Screaming for Nap and Bed Time

Have you ruled out teething and ear's? It could even be another one of those charming growth spurts. My son who is 20 months, goes to sleep on his own ( no CIO) and usually has a good night routine, started to do the same thing at about the same age, and then a month later he was back to his same routine, I did cut back his nap to only an hour though, but last month it started up again, and it seemed to get worse, I thought it was just teething cause he would point to his mouth and say Boo-boo, but still he wasn't getting better, not really worse just no real improvement, into about week 2/3 not sure, I said enough the night before had been real bad, turned out that on top of the teething he had double ear infections and one had been a while, poor guy you would think with as many kids as I have I would of caught it but all my kids combined had only 5 ear infections and other then struggling with bed time he had seemed pretty good. If those are ruled out then she is most likely in a phase that will just require a little patience, I would her down like normal wait a few minutes and if she is still inconsolable go into her and see if something else will work. Someone I am sure would have a better suggestion....good luck!

I think Jennifer O might be right. It might be ears. It also might be night terrors. Or gas. It's so frustrating when they can't tell you exactly what hurts. Fortunately, all these things are temporary! Our kids out-cry us, so my husband and I just cave into the cuddle-to-sleep routine and that works very well for night terrors. We figure it makes them happier little people, although we're anxiously awaiting the day we get to sleep through the night again. If only I had known in my twenties that sleep would become important--I would have stocked up on it then! ;-) Good luck!

Kids change their sleeping pattern a million times as they grow. It could be you need to change her nap time, move it up 30 or 45 minutes so she is tired. Tell her she doesn't have to sleep just be quiet and rest..nine times out of ten she will fall asleep. Some kids give up naps early! That means earlier bedtime however.
It could be teething, try tylenol before bed at least 30 minutes before bedtime or teething tablets. I think it is fine at her age to let her cry it out as now is the age of independence and power struggles beginning. Stay consistent, see if maybe her teeth are hurting her. I told my son at about 18 mos he didn't have to sleep at naptime but rest, and he was asleep within 5 minutes of me shutting the door. Some kids need wind down time before naps and bed, try a routine with naptimes too. We would always do lunch, change diapers and go down for a nap. She will change her patterns with growth spurts, getting teeth in and all of that. My son gave up naps completely right before he turned three. I just gave up as he laid there a good 45 minutes and wouldn't sleep. So I changed his bedtime to 6:45 and he would sleep until 6:30 the next morning. That was enough for him. My daughter needed naps until she was four. You know her moods, when she is getting cranky and tired and your day so just maybe do some changing on times.

Andrea:
Children go through major growth spurts at certain times during their development and it can affect their sleeping patterns. I remember with my children during this age they would have dreams/night terrors and would scream in the middle of the night and be half-awake. I would adjust the times she takes her nap and goes to bed. She may start waking up at the 7:30 time frame that you are accustomed to. Sometimes they don't need as much rest as they once did, either. Don't take out the nap time routine. However, you may have to adjust to getting up earlier!

My daughter also started screaming and crying when I would lay her down for her afternoon nap in her crib. I also tried cuddling her until she was asleep and then putting her in her crib, but she'd wake up and then get so worked up that there was no way she'd get to sleep.

I finally decided that the nap was more important than WHERE she was napping. Odd as it sounds, I let her fall asleep on the couch or the floor. I do move her to the couch if she's on the floor.

I don't make the surroundings silent, there is still some noise, like the radio or me doing chores, but she naps just fine and is much happier.

She also wakes up very early in the morning. I noticed that it gets worse during the spring and summer, when the sun comes up much earlier. I haven't figured out how to change that wake up time, but perhaps dark shades or curtains would work.