Getting a 15-month-old to nap

[MrsCeecee]

Please, Mumsnetters, I need help. I’ve posted about this before. My 15-month-old has been resisting naps for a while now, although it goes in phases - sometimes he’s ok, but he’s bad again now. He’s also waking early, around 5am. I rock him to sleep for day naps (fed to sleep at night) but it’s getting hard as he’s so heavy.

He’s on two naps, and last time I posted a couple of people suggested dropping one. It’s hard though as he’s up so early he can barely make it to 9, never mind lunchtime. The one day we did manage a one nap he fought it just as much anyway. We’ve tried a later bedtime but he’s still up at 5.

Also, he WILL nap when my partner does the rocking, with minimal fuss. So it seems it’s just me and it’s making me so unhappy (sorry, feeling maudlin). I’ve never left him to cry for long periods - a couple of times I’ve nipped out just to go to the loo or something and he’s instantly hysterical. But when I am in the room he doesn’t want me to touch him or hold him, pushing me away. He just stands up and shuffles around his cot - he’s in a bed bag so if I leave him I worry he’ll just stumble over it and bash his head (he’s done that before). So I feel the chances of him lying down and going to sleep himself if I just leave him are minimal!

All advice welcome, TIA.

With DS1, we eventually just accepted that he was only going to nap in his buggy, so we just took him for a walk every day. I think he was a bit older than yours, but I can't remember how old. It wasn't that inconvenient because we had a dog who needed walking anyway. At nursery he napped normally, but dropped his nap on the earlier side (not long after 2).

@BarnacleBeasley Thank you for replying! Sadly, he’s never been a pram napper! Or the car. Nightmare.

Oh, that's hard. I have DS2 now who doesn't nap in the pram (unless you don't want him to) but otherwise we have won the baby lottery and you just... put him in his cot and he's asleep. Obviously I can't suggest 'have another baby and you might get one that sleeps', though.

Have you tried swapping rocking for something else cot-based like patting? (I'm sure you've tried everything). Otherwise, you could get one of those sleeping bags with feet, then you can leave him in there without the worry of him tripping over, and see if he does end up settling.

My DH and I (whoever had them) would have to pretend to nap too as ours had that fear of missing out. We all slept in the same bedroom, so me or DH would tell them it’s nap time, put them down singing a song, and then we would crawl into bed and snuggle under the duvet and pretend to fall asleep. Some days we really did fall asleep. But usually, once they saw mum or dad being boring and sleeping, they’d go off to sleep too.

@BarnacleBeasley Good idea about the sleeping bags with feet, I think I will try that!

Yes, tried patting. He’s always standing up though (just gets up if you lay him down), and doesn’t seem to want any physical contact at all, sadly. He’s just not a very cuddly baby/toddler at all really, I don’t think that helps tbh. I read about people cuddling their babies to sleep and it makes me sad!

@LoremIpsumCici I sleep in the same room as him and have tried this too! He just shouts at me and cries until I look up!

Ah it’s hard to find what works isn’t it. I wish you success

With my toddler, I either breastfeed at nap time or walk home after a busy morning (usually after 2 activities - just having a lazy morning at home and then going for a pram walk isn't enough). She likes me to work for it but it's lovely having that downtime when she naps.

Just sleep train for crying out loud, who’s got time to spend hours rocking a 15 month old child to sleep

@lokenape sadly, he won’t feed to sleep in the day anymore - does still at night but feeds much less during the day nowadays. Perhaps I do need to tire him out more!

Definitely do one nap!!

and don’t try to dictate the time, just do it when he falls asleep at some point during the dsy

@Darkambergingerlily yes, might be worth giving it a go consistently. Though he doesn’t really get tired and drowsy (like the videos you see of kids falling asleep in their high chairs!), he just gets more and more ragey the more tired he is (more likely to be chucking food at me than gently falling asleep!!).