My 2 y o son has always been an independent sleeper — happily goes into his cot, naps around 1.30–3pm and sleeps through. We’ve never had to soothe him to sleep and he’s never had prolonged screaming night wakes, even as a baby.
He recently started nursery and loves it there. He initially did mornings and was fine, but we switched to full days and their nap is much earlier (around 12ish).
Within about a week his sleep has completely fallen apart. He’s started waking screaming at night. Last night he woke at 2.20am and screamed on/off for around 40 minutes.
Today nursery called because he was unusually upset and asking to go home, so I collected him. He was completely happy once home, but when I tried his nap he became hysterical about going into his cot, screaming “I don’t want to go to bed”, nearly gagging from crying and trying to climb out for the first time ever. I abandoned the nap and he immediately went back to happily playing. Tonight, after no nap, we had the same extreme reaction at bedtime.
We’re now keeping him home for a few days to reset, then planning to return to mornings only and home naps.
Has anyone experienced anything this dramatic after starting nursery/full days? Can a change in nap schedule/overtiredness really cause this level of sleep refusal, and did your child go back to normal?