Horrendous tantrums since nap drop

[Elisabeth3468]

My son (2 years 10 Months) dropped his nap gradually over about 3 months . The last month being no naps at all. He wakes 6/630 is and bed time 630/7.
His behaviour has changed so much. Apart from the morning when he's refreshed , it all goes down hill from lunch time .
Nothing pleases him and he's SO SO tired I can't explain it . I've never seen a child fight sleep so much in my life.
It's absolutely impossible to get him down for a nap. He won't have quiet time or entertain even 5 minutes of tv. He wants me to constantly play with him. He has my undivided attention all day. He goes to nursery just 2 mornings a week when I'm at work.
I tell him he can play on his own but mummy is having a rest. I'm due a baby next month and do worry how I'll cope.
He's always fought sleep even as a newborn.
It gets round to bed time finally and he kicks off at every stage.
Brushing teeth I have to pin him down to even get a 10 second brush. He won't get in bed or stay in bed. He throws things at me in temper because of the tiredness.
It's because he's so wired and completely over tired.
I don't really know why I'm writing this but maybe some advice and to know it gets better.
I feel like he clearly still needs a nap but I can't force him to sleep.
We go out every day till 1ish and he has plenty of outdoor time.

Would he sleep in the car or pushchair? Can you force a nap? Honestly, I think he might need to sleep. When necessary, I used to put mine in the car and drive them around until they slept, then park up in the drive and sit there. Bit of a PITA but they were tired and needed the downtime. I know that may not be so easy once the baby arrives,

Same as above. I engineer a car nap on non nursery days otherwise my 2.5 is a demon.

When they drop a nap they normally need the same amount of sleep as before so you need to put them to bed earlier.

My DD 2y7m is incapable of falling asleep for her nap at home currently so I have to take her for a walk in her pushchair or go to shops so she falls asleep in the car on the way home. Without taking her outside she is awake but grumpy all afternoon and evening. And I can see she is not ready to drop her nap yet as I just have to tell her 'close your eyes and sleep' and she falls asleep right away in the car/pushchair.

So we walk to the places in the morning so he has 20/30 mins in the pushchair and doesn't /wont fall asleep.
It's virtually impossible to get him in his car seat as well.
After a 10 minute long crying fit today , he come and lay on me and fell asleep. This is his first nap In ages and was after 2pm. He's not long woke up so bed time is gonna be fun and more like 10pm 😅. But he really needed it.

I tell him he can play on his own but mummy is having a rest.

At 2? Lots of 2 year olds would struggle to just take themselves off and entertain themselves 🙄🙄🙄

My DD won't start her nap until like 1.30 or 2.30 so I make sure we go out around that time so it's more likely she is tired enough to fall asleep.

He's actually nearly 3 years old and CAN play very well on his own actually. He just struggles when he's so tired. But thanks for the very helpful comment 👍

What time does she go to bed? Do you cap the nap?

For both of mine I did a rest time at around 3pm. So a dvd, something chilled then an early dinner and early bedtime.

It will pass

Change your routine a bit. Bring tea time forward a bit. Do a long bath with lots of bath toys then story time tonget through the evening and then a bit earlier to bed.

Yes that's what we've been doing . Dinner around 430 then bath and getting ready for bed etc. I think the tiredness just builds up. He gets to day 4/5 of no nap and he's just exhausted.
Hes in a great mood after a nap so I'll take it 😅

@Elisabeth3468 the days my DD starts her nap before 12.30 I let her sleep as long as she needs (usually 1.5-2h) but if her nap starts later I wake her up after 1.5h but she usually wakes up by herself anyway naturally after 1.5h. We go to bed closer to 10pm which I know is late for the most in the UK but where I come from it's normal. I take it as it's temporary as she is not ready to get through the day without her nap just right now. Once she drops her nap I am sure her bedtime gets earlier. I usually need her nap time to test myself too so her taking her nap serves us both for time being.

I just cant get him to sleep that's the issue , whether it's 1 or 3pm he will not sleep.
Hes still wide awake now after his nap and bed time will most likely be 11pm and he will be shattered tomorrow from the late night so the cycle continues.

@Elisabeth3468 what time does he wake up in the morning? Do you sing lullabies to him at bedtime? I am just thinking if you could take him out after lunch and push him and sing so it gives him the signal to sleep? I have to do that with my DD and it works for her. It's really difficult at this stage when they are not ready to drop but are grumpy all afternoon because they refuse.

Yes we do sing songs before bed and I tickle his face. He just can fight sleep easily and has always exceeded any normal wake windows for age etc.
so last night he actually fell asleep about 9.35pm so not too bad and woke up at 7am. He seemed really well rested and happy this morning. Going to try my hardest to get at least a few naps in a week , even if it's a later bed time. I think the tiredness just keeps building up.

@Elisabeth3468 my DD started her nap 4.17pm today so I think it will be 11pm for us today. I suppose it's just this period before they are ready to drop the nap. It definitely doesn't help that the wake window is longer than average for the age. We've had few days without naps so I am trying not to stress too much. Hoping this weekend we manage to go out around midday so DD can try to sleep on the go and we can have a bit more normal bedtime.

There was a while after my daughter dropped her nap where she still needed one proper nap a week. Then until 4 and starting school she would have a 5-10 minute nap on the drive to swimming.

She probably would still benefit from a nap especially as she doesn't sleep that well at night but she's a pain to get to sleep. If she can fidget and wiggle she will stay awake. A big bear cuddle and holding her still is the only way to get her to sleep in the evenings.