Super cranky after nap (19 months)

MrsThirdBird

Typical weekend day= Wake up at 7:15 Nap at 12:15 - 2:45 (2 and a half hours) Sleep at 8:30 Typical weekday Wake up at 7:15 Nap at daycare 12:40 - 2:15 (hour and a half) Nap at home 5:15 to 5:45 ( half hour) Sleep 8:30 He's great on the weekends, No complaints at all. Weekdays, not so much. After he wakes up from his short evening nap he is cranky as all get out. Doesn't want to be held, doesn't want to be put down. Doesn't want milk, water, or a snack. We've tried no nap and he falls asleep at the dinner table. We've tried longer naps no luck. He is miserable for a solid 30-45 minutes after the nap. The only thing that kind of works is putting on the tv during dinner, which we really don't want to do. I am really at wits end, please help!

brideinsummer04

We used a sleep trainer. Everything she has told us has worked for our DS but I'm sure it doesn't always work for everyone. she says absolutely no naps after 4:30 pm. I have seen what she means - when we have let him nap after 4:30 he is like the cranky DS you describe. I don't know how day cares work, but is it that they don't let him nap longer or he won't ? The sleep trainer also told us that less than 40 minutes means they don't get a full sleep cycle so maybe it is because the nap is a half hour? Our DS is cranky like that when he hasn't had enough sleep the night before or when he is woken up by a noise or something and still wanted to be sleeping. He also is better all around when he gets a solid 12 hours at night. Your guy isn't too far from it but what if you tried to move the bedtime up a little earlier? Not sure, but just a thought. GL!

ttimmerman

Well ideally, daycare would let him nap longer. If that's not an option though, don't let him take that late nap and put him to bed earlier. If he's falling asleep at dinnertime, try to keep him awake long enough to finish dinner and then put him to bed, even if it's 7pm. It sounds like he's missing out on at least an hour of needed sleep during the day at daycare, so if you put him to bed an hour and a half early, that works out to be about the same. It might be hard the first couple nights to keep him awake for dinner, but he'll get used to it. 

cedenton

Skip second nap and move bedtime earlier. My son went to bed at 7 for a looong time, and now it's 7:30. He's waking up cranky because he really wants to go to bed, but it's a little too early for it.