21 Month Old Won't Nap in Toddler Bed

Benadryl? I hope you are not serious... Maybe if you could make a naptime pallet for him somewhere else, he would be more willing to take naps on it. He might just like something new.

Well I don't know if this well help but find out when its nap time at your daycare and try to follow that schedule. Maybe invest in a floor mat and have him lay down with his favorite blanket. Have some smoothing music, like ocean waves....Baby einstein sells a great lullaby classics.

My daughter ended up stop taking naps around 25 mths. She just added it on her bed time sleep. So what I did was just put on barney or seasmie street and have her lay down on the couch for an hour watching that.

Pleas don't drug your child. You don't what him to build an tollerance for it and when he really needs it, it will not work.

I fully understand the desperation of need your child to nap. My son has always been a horrible napper and my daughter was not much better. What we finally started on the weekend is we have family nap time. The parent who got up early with the children take a nap with them. It works great and everyone gets a little extra rest. Good luck!
A.

Honestly, I have found that kids often times don't want to nap because they don't want to miss any special time with mom and dad on the weekends. I believe that "quiet time" is fine, but it actually sounds like you need the quiet time and not your son? I would not medicate your child so that you can have down time on the weekends. If he has out grown naptime at home, then so be it.

I have a friend who had the same situation with her son -- napped regularly at daycare but not at home on the weekends.

The problem with weekends is that they are not routine. Even for moms and kids who stay at home, everything runs at a different pace on the weekends, activities are different, etc.

Just maintain the routine of putting him in his room. Do what you need to do to keep him there -- just walk him back in if he comes out, put up a baby gate, etc.

Also, on days he doesn't nap, you might consider backing up bed time by an hour or so if you don't already do that.

We had the same issues when we had to move my now-3-year-old daughter to a big-girl bed. We moved her to a twin-sized daybed with toddler safety rail when she was about 20 months old. She also did really well with bedtime but started resisting naps. However, let me preface this by saying she has ALWAYS been an inconsistent napper. She never napped well as a baby. When she was about a year to 18 months old, she napped AWESOME (consistently 4 hours per day), and then she started dropping naps at 18 months old. By the time she was 2-1/2 she was done with both naps and 'quiet time' completely (very stressful considering I also had a very little baby...). However, we continued to be consistent with having her go to bed for nap with the same routine and at the same time every day. If she got up to leave her room (unless it was to go potty), we just walked her right back to her room. I was determined not to give up, because I could tell that she still needs the naps. She would get crabby at night, and she was complaining ALL DAY about how tired she was. So, her 11 hours of sleep at night was not enough for her, so we just stuck with it in trying to get her to take naps. Our persistance finally paid off in the past couple of months, and she has started napping again. Not every day, but on the days that she doesn't nap, she is content to have quiet time with her room; she just sings and talks to her baby dolls. So, it was a long process, but all I can say is, don't give up! Did you have any sort of pre-naptime routine wth your son when he was in a crib? If so, I would just recommend sticking with that routine and just keep doing it every single weekend. If your son isn't acting tired/crabby, it actually is quite possible that he doesn't need weekend naps anymore, but I can also understand how you might feel like you want to pull your hair out, so just don't give up! Unfortunately, I don't know if there is a 'quick' solution.

How about getting him a little sleep mat to put on the floor for naps (like the ones they use in daycare)? Maybe this will help him distinguish the difference between naptime and bedtime. As a routine, you can have him take out his mat and get it ready for naptime by putting his sheet on it and getting his blanket, just like they do in daycare. Also, maybe a little backgroung noise, like a wave machine or soft music. I hope this helps.

-Y.

Have you tried calling the daycare and finding out the routine they have for him? Maybe try reading to him, even if it's just for naps. No Benadryl!! That's a bad habit to get into