(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.