2 year old fighting naps. What should I do?
(X-posted in Baby Bargains Lounge) DS turned 2 last month and has been fighting naps for the last several weeks. He used to go down for naps around 1:30pm and sleep for 1.5 to 2 hours. It was normal for him to take up to an hour to fall asleep. Well in the last couple of weeks, it has been taking him over 2 hours to fall asleep in his crib. He would be jumping up and down, clearly not tired. I would go in occasionally and tell him to take a nap. However, I really do not like him playing in the crib for that long in the afternoon, so the past several days, I have taken him out of the crib and then put him down for a nap later in the day around 4pm. I really don't like doing this because a late nap pushes his bedtime later, and I have to wake him up from his nap because I don't want him sleeping too late.
If you're still with me, my question is what should I do? Should I give up trying to get him to nap in the early afternoon and just put him down around 4pm. He's clearly not tired at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. How do I convince a 2 year old who's not tired to take a nap? Do I have any other options? I don't think he's ready to drop his nap because sometimes he will crash around 6pm if he doesn't nap. I'm not ready to drop his nap.
Thanks for any advice.
Mommy to 2 DS's (2003 and 2007)