Is it common for a toddler to wake up and cry in the middle of their daytime nap? Our 18-month-old son doesn't nap well, cries 2 to 3 times during EVERY nap, and needs to be carried before he falls back to sleep. Do mummies have such experiences with your child?

A sleep cycle usually lasts about 45 minutes. Hence you will notice a pattern of your kid stirring or waking almost at the 45 min marker. The trick to prevent this is to anticipate and to intervene before he wakes. Try to record down over a couple of naps how long he naps and wakes up in between. You most likely will see a pattern there. After you know the timing, go to him before he wakes, and start patting him very lightly so that he stirs. You need to wake him a little so that he doesn't wake and cry by himself. But at the same time, you are there to guide him back to la la land again. He should fall back asleep with your patting. The situation should improve and he will learn to fall back to sleep on his own after awhile.