toddler napping (not) please can you help

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Help me please!

My boy was three in august and has started nursery (morning sessions). He absolutely loves it but the problems start after he comes home and has had lunch. He gets visibly sleepy and refuses to have a nap. I have put him down every day for eight days and left him in the cot (whatever noise he makes) for 45mins atleast _ one day i left him there two hrs because at several points he really sounded like he was settling for a nap. After these non-naps i get him up and with what ever is left of the day we go shopping/his little tennis lesson/see family, but he is absolutely AWFUL to be around, grumpy, sulky, looks like he hasnt slept for weeks, tearful. Then at bed time he is a nightmare and quite often past sleep so he might lie awake talking for an hour ( I always have him in bed for 7pm as previously it suited him.)
please can anyone advise - it feels like my lovely little boy is turning into a miserable monkey

He is 3

He has stopped his naps.

Be grateful you have lasted this long

Get him to bed earlier if 7pm is too late for him, and ride it out... his body will adjust in fair time.

Thanks for your help !
...but he sooooooooo miserable 90 percent of the afternoon - surely not all three year olds are like this? He stopped napping a year ago, maybe that has something to do with his fighting the sleep? I did consider bringing forward his bed time, but then i thought maybe 6.30 would be too early - everyone elses kids that i know seem to be the opposite?

sorry if i sound like a moaning minni but it is sooo not like him to be unhappy allot of the time

they are all like this when they gve up their naps and its "just a stage" that you have to ride out!

Is he really still in a cot at 3 ?

maybe a bigger bed and a story tape to listen to would help

as all of my charges have given up their nap i stil insist that for a few months at least they go up to their beds and have a few books that they can look at by themselves for 45mins ish, and then we have 15 mins quiet time reading the boks together.

I personally think that a rest-y time is very important but it doesnt have to be sleep

alos bringing his bed time forward slightly (6.45?) may help a bit

Good luck

(current charge is 36 months (just 3) and he gave up his nap at easter this year)

thanks
i will carry on riding. i took him up at 6.30 this eve and he had a massive tantrum but when he calmed down we had story and he was asleep five mins later.
yes, he is still in cot - im afraid we just havent got round to it - turning it into a bed that is - it is imminent tho, for sure.

i have tried books in bed, audio story, but since nursery he really hasnt seemed to want to go 'to bed for nap'. will take your advice though and try and ride it out. May I ask, your three year old, has he started nursery and if so did that have any impact on his tiredness. will definately bring bed time forward - tonite, it may have helped.

thanks for your words they are helpful

My nearly 3 year old still naps in pm because I put him to bed late. I prefer it that way, as I need rest in the pm too (heavily pg with twins). I imagine if he went to bed at 7 then he wouldn't want to sleep during the day, but he goes to bed around 8.30.

Bring bedtime forward to 6.30. My dss stppoed at 2 and a half.

Like Nell said you are lucky his naps lasted until so long. DD dropped hers as soon as she turned 2!
DD is now 4 and has her tired time after lunch instead of a nap we just have a quiet time books dvd or some telly. This gives her time to recharge her batteries and it seems to work.
I also agree with the cot moved her out when 3mths after her 2nd birthday as she tool an aversion to going down it worked.

Good luck

Thanks every one, we have had a couple of days of him zoning out in front of TV after lunch and that seems to recharge his batteries enough for him to get thru to 6.45.
he dropped his nap around 2 like Auntyj's little girl, so perhaps 'quiet time' is going to be the best option. Will get cot changed into bed as soon as i find the correct allen key - I guess that will help too.
Thanks again and good luck with the twins Merrymarrigold - how lovely!!