Ds (9.5 mo) hates hates hates naps.
When he doesn't sleep well in the day he won't sleep well at night either.
When he gets tired I will usually pick him up, give him his dummy and a muslin to hold and try and rock him to sleep, he will usually lay there looking at things/talking until he gets over tired, then the screaming starts. He will scream/cry and try his hardest to wriggle away from me. Eventually if I'm lucky he will fall asleep. If I hold him he is fine, if I dare put him in his cot he will wake up 5 mins later hysterical and sit up and refuse to go to sleep. I tried this for almost 2 weeks with no improvement. I used to put him in his bean bag down stairs which used to work but now if I do it he stays asleep for 15 mins then wakes up. If I pick him up in time and give him his dummy he will go back to sleep. Usually that's it, he's had enough and is awake.
The other night he had bad naps so woke up every 30 mins crying in the night until I went to bed at 11 when he was really awake. I had only had a few hours sleep the night before so dh looked after him and he was up for hours. He then woke another few times in the night before getting up around 5.30.
I don't know what to do for the best anymore. He's so grumpy all the time because he's so tired 