My son has never been good at going down for naps. But lately he is getting so bad that he sometimes skips them and I am also afraid he is going to hurt himself as he purposely throws himself at the sides of the cot (my fault really, the first couple of times I picked him up after he smacked his head).
For a long time now we have just put him down in his cot, told him its nap time and walked out. For a long time he has cried for 10 minutes and gone to sleep. Its never been nice but all alternatives we tried at the time lead to crying for longer and being awake for longer.
However its been a few months now since we tried anything different. And he has got so much calmer at night time that I am hoping to try something different to get him to be calmer for naps.
At night, he has a bottle, but we are weening him off (he rejects it himself most nights we give it to him now). Its usually darker and we have started reading him a story after we put him down and show him his water bottle (which he will usually drink a bit of while we read and then make himself comfy).
In the day we tend to just put him down and put his water bottle where he can see it. But he is already crying and tantruming as soon as we start taking him upstairs. Occasionally he wont go to sleep at all and we take him for a walk in the pram, this used to always get him to fall asleep in the pram, but lately he fights that too, refuses to get into the pram and cries on the walk.
It just feels like its getting worse instead of better....