Waking too early from nap?

UMichGirl

DS had gotten into this habit lately where he will nap for about an hour, sometimes hour and a half, then wake up crying. The crying part isn't unusual--that's how he wakes up from every nap and morning time--but he is clearly still tired. If I let him cry to see if he'll put himself back to sleep, he won't. Just gets more and more worked up. If I go in and rock him he will almost always go back to sleep for up to another hour and a half!! While I love holding him, there are a lot of things I could be doing in that time! He falls asleep on his own typically so I'm not sure what the deal is. If I go in and just try to get him to lay down he gets super mad bc he wants me to hold him. If I try to lay him back down after he falls back to sleep he wakes up. I don't know what to do anymore! Any tips?

Meery82

Is he teething?

UMichGirl

Hahaha he's been teething since he was 3 months old lol! He has been working on his canines for the last ... Oh ... 4 months?! All but one are through at this point. So it's hard to say. I can't WAIT til 2 year molars start coming in!

TiffanyBerry

I had to help DD go back down for a nap for a number of months.  She needed help with that transition.  So, I did it, and eventually, she stayed down.  But it did take a long time, and I'm fairly certain it was just waiting for the developmental abiilty.

ashiscute

I would just keep going in to rock him to sleep.  Does he need you to hold him the whole rest of the nap or just to rock?  I would maybe rock him the whole time for a few days and then try to slowly decrease the amount of time you spend rocking him.  I know it's not ideal but if that's what he needs it's best to go with it.  At least you can get him back to sleep!

Emerald27

My DS will wake and be super cranky about one hour into his nap. If I get him up, he stays grouchy, but if I "shhhhh" or hum and snuggle him, he falls back asleep for at least another hour. I'm able to slip away, though.

I agree with PP who suggest just rolling with it and rocking him back to sleep. Infant and toddler sleep is constantly changing, so you'll probably find that soon enough you've hit a different stage. The great thing about sleep is that if you don't like it, it'll change soon. The awful thing about sleep is that if you like it, it'll change soon.

UMichGirl

ashiscute said:

I would just keep going in to rock him to sleep.  Does he need you to hold him the whole rest of the nap or just to rock?  I would maybe rock him the whole time for a few days and then try to slowly decrease the amount of time you spend rocking him.  I know it's not ideal but if that's what he needs it's best to go with it.  At least you can get him back to sleep!

It's actually more the holding than the rocking that he needs. Once he's back asleep I can stop rocking and he stays out, but if I start to even slightly shift to stand up with him he opens his eyes and starts crying again. I'm definitely going with it for now! Hoping he can go back to sleep himself soon though :-)