Seriously grumpy toddler after naps

[Lorien]

My ds is 26 months and had always been a tad tetchy when he wakes up after his afternoon nap. But over the last few weeks, its gotten quite crazy. About five minutes after waking up (its the same whether I wake him or let him wake up by himself) he starts crying and screaming and nothing I do seems to make it any better. Most days I manage to get him to drink or eat something and he tends to cheer up after 15 minutes or so and is then his normal, lively and happy self. I'm wondering if it might be his blood sugar levels (he's never affected like this in the morning when he wakes) that cause this kind of mood change. Does anyone have similar experience/advice? Thanks, Lorien

No advice I'm afraid, Lorien, but my ds was just the same as yours. I used to dread him waking from his nap some days. The only thing I found was that he cheered up eventually and seemed to do so quicker if I could come up with something to distract him, like food or a trip out. My second child was totally different and used to go down and get up like a little angel.

I know that sometimes if I have a nap in the middle of the day (chance would be a fine thing!) I wake up feeling 'odd' - perhaps your ds just feels a bit strange/dopey when he wakes and that's why he makes a fuss.

DS (22 months) is similar - we genarlly have a banana and /or milk after his nap and sit together to watch Cbeebies for 15 minutes or so. He then seems to perk up a bit and goes off to play with something.

Can't say I have worried about this - some days he wakes up happy, but no particular pattern.

DS almost always wakes up happily inthe morning and will sing to himslef for 15 minutes or so in his cot. But he does expect some milk fairly quickly in the morning once he leaves his cot!

Lorien not much to add - except that sleep 'cycles' (from light-deep sleep including REM or dreaming sleep) last about 45 mins so some experts think it's best to have one/two of these ie not break into the middle of a cycle. good luck.

Lorien- my ds1 is the same age and for the past few weeks has been yuk after his afternoon nap too. At least I dont get the screams, but if things dont go completely his own way, he does cry. He just wants to flop on me for as long as 45minutes. Not easy when ds2 (9mo)is expecting active participation in his games! The only thing thats worked is distraction as Azzie has said. I took up a box of play dough, a tea set and ds2 to his room the other day and we played happily as a three-some for an hour. He was then really keen to get downstairs and even forgot to take bear and blanket (his 2 security toys).

Lorien, my ds was the same and an old aunt gave me a tip, take him up a little sweetie. She assured me it was his blood sugar levels and I think she was right. He was a much happier bunny once he had his little chops round a fruit pastille!

Thanks for all the advice. Jessi, I'll try the sweetie trick today and see what happens. Best, Lorien

Food! dd1 used to be like this (she is a very heavy sleeper and I always used to have to wake her myself). I used to carry her downstairs, sit with her on the sofa with a biscuit, juice and some sort of kids video and she usually perked up very quickly.

Found this thread as I was going to post on the same thing. DS is 2.4 and just awful when he wakes up from his nap. I had tried everything..waking him myself..leaving him to wake...watching some tv with him...feeding him..making his room a bit lighter (thought maybe he was in too deep a sleep)..but nothing is really working. He wakes up and screams and is a grumpy s*d for ages..sometimes all afternoon and it is REALLY getting to me. He is lovely in the morning but it goes downhill in the afternoon. He still needs the nap though so I don't know what to do..if it can be "solved" as such or we just have to live with it?

Personally, I feel absolutely awful if I have a daytime sleep. I feel nauseous, heavy, irritable and it takes me a good hour to feel a bit better and usually needs a drink and no-one speaking to me. My dd, 19 months, isn't as grumpy about naps as me but she does need to wake up v. slowly so I usually carry her around, sit and cuddle her with a quiet book and give her a drink of juice immediately.

Well I can't nap in the day and DH is grumpy when he wakes up so I shouldn't be surprised that DS is like it...I just wish he wasn't!

Anyone else been through this?

DS wont sleep in buggy but does in car seat and is also fine when he wakes up after that..can't really take him out every day in the car though (takes me back to when he was a baby taking him out just to get him to sleep!)

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We call it the 'Sunday afternoon nings' in our house as she seems to only do this on a Sunday. My theory is that as we go to the in laws for lunch on Sunday, her nap is always a bit later than usual. Consequently she gets really tired and sleeps deeper than she would normally.

We treat is by either a) cutting the nap out altogether. It means we have a very tired toddler by 7pm, but usually not a particularly grumpy one, or b)Shoes on, food in hand, out the door to play outside before her eyes are really open. For some reason the fresh air tends to neutralise most of the grumpiness.

We have the sunday afternoon thing as well slug, I blame the inlaws . She gets spoilt rotten and over excited and then its, off you go, bedtime. She then obviously rebels and usually has a crap sleep and can be a tad annoying later in the day.