Q&A: 15-month-old nap weirdness

Amanda writes:

"Hoping maybe I can get some help from your awesome followers.  My son is almost 15 months old.  And I don't know what the HELL is going on with his sleep. 

He used to go down easily at night (after a routine that has been the same since 4 weeks), even saying "down" or reaching for the crib.  He almost always sleeps through the night, with the occasional 2-minute scream fest that he puts himself back to sleep after.  He used to sleep until 7, but it's gotten earlier and earlier and lately he's been getting up at 5. Sometimes earlier.  Ready to GO.  So we've started letting him cry and not getting him until 6 at the earliest, which has helped.  He will cry for a while and go back to sleep until 6:30-7, and some days he'll sleep through to about 6:15.

All of a sudden, it is BLOODY MURDER every time we put him down.  First it was the naps, then the night.  We've been working on transitioning him to one nap, because he was fighting the second nap so hard, and he seems to be the right age.  We keep him up until about 11, then do the routine.  He falls asleep like a stone as long as he's held, and as soon as we put him down, it's the rigid body and the screaming.  And screaming and screaming and screaming.  We've tried graduated interventions, but he just falls asleep as soon as we pick him up and screams again as soon as we put him down.  For the last few days, it's been an hour of crying every single time, both at nap and at bed.

He's never been a great napper-- at his very best, we could get an hour and fifteen minutes out of him. Now we're down to an hour of crying, 30 minutes of sleep, and a terrible mood for the rest of the day.  We put him to bed early-- one hour of crying.  We put him to bed late-- one hour of crying.  I just don't know what to do anymore.  I'm afraid he's getting chronically overtired, but I don't want to start holding him for all his naps.  Then we'll just have to go back to the screaming eventually.

What can I do?  Please help.  We are lost, and losing it."

This seemed weird to me, as usually 15 months is an age in which kids who haven't been sleeping START to sleep. So it seemed strange that this would be an age with some kind of sleep disturbance. Plus, the intensity of the crying made me think something was off, so I suggested that maybe he was in pain while lying down, and this could be reflux or heartburn.

Amanda cut out all acidic foods, but didn't see any change:

"He was getting insanely overtired, so we caved and started holding him for naps. I know. But he slept 2 hours plus, every time. And we got the nights back, down like a charm, and waking at about 6. My stress level plummeted: there are way worse things than napping with a baby on you.  But now it's been a couple of weeks of nap holding, and we're totally screwed. I love holding him, it's cozy and sweet and all that.  But he's heavy, and he's getting bigger, and that's the ONLY time I have to get anything done.  I can't commit to doing it every day until he's four.  But I don't know what else to do.  I"ve created this habit, and I don't know how to break it.

Any advice?  Thoughts from your readers?"

The fact that he sleeps while he's being held but not when he isn't is making me think this is some kind of physical discomfort issue that's being alleviated when someone holds him. I wonder what happens if he's in a car seat or stroller, if he can fall asleep then (that's kind of the classic tell of silent reflux or heartburn, if a child sleeps fine upright in a car seat or stroller but can't sleep lying flat). Or if it's something that's not tummy-related, but is still causing him pain.

It just seems odd to me that this came out of nowhere. What am I missing?

Comments

[Glen]

My daughter had Acid Reflux. You may want to consult your doctor. It sounds similar to what we went thru with her.

[Jenn]

Could be some separation anxiety -- this is a good age for it, and he may be more resistant to being separated from you during the daytime, when it is light out and there aren't as many obvious cues for sleep.

If it was pain related, I don't see why this is now specific for naps since nights have started working again.

My son was very much like this at this age. We ended up getting into his crib WITH him (crazy, I know) and then getting out after he was asleep. This worked better than trying to put him down asleep (wake up and freak out) or put him down awake (freak out and refuse to lay down at all.

[brianne]

is the child teething? i felt like such a jerk when this exact thing happened to us because ours cried and cried for all sleep times, was up in the night, etc. i just let her cry...and it turned out she was teething. she'd do the same - be just fine while holding but scream bloody murder when put down. i'd try advil and investigate the acid reflux as well. it's just so unusual to go from a great sleeper (ours was, too) to unusual screaming.

[Spacemom]

To be honest, this could be my daughter. She gave up naps at 18 months. I'll wait while you run and get a drink.

While she gave up napping, I reverted to driving when she appeared over tired. This would almost always get her to sleep.

We learned to schedule a quiet activity, like reading a book or a calm favorite movie during her old nap time. This would give her a slow down before she was rev'd up for more action.

She didn't sleep through the night until she was 3 years old (Go, get more to drink) and she still says up to 10:30-11:30 most nights and gets up at 6:45. She is now 10.

What I would suggest is to stop fighting the napping. Let him stay up and do a quiet activity. Something like an adult would do when they are done with work and just needs to veg, but not ready for bed.

Good luck

[Sarah]

My son was the same until he went on Prevacid for SILENT reflux. It's a tricky one because they don't spit up. I had to tell our GP that I believed that was what my DS had, so he sent me to a ped and they tried the meds for silent reflux because Prevacid has relatively low side effects and couldn't hurt. Two days later we had12-13 hour sleeps at night and 1.5 hour nap in the day. That has been the case for the last 15 months! It's a long shot, but try it out. Good luck. I know how hard it is. You're doing your best and that's all you can do momma.

[Ami]

Ear infection? That was always the deal with my daughter, who did not often have fevers with infections. Good luck, sorry you're stuck here.

[Rayne]

This is how an ear infection presented itself with my oldest.

[Doris Beers]

Sounds like my son, only it started far earlier. Docs brushed off any notion that he had reflux, because he ate well, did not throw up more than normal. Only after he developed a horrible cough did they discover the reflux, which was caused by something unusual. If the child sleeps well upright, there are slings one can get for the crib that will let him sleep there. My son also slept almost exclusively in the carrier for way too long -- including overnight -- I sat in the corner of the couch to sleep with him in the carrier. Either that or hours of screaming.

Son is now a healthy 20-something who can fall asleep anywhere.

[sarah]

the only thing i could think of was what a couple of others have already mentioned: possible ear infection? i only had that on my mind because my 6 month old has been screaming when put down lately, too (although his sleep isn't great regardless at this point), and i read something about the pain of an ear infection being worse when lying down.

[Catherine]

another vote for checking the ears. My daughter never got fevers - she just stopped sleeping well.

It does sound like something physical, is there any possibility that there's some kind of small fracture on an arm or something that he's laying on while he tries to fall asleep? Or a muscle strain? I only ask because this week I've had a horrible time falling asleep myself because of some kind of muscle twitch in my shoulder. I have no idea if that's reasonable in a 15 month old?

[Jennifer]

I agree with Jenn. If it were physical, he'd have the problem at bedtime too.

It's probably some kind of separation anxiety. Instead of getting in the crib, maybe Amanda can be next to the crib? I forget exactly how, but I know a lot of moms have tried the slowly-move-away thing, which might work here, where Mommy is still near during crib naps.

[obabe]

this is the WORST suggestion ever for a 15 month old, but my boys did this exact same thing at 23 months- and they wanted a bed. we had horrible screaming till puking - and a bed solved it all. i would do a quick visit to the ped just to make sure there isnt anything medically wrong, however.

[yasmara]

Once you've ruled out any physical causes (reflux, ear infection, etc.) I'm going to go back to one of Moxie's tried & true suggestions...talk to him about it! I know a 15 month old toddler doesn't really seem capable of high-level reasoning, but maybe by talking about the nap routine before it happens (at breakfast?), as it happens, and after it happens, you'll get through. I agree that this seems like a prime separation anxiety timeframe and I sympathize so much - we went though a hellish nightweaning experience at this age with my younger son.

I guess that's the other thing I would say - when we did the enforced nighweaning, both my husband & I were totally on the same page with it. We knew it would be difficult, but we were both committed because we were having such crappy sleep and were unable to continue working & parenting without better sleep at night. If you're not really sure you want to change the pattern completely, maybe try sitting next to him and holding his hand instead of holding him. Best of luck - sleep stuff is so difficult!

[Elle]

My daughter napped in a baby jogger (or the car) until she was 4+. It worked for me because I liked to go running with her, and I could wheel the jogger inside afterwards so she napped while I showered. Some days I just wheeled her around outside until she fell asleep and brought the stroller (and her) back inside for the rest of her nap. So no real help, except that napping on you is not necessarily the only solution, even if napping in her crib is never the solution again either. Good luck!

[Shelby]

Teething / and or separation anxiety. Advice is same as others. Put in car or stroller. Mine was like this too at times. This too shall pass. Get help from others at times he is more likely to accept others and get some time for you.

[Rachel]

Travel at the holidays, followed by some sort of stomach bug, nasty teething and the start of separation anxiety (and/or scared of dark) wrecked havoc on 16 month-old's sleep.!! Maybe some or all of those impacted your boy, too.

Before December, she reliably took a 3 hour midday nap and slept for 11 hours at night. Now, she's wide awake for hours in the middle of the night and is a sometimes napper.

We're revisiting the sleep training we did months ago and purchased a video monitor so we can see what our lil monster does in the middle of the night. Sometimes, she needs just 20 minutes to kiss her dolly or read another book to herself. Other times, we have to intervene and tell her to go back to bed.

Oh yeah, in full disclosure, she still has a paci and bottle. She often chucks THE PACI over the crib in the middle of the night and decides she needs THE PACI (even tho crib is littered with those suckers). We'll get yelled at by the pediatrician in March (again), but haven't been able to knowingly give up 3+ nights of sleep to break those habits yet.

I hear the joys of getting kids to sleep never ends, so we'll keep trying the sleep training and do our best to not instill (more) bad habits.

[paola]

I started having napping issues with the less 'compliant' of my two at around 16.5 months. In hindsight I believe it was the start of the 18 -21 month regression, which in DD went in waves of crappiness. I remember we had an excellent time at 18/19 months (she was napping consistently for 2 hours at a time and started showing an interest in experimenting with food), but 20 months night-time sleep went to seed. Thinking about it now, I confirm I felt cheated that this regression started so early.

[Anna]

Yep, what Spacemom said. Both my kids had given up naps by 18 months. When a friend told me her 4 year old still napped for 2 hours AND went to bed at night just fine, well, I just cried.

We enforced a quiet alone time to maintain our sanity--and they actually didn't mind that oasis of calm in the middle of the day.

The bonus for us and our early-bird schedule was 6-7 pm bedtimes. Time for a cocktail or book or other grownup time, and I can still be up by 5:45 am for work.

They both still go to bed early--as do I!--so it turned out well for our family in the end.

[nej]

Another vote for medical reason - my son had silent reflux and his ped wanted to put him on Prevacid but it turned out to be a milk-protein-induced enteropathy (a dairy allergy, but not exactly) and once the poison cleared out of his system, he slept...better. Wasn't a sleeper till he turned about four, but that's another story.

[nix]

I feel for you! My son has just started to settle again at 17 months old. From 14 months he fought his naps as if his life depended on it and it nearly drove me insane(I am heavily pregnant and need the nap/down time) it turned out to be his eye teeth pushing through that was causing pain during sleep as well as separation anxiety and sleep regression. He went from 3 naps to two longer naps and started going to bed a tiny bit later.(8pm-6am) I found he slept better on a firmer matress aswell..the ones with breather holes in them don't offer enough support once baby has reached 8+ kgs and I think it hurts their bodies. If I cool his room down to 20 or below degrees..he naps really well too. Try making a list of possibilities and try a process of elimination. That's how I did it , good luck !

[SO]

So my son is older but he had this exact thing develop in nov when he was 28 months old. We thought the same things, got his ears checked, checked for teeth, thought he wanted to move to toddler bed So gave that a shot. Thought it was separation anxiety so I slept with him for a while, rocked, cradled you name it!

3 months of this and in the pediatricians regular checkup she found his tonsils were very enlarged and tender. To the point that when she tried to swab them they bled! So one more vote for medical reasons check - tonsils specifically because we didn't even think to check. One sign which the specialist told us to observe for was when he does fall asleep to see if he snores or wakes himself awake by caught breath or something like that. If he catches his breath he might startle himself awake because it feels as though he is suffocating! So just throwing another idea out there.

We are doing better on the sleep thing now with the tonsils medication. So it will get better! Hang in there.

[kimu]

Ear infection? Teething? Sinus infection?

[Tetris]

Acidic foods are not the only things that can cause discomfort. Gluten or dairy are sources too for many. If being held helps elevate the head, it might be alleviating some reflux.

It is always hard to know if it is a phase, whatever variable you target, or a pain point that corrects on its own when sleep gets better. I would keep trying. For us, for whatever reason we did what was needed, no solution was forever, tried what we could to help, and in time things changed.

Try things. You'll feel overwhelmed, but I bet it corrects eventually.

Good luck.

[MLB]

Ears or reflux. Would definitely take for physical exam given the way it presented.

[SarahB]

Try Tylenol an hour before naptime. If that helps, there's your sign that something's up with pain.

Does he have a lovey? That's started to matter to our son around this time. He's started talking to his "beebee" in bed as part of his transition to sleep.

[Shelby]

I would also counsel some coping mechanisms. There's something about the phrase, that's the ONLY time I have to get things done that worries me. Get some help if you can. If it is cleaning, then hire someone to clean, if it is something else, see if you can hire someone or have a neighbor or high school kid or someone watch your kid for an hour or two in the middle of the day so you can get what you need to done or even to have some alone time or time to (fill in the blank) My two have separation anxiety still at 5 and 2. We do what we can to still have our sanity.

[Shelby]

oh, also left out, maybe put him to sleep on a bed, on which you can inch away ever so slightly; or the floor or couch...whatever works.

[Michele]

Could it be one of the Wonder Weeks leaps?

[anonymous]

No suggestions here...Just wanted to provide support for 'napping with your toddler on you' or in a stroller or with a pacifier or whatever whatever period it works for you, without worrying about it being an endless need from there on out. Provided that what you do works for your sanity and your kids health, it's not wrong to comfort them in a way that works for that particular period, and then find something new when it no longer works for you or ever-changing them.

[Vacationland Mom]

To add to what all have written- here's a suggestion of something to try. It sounds like you're home with your son every day (?) so I would say instead of trying to structure the day, just let the naps happen (or not happen) when and where they may. Same thing with the night though a little stricter, for example, in bed by 11 at the latest or something. Wait until he starts yawning, or rubs his eyes, or whatever his tired cues are. I know they say not to wait that long but by gum that is the only thing that works with our son. If you try to force him to lay down and sleep, he fights like nobody's business and it will take hours to get him to go to sleep, and that is when he probably would have gone to sleep anyways if we had let him just go to sleep when he was tired. Its counter to a lot of other advice out there but it seems to work OK with our 27 month old. Eh, I guess that's the best I've got. I've blocked out our sleep saga from 8 months through 24 months, too painful to think about.

[hedra]

Mr G had silent reflux and went from sleeping on us for naps to sleeping on us at night, too. In a recliner. At two years old. Every freakin night. And STILL woke 3, 4, 5 times a night. But that was better than me sleeping on the floor in his room or trying to get up and get him back to sleep when he slept on his own (he was in his own room from about 5 months as he was too easily awakened to cosleep unless he was ON one of us).

Still was not sleeping through the night at 4 years old. By any stretch of the imagination. School mentioned that he didn't play on the playground at recess, but would sit and watch the other kids play.

Uh. RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT! 4 year old not playing at recess???

Thinking about it, we thought allergies maybe. But before we did allergy testing, we thought maybe just take a crack at chiropractic. I don't even remember why that came up as a 'oh sure!' response, since I don't/didn't do chiropractic at all. But we checked. And on x-ray, holy macaroly, his neck was torqued sideways visibly. Just having him close his eyes and stand upright his head drifted to the right a good inch (!!) vs. with his eyes open.

Chiropractic work ensued (with a pediatric-trained chiro, by the way). In two weeks, his teachers were stunned at the change in him. (We hadn't told them what we were doing on our side.) Playing on the playground, super focused in class in the morning, and where he'd always been a sunny cheerful kid, he was now a blaze of light in the classroom. Makes me want to cry that he had been in pain his whole damn life and it was so normal to him that he didn't even notice. He also stopped snoring. (We confirmed chiro as the actual cause after he had to be held down in the ER with his head twisted to the side to have his ear stitched and he immediately reverted to snoring the same day - and went back to not snoring after two sessions of rework with the chiro).

Oh, and he started sleeping through the night at the same time.

Fast forward another year and a half, and we also discovered silent reflux. Scoped, and everything. He was never pukey, but always a sweaty active sleeper. Huge reflux signs there. Plus needing to be held to sleep, which is the non-medicinal mechanism for managing reflux in infants (and was the primary recommendation for those infants in the previous generation, by the way - just hold them to sleep!).

Meds for a few years, and meds resolved symptoms immediately. Also helped for the night wetting, too.

I vote for 'something else is going on here, even if it isn't silent reflux'.

[Regina W]

When our son was 14 months old, we started doing The No-Cry Sleep Solution thing and things were going so well. At almost 15 months he was finally sleeping through the night, putting himself to sleep, etc. Then all hell broke loose. Within a week everything changed back to worse than it had been before: he was up for hours and hours unable to sleep, waking up after sleeping only a few hours and wailing and refusing to sleep, needing to be rocked to sleep, and waking more times I could count.

He's now 17 months old and things aren't much better. However, he has cut 6 teeth, has 4 more in the process of cutting, and two more pressing up. All that to say, I vote that it's teething because that's what it was/is for my kid. :(

[Karen]

My son slept wonderfully until 8.5 months and it's been a nightmare ever since (now 12 months). He was dairy intolerant from about 4-7/8 months, can't recall when I put that back in my diet. But I'm beginning to wonder if something is going on in his system.

He's a huge, super healthy though. Not sure where I'd start.

[Anon]

I'd vote he's overtired. He may have accumulated a sleep debt from a too-late bedtime, or prematurely going to one nap, or both. In any event, try putting him to bed at 5:30pm for at least 5 nights. Move his nap to 12pm.
I know this sounds very "Weissbluth" and it is, but in my personal experience, his suggestions are absolutely helpful when dealing with an overtired child. Good luck!

[Erica]

Since things are ok at night now, I'd suggest trying to put him down for a nap in your bed. That way you can inch off once he's asleep. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

[hedra]

Other thoughts - low melatonin level may make it hard to settle when it is light out. Low melatonin can be from a) not enough light exposure in the morning (hello winter northern lattitudes?), b) too much fructose in the diet for the child's ability to absorb (apple juice, apple sauce, pear juice, fruit, whole grains, onions/garlic/leeks, or polyols like xylitol in 'swallow safe' toddler toothpaste).

I have one child who is intensely light sensitive, and needed extra oomph to sleep if there was light. Even moonlight will really whack her sleep. She needed dark places to nap. She's also the most dark complected child I have, so she may just run on a lower melatonin level to start with (less D from sunlight absorption), who knows.

Anyway, a zillion reasons possible, I hope something someone says resonates, or at least you manage to hunker and make it through! We made it through to four years by finding other ways for us grownups to get enough sleep. And with child two, we just gave in to the joys of napping with a child on us - subsume and let it go, and I don't regret that at all.

Mr G, by the way, is now 15 and sleeps quite well. Compared to Mr B, who slept 5 hours at 5 weeks, 6 hours at 6 weeks, and kept getting easier as he went? Yeah, they both sleep exactly the same now.

[Laura]

I agree with everyone else here - definitely get him checked for reflux and ENT stuff. Definitely definitely have a chiropractor see him! Cranial-sacral massage really helps my kids, too.

What I will add is my current magic elixir: ***MELATONIN***

I don't know if this is controversial or not, but I give my very restless-minded daughter one small drop (1/5th of a regular dose) of liquid Melatonin (made by Premier Research Labs - it tastes horrid; mix it with juice) about half an hour before I want her to sleep. She goes to sleep quickly and peacefully and if she wakes in the night, she goes right back to sleep without any of her usual insomniac behavior.

I don't know if this is the cure to your situation, but for the sake of other parents out there who have tried everything else and hit a wall, try Melatonin.

Some people just don't make enough of it naturally, and having a little bit of help gets them the sleep they need - which, ironically, can help them start producing more on their own.

If the endocrine system is constantly stressed by lack of sleep, it's not going to be able to produce the hormones it needs to leave that "flight or fight" stance.

(This is why I have the Melatonin drops in the first place - I have had adrenal fatigue for the past 7 years, thanks to being woken up multiple times a night by my crappy sleepers!)

Good luck!

[Carolyn]

My kiddo started having AWFUL sleep issues around that age, too! (I remember being up at 3am as he screamed bloody murder and wouldn't let me console him, searching this site for what the reason could be). I chalked it up to the 18 month sleep regression starting early. It got better and he returned to sleeping through the night again by 20 months, when he dropped all naps. That was a rough time because he was SO tired! He's 23 months now and seems to have finally settled into a routine (quiet afternoon play but no nap, early to bed, and then sleeps for 14 hours!) I hope your situation resolves quicker, but I remember totally despairing of ever getting him to sleep well again, so I wanted you to hear from someone who has made it through to the other side! Good luck!

[rachel - even one sparrow]

My daughter went through terrible nap-sleep regression at this age. It was about two months of ONE half hour nap every day. It's not exactly similar but this is what we did:

For about three months, we started putting her down at 5 PM. I know that sounds crazy, but since she wasn't getting sleep during the day, I just put her down early. She usually slept until 6, sometimes 6:30 -- occasionally she got up at 5. But over time, she wasn't sleepless and has been able to get into a two-hour nap in the middle of the day. We still put her down at 6pm.

My friend also had a 15mo who cried like yours does, and it had to do with separation anxiety, which seems to be common at this age. It passed eventually.

But maybe Moxie is right - maybe there's something else going on here, like discomfort. It's definitely worth going to the pediatrician about.

[Hermia]

My daughter is 16 months, and she's always been something of a crap sleeper. I had a futon on the floor in her room by the crib, and I would always end up sleeping on it with her by about 1am. It finally occurred to me that she was waking up when I moved her to the crib, so after baby proofing her room, I gave up on the crib entirely. I lie down with her at bedtime, and then I leave. She just hated the crib, for reasons that will remain a mystery. Long story short: can you switch to a mattress on the floor?

[Juliet]

If he's waking up in the early morning and crying alone, could he have started to associate the cot with that experience and be resisting it?

Also another one here to say that if holding him works, I'd hold him, and find other ways to get the things done that you need to (outsource, get your partner to help in the evenings, cut down what you expect, whatever). My 11 month old naps either on my lap, in a sling on his dad, or next to one of us on the sofa/bed, and needs resettled every 45 min or so. Personally I'd rather live with that, however long it takes, than stress both of us out trying to get him to nap alone. I do however recommend having a good book/iPad/smartphone/knitting/whatever else you enjoy and can do with a baby on your lap to hand for nap time! And chocolate and a glass of water. I write or read or answer emails while he's napping.

[Elaine]

I agree with checking ears but I'd honestly be more inclined to guess molars unless the child already has them. I've had molar pain personally and it's always worse when lying down and it radiates into the ear creating pressure and mimicing an ear infection.

If pain can be ruled out I'll be honest, my now 3 year old did the exact same thing at about this age. For us it was a combo of teeth but it was more separation anxiety/a very early onset of the 18 month sleep regression. Nighttime sleep righted itself after 1-2 months maybe? Honestly I was newly pregnant and throwing up all the time so that whole phase was a blur. The naps didn't fix themselves until he was 2.5. What worked for that was just letting him nap on the couch which meant someone was in the room with him. Once we started doing that the night time sleep slowly sorted itself out (we did have to let him cry a bit but he figured it out).

This early waking, nap resistance, and then bedtime resistance is exactly how it progressed with mine. Let us know how things work out when you get to the other side. Also remember none of it lasts forever, even when it feels like it will.

[Rbelle]

I agree that, once you've ruled out possible pain issues, this is ... maybe not that unusual for some kids? My daughter has always been a crappy but more importantly inconsistent sleeper. I don't think she's slept the same way (when, where, and how long) for more than two or three weeks at a time her whole life. At 2 years four months we are finally seeing some consistentcy in her naps in terms of length and where she will sleep - I can usually put her down now in her bed or ours and she'll sleep for 90 minutes, but WHEN she will go down still varies, no matter how hard I try to keep her on a schedule. Some suggestions:

Vary the window during which you try to put him down. For a long time, my daughter had to be laid down no sooner than five, but no more than 15 minutes after falling asleep, or she would wake up. Other times, I had to *wait* at least 10 minutes, and now I can usually hold her for 30 seconds to 20 minutes and still be able to get her down any time within that window without her waking up.

Try getting him to sleep somewhere other than your arms, where you're comfortable leaving him. At 15 months my kid could still fit in the removable infant seat, so I timed errands for naptime whenever I could, with varying success. If he'll fall asleep in the stroller, try that.

Lie down with him for a while and see if you can roll him off you. I had to develop a method of gradually decreased touching until I could actually get off the bed sometimes.

For me, all of the holding while napping was a huge stressor because naptime was when I did (do) my paying work. There would be days during which I was stuck in the easy chair for the full 45 to 90 minutes with my arm going numb and baby sweat soaking my sleeves because I'd missed the window or whatever. I started just taking a nap with her then, because at least I wouldn't feel so cranky afterward. But even if there isn't an underlying pain cause, it really will get better, and you can re-try putting him down repeatedly until it sticks.

[Sharon Silver]

I vote for several things. One is the chiropractor, as Hedra suggested.

We lived through reflux, sort of. And it wasn't the silent kind. Think back to when he was born, how did he sleep? Did laying him down or changing his diaper cause him any distress? That could be related to the way his head unfolded during birth or didn't unfold in our case. That can mean the skull is pressing on nerves that could be causing the reflux, silent or otherwise.

Sleeping in a room that's too hot is another possibility. When anyone gets too warm while they sleep, it happens to me, they can't fall into a deep sleep. They toss and turn and finally wake themselves up and cry out of for mom. What worked for me and my sister as kids was to not wear footy pj's. Exposing the foot to a cooler temp cools the whole body.

Also, did he have a bad or hard fall before this began. That can certainly through his head neck and shoulders out of whack. I would see a Pediatric Chiropractor or a Pediatric Osteopath.
Best of luck.

[Wilhelmina]

@Spacemom, thanks so much for sharing.......

My daughter packed in naps by 18 months too. She would sometimes sleep wheeled around in the stroller, and sometimes in the car, but by no means always.

She didn't sleep through the night until 4, and that is when she is well. If she's not she still now at just turned five wake at 1,3 and 5AM.

She goes to sleep by 10.30 PM if all is well, and is up by 7.30 AM just fine and does well in school and grows just fine too.

I am exhausted by then and can't make any noise as she wakes up.

I now know I can look forward to 11.30 to 6.45 by age ten.

I will never, ever get to see any TV or DVD again........( led away gently weeping).

Seriously, thank you. It really was helpful.

To the OP of course check out other causes, but should it be the forever waking thing I found I could get things done as long as I broke it down to short periods.Make one phonecall, give attention, put one load of wash on, ditto, etc. etc. It helped to get things done, as otherwise I would have gone more crazy than I already am.