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My Toddler Son Cries At The Same Time During Every Nap

My Son is now 3 and a half. We have always practiced a sleep schedule and he has done very well since birth. We've never had night sleeping issues and he always goes down for his nap when he is told...and falls asleep fairly quickly.


This issue began when he was about 1.5 years old. At about the one hour mark into his naps he would wake up crying hysterically. Not screaming, just crying.

He wouldn't want me to hold him, but he was stiff as a board or kicking and crying on his bed. Even if he was sleeping with me for is nap, he still would wake up crying.

When he turned 3, I thought maybe he needed to start phasing out of naps so I let him "rest" on the couch with me. He still fell asleep...BUT he stopped crying in the middle of his naps. I thought I had found the trick. That lasted for about 4 months.

Now, about 3 weeks ago, he has started again!!! He can obviously talk very well now, but he won't say anything about what he wants or doesn't want...just cries. He did say today that his leg hurts. I'm not sure if that is every day, or just today.

We have had no significant stress factors in life from when this started. I keep searching all over the internet and asked his pediatrician. Nothing can be found to match this scenario...only naps and always one hour into it, then after about 10 minutes he goes back to sleep. Any thoughts?

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