Daytime nap or early bedtime?

[peardroplets]

My 18 mo has always been a bit of a daytime sleep refuser. She dropped her 2nd nap at around 10 months. For the last few weeks she has been having a long nap of 2 hours on average at midday. Initially I thought this was wonderful but then it became clear that she wasn't ready to drop off at night until at least 9pm after a few painful nights of trying to get her off to sleep earlier.

Some days e.g. over Christmas when there's lots going on she has been too excited to even nap in the day and on those days she goes to sleep closer to 7. She doesn't seem too upset in the evening.

So I guess she has a certain set amount of sleep she needs and it is a choice between nap or early bedtime. I would probably personally chose an earlier bedtime but I'm wondering what is best for her...or whether there's any chance that maybe this is a phase and I can return to having my cake and eating it at some point ie nap and a decent bedtime!! Or is it byebye nap forever?

[FATEdestiny]

Does she go to sleep easily when tired? If getting to sleep is a battle, it may just be her winning that battle rather than her actually not needing the nap.

[Kariana]

Could you try a shorter nap first? Maybe wake her after an hour, or even half an hour?

[peardroplets]

She takes a long time to drop off. At least half an hour even if she us tired and hasn't napped all day. i might experiment with shortening naps of I can ever be get her off to sleep for one.