14 month old who won't nap!!!

Hi all. My son, BabyA, is 14 months old. We recently moved into a new house, and when we did, his routine was totally thrown off. From the get go, he has never been a good napper, but right before we moved he was at least taking naps during the day, even if not at the same time. Now, however, he refuses to take naps, and I swear, the child has some sort of super human powers for staying awake. He wakes up around 7:30 am, then we eat breakfast, drop big brother off at kindergarten, and come home and play for a while. He gets really tired around 10, so I was trying to get him to nap at that time, but he would stay in his crib crying for over 2 hours!! So I decided to try to keep him busy by playing outside, etc, until about 11, then eat lunch, and put him down at noon for a nap. This has worked somewhat better, he cries for 10-15 minutes, then falls asleep, but only remains asleep for about 10 minutes. Then its back to crying. I even tried to black out his window so it was dark in his room and we get the same results. I don't know if I am doing the right thing by letting him cry, or if I should come up with a new game plan. I have been getting him out of his bed after about 2 hours of crying, but I don't know if that is reinforcing that if he cries long enough he will get out... I'm just not sure what to do at this point. When he doesn't nap, he get so grouchy and difficult. Then of course, he falls asleep immediately when we load into the car to pick big brother up from kindergarten at about 2:20. At this point he ends up getting about 30 minute nap, but I don't think its good that the only nap he gets during the day is in the car. My only saving grace is that at night time, he is so exhausted he does not put up a fight at bed time. He usually goes to bed around 7:30 or 8.

Any ideas are very welcome. I just feel we would all be much happier if he could get some sleep during the day.

[Michele]

P is just 12 months now, and she takes about 3 one-hour naps a day....but all on my back or in my arms. She's just like her older brother D. So I babywear her for her naps in a Kanga, Ergo or wrap. Probably not the advice you wanted, but it works for us. Sometimes I can take her down and lay her in her crib or on the floor....but most of the time I can't.

[scrub-jay]

We recently adapted the routine suggested in Kim West's "Goodnight, Sleep Tight" book for our 15 month old dd. It's been 2 weeks and my non-napper can now put herself to sleep at naptimes (with a few key routines) and at bedtime. I highly recommend the book and technique, I was floored with the success. PM me if you have any questions. She used to need to nurse to sleep or be rocked to sleep, now she is good. I actually had my best friend (child development specialist with emphasis on sleep) help us design/improve her bedtime routine and that has been amazing. I thought my kid was just a non-napper, I was wrong.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! I am going to the library tomorrow to check out that book. Hopefully we have some success