) sleep needs change all the time too! I feel like my sons tantrums were the worst from 1.5-2.5 so that could contribute.