I am a first time, stay-at-home mother who is having a heck of a time getting my 19 month old son to nap (I am also 36 weeks pregnant with my second son)! He has always been a little finicky in his napping (if we had any change in schedule it would take him a day or so to recover) but we have had the same routine since he was about 10 months old; bedtime from 7:30pm-7:30am, nap from 12:30-2:30pm.
About three weeks ago he all of a sudden stopped taking his naps consistently. I feel like the turning point was when I had my Grandmother-in-law babysit and for some reason my son slept for 4 hours during his nap that day! Ever since then, I go to lay him down and he sits in his crib talking to himself and sometimes whining or crying a little. After about two hours (earlier if he is really upset and I go and get him) I feel it's been too much time and I finally get him out thinking "well at least he had quiet time". By about 5:00pm he gets very cranky, indicating he is definitely tired so I do not feel like we are done with the napping days. The longer this goes on, the more I notice an extreme change in his attitude. He gets frustrated way too easily, throwing himself and his toys around, falling/stumbling more often, crying uncontrollably, it's been a pain to get him to eat much.... so I feel like he is ridiculously overtired. We live in a rural area and have to drive 15 min or so to the grocery store/other errands and he typically falls asleep in the car, further indicating to me that he is indeed sleepy!
He also did get his bottom molars in two weeks ago, so I assume those are bothering him. I would usually give him a little baby tylenol before nap/bedtime for the pain, but for the last week I have tried baby ibuprofen since I heard it works better for teething pain. He resists taking it and seems somewhat cranky afterward, so I am starting to think it gives him a tummy ache even though I administer it with food.
His nighttime sleep is generally uninterrupted, but once or twice in the last three weeks he has woken up in the middle of the night with what seemed like sleep terrors or nightmares. He would just cry and we would go in to comfort him, then he'd go back to sleep within 20min. I researched this and it sounds like these sleep disturbances may be common in an overtired baby.
I have researched many articles online and tried many different tactics, but am at the end of my rope. I used to get a nap in myself during his naps, now I am in my third trimester and becoming increasingly overtired myself, not to mention worrying about how I am going to deal with a newborn if I am still struggling with this strange change in my first son's schedule. It's extremely hard as a mother to deal with because he has always been such a happy little guy, now he is crying and throwing fits so often and just will not nap.
