Help with daytime naps

[Raybaby]

Hi, my 17 month old boys good sleep habits went out the window when he started teething at 6 months. From then until 2 weeks ago I was settling him to sleep on me for all his sleeps. He would wake during the night anywhere from 2 to 6 times. During the day I cut his daytime sleeps down to one at about 14/15 months old and he would sleep for an hour and a half. I decided to start sleep training about 2 weeks ago as his teeth have all cut and his night waking was now a habit. After a long 2 weeks of controlled crying he now settles himself and sleeps all night but his daytime sleep has now cut to 30 minutes. He is cranky when he wakes and still looks so tired so I can tell he needs more. I don't know how to get him to nap longer. I have tried going in and resettling him by patting him but he just tried to cling to me, I have tried music and a slightly later sleep. When I did controlled crying to settle to sleep I just did my bedtime routine, kissed him goodnight, said my sleep que "sleep time now" and walked out. I never re entered the room as it just made it worse. He is very much a mummy's boy. The first day or 2 he cried for an hour then it dropped each day to nothing or if anything a minute or less. If he wakes during the night he cries for a little then resettles without me going in. The day time I just am lost with what to do to try get him to sleep for longer. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Little Miss Sunshine]

The advice I would try and what I've done myself is to leave them for a minimum of an hour in the cot, up to an hour 30 if you wish.. If still up at that point get them up.
Do not go in to them during naps if they wake before then as this wakes them further/unsettles them and makes it almost impossible to get them back to sleep. Naps are more difficult to fix and I find with this technique it will take up to a week, maybe even 2,for them to learn to resettle themselves as clearly it's not enough.

Good job on the night sleep by the way!

[Raybaby]

Thanks. He did a couple of days late last week of 1hr 10min sleeps so I though we were making progress but yesterday and today back to 40mins. I feel like I am getting know where but will keep persisting.

[Fi Poledancer]

An alternative might be 'pre-emptive resettling' - I did this with my son but he was only four months old, not sure if it would work with a toddler? But basically I went in just before I knew he would wake (around 40 mins mark) and held him through the sleep cycle transition and then put him back down at about the 55 minute mark and he started napping for longer straight away. He has actually been a champion napper since then and still does a 2.5-3 hour sleep at 19 months. Might just be a coincidence, who knows. But if your little one is used to being held for naps maybe that's why he wakes up confused?

[Fi Poledancer]

Sorry I just saw this was in the pro-controlled crying section, it's not CC but just an idea

[Raybaby]

Thanks for the idea. I'm willing to give anything a go. 😀