Does anyone have any advice or been in this situation before? Long story short is I have to push my almost 3 year old in…

He could be done with naps but when it comes down to naps or bedtime, something that has helped here is getting in a very consistent sleep time routine. The first almost 2 years were such a struggle with my little guy. He also has autism. For some time, it would take me hours to get him down and it would take laying with him, rocking him, holding him, walking around the room, car rides and walks in the stroller. He was so difficult. And right before he turned 2 and a week or so after his sister got here, all of a sudden it switched. I got very consistent with his nap time and nighttime routine and everything changed. I read him some stories downstairs, if he will tolerate that. He’s nonverbal but I tell him it’s bedtime and he comes running to go up the stairs and then he gets 15 minutes to play in his room and has quiet time apart from his sister. Then we brush his teeth. We go back in his room, shut off the lights and he has a nightlight on every night that he really likes. I also use a fan because he sleeps better with some white noise. I hold him and tell him the same bedtime story every night and lay him down with his blanket that is his biggest comfort item. I say goodnight and he puts himself to sleep. And he’s been super good at putting himself to sleep for about a year now. That’s our routine. Once I changed to being super consistent, it changed everything for us!

Good luck! I remember how exhausting it was just to get him to sleep and it became my least favorite part of the day. I hope things get easier soon.

Sometimes they’re just done with naps but I did notice something that helped us put him down at 3.5 when he got this way. Like 90 minutes before bed we would start feeding his sensory needs, like putting him in the office chair and spinning it 10 times each way while counting the numbers, we would let him put his stepping stones on the floor and do his walking and crashing into the couch. Kinetic sand, play doh were fun ones too. We would also let him stim by watching his favorite clip back them over and over for 15 minutes, then always a warm bath. Bedtime story was all tight cuddles with a weighted stuffed animal on his tummy . Once asleep the weighted blanket kept him asleep. The activities would change here and there but the idea was to feed his sensory needs so he could relax and fall asleep easier. Now that he’s almost 7 and a full talker the idea is similar where we feed his sensory needs and let him check out and stim a bit, but now there’s two bedtime stories and he falls asleep at ease.

We are all learning as we go girl!

It's pretty normal at that age for kids to stop napping altogether, you're lucky you've made it this long. Just stop forcing him to take a nap, move bedtime up a little earlier to off-set and boom, done pushing a stroller. 🤷‍♀️

My son has autism also and he’s very hyper and have always had sleeping problems. He rarely naps but for nighttime sleeping I have to really tire him out. We do a lot of reading activities and play about an hour before he goes to sleep.

What are his wake/bed times?

Could you maybe wrap him in his weighted blanket, not a tight swaddle obviously, and lay down with him and you'd be his "restraint"? As time goes on you can shorten the amount of time you're laying with him until he can nap on his own? Plus that means extra snuggles with your boy 💙

Have you tried a weighted blanket?

What about one of those back pack leash things? Not so much for the leash lol but they have cute animals and they have 2 buckles so it would give that squeeze restraint feeling.

Maybe he’s just done with taking naps.. have you talked to your pediatrician about this? My almost three year old stopped napping around a month ago, he sleeps probably 10-12 hours a night now that he doesn’t nap.