Time to drop the daytime nap?

[ScarletLady02]

My DD has just turned two and has never been a great sleeper. She didn't sleep through until she was 18 months and even now it's intermittent.

We're at that difficult stage now where I don't know if she still needs a nap. A couple of months ago she started to just not go to sleep when I put her up for a nap (usually she went down around 10.30 for two hours). So I started putting her down later and it ended up she would go down at 12.30 ish for the same amount of time. But then she wouldn't want to go to sleep until after 9pm (usual bedtime 6.30pm), she'd wake at 7am ish and be grouchy all day. So I tried cutting out her nap to see what happened....we then had a month or so of her not having a nap, and going to sleep around 6ish. This seemed to work for a little while but then she started waking at 3am and not wanting to go back to sleep until 5am or 6am....again followed by a grouchy day. I tried putting her down for a nap again a couple of days ago, and just putting her to bed later. First day she had a nap for a couple of hours and then went off to sleep at 7.30 and slept right through for the first time in ages. GREAT, I thought.....did the same things yesterday and she refused to go to bed until after 9pm again...

I'm at my wit's end. We have no routine anymore....I never know when she'll be sleeping, or not sleeping....I've been suffering badly with insomnia myself and I feel like absolute shit.

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated....

Sorry if the post is a bit rambling....like I said, not much sleep. If anyone would like me to clarify anything, I'd be glad to.

[ladybirdm]

My rountine was broken recently due to various reasons, but im slowly getting back to it. im keeping my fingers crossed that they with nap till theyre three... I give my little ones (twins) 20monthes about 90ml of milk before a nap. They are going through this stage also. Is she in a cot? Sometimes mine don't sleep for long but just lay there for a bit. I put a book in with them. Sometimes one crys but I leave them and then eventually theyll go to sleep for a nap. Again at night (I sound awful) but I've had to let them cry on occasion otherwise they would rule the roost.... No body wants to go to bed when cuddles and toys are available...

One of mine doesn't sleep through either....

Hope you are ok. Not enough sleep is awful awful awful

[omama]

So what time does she usually wake in the morning?

And what time are you trying to get her down for a nap now? Still 12.30? If so its probably too early. We had a lot of bedtime shenanigans at this age, partly developmental but partly down to the timing of the nap. We found that by pushing the nap to 1pm & giving him extra time awake before his nap, he would settle better at night, though we did also have to accept that with a long nap every day he'd need a slightly later bedtime. So from around 22 months we did
Up 7am
Nap 1-3/3.30
Bed 8pm

Now at 28 months hes starting to drop his nap & is doing a mix of nap & no nap days. Unfortunately its part & parcel of nap dropping that routine will be all over the place for a while so try not to stress about it too much.x

[ScarletLady02]

I'm putting her down after lunch at the minute so yes around 12.30. Yesterday she didn't go to sleep until nearly 10pm >_<

If her nap is later though she wants to go to be even later usually, I'll give it a go though, I'm willing to try anything. she usually wakes between 6.30 and 7.30 (most often around 7am). So if she's going to bed at 9-10pm she is NOT getting enough sleep and is a right grouch all day.

It's like a crazy balancing act isn't it?

[omama]

Absolutely. Try the later nap cpnsistently for a couple of weeks. Id hazard a guess its a developmental thing & suddenly she will go back to settling well at night. It certainly happened like that for us, but thinking back it may well have coincided with him starting to do the odd no nap day (once every couple of weeks).

[ScarletLady02]

Well.....she refused to have a nap yesterday. However she wanted to go to bed around 6.30 and slept right through until nearly 8am this morning!

I wouldn't mind if she stuck to one thing, I spent most of last night thinking she was going to wake up any second.

[omama]

This is the trouble with this stage, they are inbetween - needing a nap some days & not others, so its a case of having to accept thats how it is for a while until they drop the nap completely. Am in exactly the same boat & so am taking each day as it comes. That was a great night btw!