any ideas why 2 1/2 yo is fighting naps

Halen0804

DD started having full blown tantrums at nap time at her sitter's about a week ago. She cries for about 1520 mins before falling asleep for 22 1/2 hrs. Obviously she still needs her nap. DD has continued this pattern at home now. Any suggestions or thoughts? How long will this last and any ideas on getting her to go back to the easy child she was except time and age? Lol

flyingsaucer

Maybe you are putting her down to late and she is over tired? We have had to make our prep for nap time reeaaalllyyy long because it now takes DD so long to get settled, and if it gets too late she gets over tired and cranky.  She usually goes to sleep around 1:30, so we take her up to her room as early as 1pm to give her plenty of time to unwind.  She brushes her teeth, uses the potty and washes her hands, we read 2 books, sing songs, etc.  It can be a total pain but easing her into nap time makes it so much smoother, so we go with it.  Good luck!

dragon_chica

DD didn't necessarily fight it but there was a period  where she ended up just hanging out in bed and not sleeping.  I stopped fighting it a long time ago.  Nowadays (and this goes for bedtime as well) if she says she's not tired I just say, "That's fine, but you can't get out of bed.  You can sing songs, talk to your friends (her stuffed animals and dolls), but you have to stay in bed."  Eventually she'll fall asleep and if she took too long to fall asleep and ended up with a short nap than that just means earlier bedtime.

okate0213

I agree on the overtired and trying earlier. I was putting DS to bed at 1:45  or 2 and he all of a sudden was such a bear to take a nap, he went a week without one. I finally started putting him to bed at 1:00 with a consistent routine, he finishes lunch, we read two books and sing a song. He falls right to sleep now.