my kids wake up in the worst mood after nap time

Do all 2 year olds do this or am I the only lucky one? We wake up every afternoon and have a good 5 - 15 minutes all out tantrum. Every day. Normally I just ignore it but since Lily is wearing real panties for naps now I'm worried she's going to wet her pants during her tantrums.

They are going to wake up any minute.

Anyone find a way to get them to wake up from nap time in a good mood?

 

I have found that if I go into their room right when they wake up, they tend to be a lot more grumpy than if I let them wake up a little bit (for like 10 minutes) and then go in and get them.

 

Do you wake them up or do they wake on their own? If I wake them, at times one or both are crabby. They both have colds and went down today at 1:00; it's now 4:30 and I want to wake them but don't want to deal with the crabbiness. But I also want them to go to bed at their normal time.

 

They wake up on their own, and it's like they wake up in a tantrum. If I have their door shut and sealed it turns into a tantrum at the door. If the door is not shut then they run out the second they wake up, in a tantrum.

Today was no different. They do the same thing at my parents house.

 

Aimee, my son wakes up screaming from every nap. I have no idea why he does it. It takes him about 10 minutes to fully wake up and once he does, he's fine. I don't know if he is waking up too early or what because he usually naps close to 2-3 hours. I'm in the same boat as you. My DD is fine, as long as she gets up on her own. If she doesn't, I leave her be for about 5 minutes and then she is usually fine.

 

Same here. I have really been working on this and trying to convince him not to get upset but to call for me and stay calm. We finally had a couple of good days including today. I'm trying to allow him to always wake up on his own and give him some time and that helps some (meaning he tantrums for 10 min instead of 30). I often make him stay in bed until he has himself under control and the more consistent I am with that the shorter the tantrum. It's awful when he's at his worst and I couldn't imagine how frazzled I'd be if they both acted that way. My DD is very pleasant when she wakes. I call her sunshine. Clearly this is a disposition thing. Both of my brothers wake up grumpy and I'm a bit that way.

Have you tried talking to them about it afterwards or before you put them down?

 

My son wakes up like this 90% of the time. He also has had some bouts with night terrors. I think, for him, he has a hard time neuologically shifting between being asleep and being awake. We call him the little monster when he wakes up. I usually let him get most of it out in his room by making him stay in there 10 minutes or so after he wakes up. (I have a lock on his door.) Then I try to be ready with a drink and a snack when I let him out. DD usually only wakes up grumpy when her nap is too short (like 30-45 minutes total). I do the same thing with her--let her get most of it out in her room, then try to get her to have a drink and a snack right away.

 

Aimee, I posted something very similar a few months ago and it seemed like a lot of people had the same thing happening with their toddler twins. My girls are happy about 1/2 the time if they wake themselves and we give them 10 minutes or so to fully wake up before we go in, but if we wake them, or go in too early, it's meltdown time for at least 15 minutes. Sometimes I'll go open their door when they're still sleepy and let them wander out. That usually helps the meltdown, but it sounds like that won't work for you. Hang in there!

 

Yep, we totally went through that for like a YEAR. I hated when they woke up. Sometimes I would have a sippy of juice and some fruit or crackers ready thinking it might be a "low blood sugarish" issue. It wasnt! :nea: But that did work on occasion. They were just so dang grouchy. Oh how I hated that.

 

Ana will do this occasionally, but not every time. Its like she is not awake and is just pi$$ed. I try to give her time to really wake up and then go in there, but if she is really upset, then I go in and give her her lovey, rub her back and try to sooth her. The WORST is when she falls asleep in the car on the way to run errands and has one of these epic tantrums right before we go into the grocery store. Then I resort to trying to make her laugh, or bribe her to calm down and get in the cart. Thankfully Meara doesn't do this as much for naps, but we have a whole other set of issues with her sleep during the night :lazy: I don't think I'll get a full uninterrupted night of sleep for a very.long.time.

Wish I had some better advice for you, but I don't

 

Yes, they do...it's my LEAST favorite part of the day lately. They wake up on their own SUPER crabby. I will get my one guy out and he is SOOO bad he screams and screams and only wants to be held and I can't sit while I'm holding him or it will make it worse. Then, my other guy gets even more crabby becasue he wants out and I can't put the first one down or he will kick and scream all over the place and bang his head so the 2nd one gets really mad and this goes on and on and on. I can't change their diapers, can't do anything for like 20 min until they decide to get out of their funk. I just have to listen to them scream and cry and kick....UGH...I dread that....

 

What if you tried to separate them during nap time? I noticed before daycare that if I let them nap in the same room, Royce would accidently wake Alice pi$$ing her off. So I would put them in separate rooms and even though they would wake up simultaneously they woke up in a better mood.

It must have been his face that was making her angry.

 

My kids often wake up in a grump. Lately James asks to lay in his bed for a while and listen to a CD (we have a bunch of books on tape - Winne the Pooh, etc.). He just needs 5 or 10 minutes to decompress before he's ready to face the world. Truthfully, I'm the same way! Would you consider trying that?

 

Sometimes we have wakeups like that too. I've never been able to figure out what causes it - seems totally random. But I'm actually the same way - I almost never nap during the day because sometimes I wake up feeling just horrible. Who knows, if it happens to me, why not to them too? (Argh.)

 

mine wake up crabby and crying if they haven't had enough sleep, but if they have they come bouncing out of their room w/smiles on their faces! (don't be jealous, though--about half the time one or the other wakes up early and i have to get him back to sleep.... sometimes both. which means that a 2 hour nap on their part--if i'm lucky enough to get them to sleep at the same time!--can actually mean less than an hour break for me).

sleep is the hardest issue to deal w/, for sure!

 

I tried that for awhile but it's impossible now that they aren't contained in a crib or PNP. The spare bedroom is not safe for a toddler to be rummaging around in. The only other option is my bedroom and unless I want to nap with one of them I won't be able to get her to fall asleep in there. I guess I could always get DH to clean out that other bedroom but that would be a last resort.

Yes, I would definitely try letting them listen to a CD! Maybe I'll try putting a CD player in their room.

My DH is the same way about taking naps, so maybe that's where they get it from.