What is going on with ds?

[JimJammum]

Ds has always been a 7-7.30 with 2 hrs nap (since he was 1 anyway!!!), and would sleep as soon as he got into bed. He is now 2.3 and has started struggling to go off to sleep both nap time and at night, even if he's had less sleep in the day. He is starting to drop his naps at nursey (2 days per week) but is not making up the time that night and is waking 6.30am ish every morning, despite being tearful when he first gets up, which suggests he's still tired. If he naps in the day, I have been waking him after 1-1.5hrs but he is then very cranky, again which suggests he's still tired. Why is he having trouble settling and staying asleep all of a sudden? His behaviour is not like him either, which I think is due to tiredness in part. His speech is really developing at the moment, so do they have a mini development spurt which could be stopping him switching off?

Don't have exactly the same experience, as DDs always been an erratic sleeper, but IME development/learning a new skill has always = disrupted sleep in some form or other. Maybe playing with his routine a bit - a bit more emphasis on quietening down before both nap and bedtime, is worth a try? Doing a last burst of physical activity before/after tea? Sticking with waking him after 1 hour rather than 2 for a whole week and keeping getting-up time consistent, to see if his body-clock just needs a little push to settle into a new routine?

I really resisted waking DD early from her customary 2hr nap, even when she wasn't going to sleep in the evening until nearly 9, because she was so grumpy when I did it. But eventually I had to because we had no evening left, and it only took a few goes to settle down. She's still grumpy, but we have a bit of a cuddle and quiet time with books until she perks up again.

H some of that Hs!

What times are his naps? And his night sleep?

Today has been another bad day. He hasn't slept at nursery for Thurs & Fri, despite being so tired he was falling asleep during stories at 10.30am on Friday - they put him up tobed and he refused twice. Today he was up at 6.40am, after going to bed at 7pm, and fell asleep in the car for 20 mins at 11am - he was so tired his eyes kept closing and then he would shake his head and say no to wake himself back up. He's so clearly fighting it. Then he refused to even lay down all day, and this afternoon in the car he said he was tired but again would not lay down his head or shut his eyes. Daddy is doing books now so will be in by 7pm. Am going to try and sort routine out tomorrow for 3 days until nursery next week and see if I can get him back on track.....but I don't understand why he is fighting it so much when he never has before.

May be he's recently felt he's missing out on stuff going on? At his age he may be getting more attached to particular people or activities that he really doesn't want to leave.

I found it helped a bit, when DD started to refuse, to change the way we napped, and also started to talk about having 'a rest' rather than a nap, so she didn't feel threatened with its imposition. I would still, though, have to cajole her into the buggy or car, provide her with a snack or something to occupy her initially, and music if that was an option, and then just keep walking or driving until she went off! Not ideal, I know, but it did break the cycle of tiredness.

Good luck!