20 month old won't nap in her cot any more (only car or buggy), suggestions please!

[AcatcalledAussie]

My DD has generally always been a good sleeper but recently has refused to nap in her cot. We've done controlled crying in the past to help with early waking but she is just so angry now, and that much older so she stands up and shouts 'no' as well as crying. I think Christmas has disrupted her routine but even though we are back to normal now we are having to either take her out in the buggy or car to get her to nap. Spending a lot of time parked up at the service station atm! Has anyone had any luck getting their child this age back to cot naps?

What was her routine before the refusal? It might be that she is needing a change in routine & perhaps a slightly later naptime?

We had to push ds nap later at around that age to start at 1/1.30 instead of at 12.30. That said, I also recall him having a developmental leap at around that age & sleep being really wonky for a while. It all settled back down again within a few weeks & he kept his nap til he was 3. Hth.

Thanks for your reply omama. Our other battle at the moment is early starts, DD has been waking between 4.30-5am the last couple of months so needs a nap by about 9am. Haven't been letting her have more than an hr to try to discourage the early waking but that hasn't helped! She then naps again about 2pm for an hr-hr & half. We had tried to make her last til lunchtime for a nap but then she was overtired and wouldn't drop off, that might have started the cot refusals! Good point about development leap, she has grown a lot recently, cut quite a few teeth and started to eat a lot more so that's prob part of it. Sorry for the essay!

DS1 refused cot naps about 2mo ago and we resorted to car and occasionly buggy. He's 2.5yo and this week we just decided to cut out his nap altogether as car naps no longer sustainable as we have DS2 now. Plus he would wake up SO grumpy and then bedtime would be a faff as he wasn't tired enough. Last two nights he's been asleep in 90 seconds!

DS1 has also been an early waker 5am on the dot but recently this has started stretching to 530/545 and since we stopped his nap he's done two 12hr nights, waking at 7am one morning!

I actually think that he'd have preferred a mid morning nap, esp as he woke so early, and after lunch he became over tired but artificially perked up from food so nap became a struggle. To be honest his naps have been a pain in the arse since he was born and the times he's had long naps in his cot I can count on two hands. Feel I've spent last two yrs of my life taking him for a nap in the bloody buggy or car!

What if you allow her to have a longer morning nap or delay that a little so she can have just the one? If nothing else means you're driving around or parked up just once a day rather than twice

Good to hear we're not the only ones, thanks! I think you're right, a longer morning nap is probably what we should go for, then hopefully move it later to lunch time. Once a day parked up would def be an improvement!

Sorry only just seen this but Nooooo dont do a longer morning nap unless you want her to start getting up even earlier!!! Sorry but I say this as the mother of a formerly chronic early waker. I tried to help him combat his tiredness with an early nap & it really did just backfire. It robs from nightsleep & the early waking will continue.

Does she refuse the cot at the morning nap or at the afternoon one or both? My guess is still that she's not ready when you are trying. If I were you I would try & work towards her having a single nap after lunch & I think this will sort out your troubles.

You are right she will struggle to stay up all thr way til after lunch so I would try and keep her up til say 10am & see if she will go down any better. If she doesnt, try 10.30am. If she does, let her sleep & then go with a very early bedtime eg 6pm as she will likely refuse a second nap. Slowly start pushing the nap later by 15mins every 3 days until it starts after lunch, around 1pm. This should sort out both issues. Hth.

We gave up on trying to get our DS1 to sleep in his cot. We just rocked him in his buggy in the garden or kitchen (weather dependant) and let him sleep there. It made it much easier to get him to sleep if we were out or staying with relatives as we could just do the same or he would sleep when out and about meaning we weren't tied down to staying in. At the age of almost 3 he suddenly started asking to sleep in his bed for naps! If it's problem for you try to change it but otherwise I'd say go with the pushchair.

I gave up and walked with the buggy or drove in the car too. sorry.

Both my DCs stopped napping completely at 18 months. You might find she just doesn't want them anymore. Yes she will get grumpy during the day for a while, but an earlier bed time and no naps may just stop the early mornings. She may just not need the sleep. My DS used to wake up at 5.30/6 every morning, despite a reasonably late bed time and no naps.

Thanks for all the replies. Update: we have dropped to one nap a day (made it til 12noon -just!) and the last two mornings she has woken much later, hooray! I did see if she would go in the cot yesterday (she's with childminder today) and she got upset so we went for a drive instead. She was definitely tired as she went straight to sleep, so we may just have to adjust to the buggy/car napping. She naps in the buggy with the childminder, without being pushed along, she won't do it at home yet but will try that again. Would be good to have the option to not always go out at nap time, but once a day isn't so bad. Think one nap a day was def what she needed - she's happy waking from a midday nap, whereas she was always really grumpy after an afternoon nap. Fingers crossed!