difficult nap time?

W.E.2/12/05

arrrghh...my boy is almost 2 yrs old and I swear at EVERY nap time its a battle. He never wants to sleep, I basically have to just throw him into the crib, let him cry it out to sleep.

Do you guys have the same issue? I envy those parents with kids that will tell their parents that they want to nap....sigh.....

Any tips? He always wants to play, I keep telling him, the sooner you sleep, the sooner you can play..but of course, he has no clue to what I am saying to him.

What can I do? 

tri_bride05

Do you have a naptime routine? I think having a consistent routine that gives him time to transition and wind down is critical for us. After lunch he plays for about 15 minutes, then we go to his room close the blinds, dim the lights and put on a clean diaper and jammies. Then we read for 10 minutes, have a last drink of water, and play his lullaby. The entire routine takes 15-20 minutes and if I try to cut it shorter, he won't nap. He never tells me he is tired and says no if asked, but by the end of his routine, he is always rubbing his eyes. He also talks about other things he wants to be doing during the routine, "play outside", "play green play dough", etc. and I tell him we can do that after naptime (if in fact we can do that after naptime) or just repeat that it's time for naps right now. 

We also are slaves to naptime - same time every day, (almost) no exceptions. He sometimes plays in his crib for a while before he falls asleep, but the only time he cries is when he is over-tired so I think making sure he is tired, but not over tired is also important.

Good luck!