15 month old has gone on sleep strike HELP am not ready to give up midday nap and don't believe she really is either!!

[BabyFreddy]

Just last week when it was nap time, my daughter looked away from her beloved books we were reading, pointed to her cot and proclaimed 'dat'. She went straight to sleep, it was 12.30pm and she was down to one nap a day, a phenomenon I thought we would be immune to. I was delighted she was asking to go to sleep and recalled the move she made at 9 months from our bed into her cot, we had been co-sleeping and it was time for her to sleep alone at night, within 2 nights she was sleeping through. She made the transition relatively easily but it was a struggle to get her to sleep in her cot during the day, eventually with sleep training and perseverance it was no longer a problem and has in general been able to sleep anywhere; be it cot, buggy, travel cot, car seat. Until four days ago........

Now she's tired at 12.30 and nothing has changed in our routine for midday nap, until I place her in her cot and then the fireworks begin. On Friday she slept for 40mins after a little grizzle, Saturday she refused any form of sleep in her cot until I gave up, exhausted myself and let her have a nap with me at 4.00pm, for which she only slept for 15mins (since 9 months our co-sleeping days have been over, I was distraught not to have her beside me but since then I can no longer sleep with the wriggle monster)! Sunday she slept for 30 mins in the car after a big fuss when usually she'd go straight to sleep as soon as the car started moving, and then today, well, after 1 and 3/4 hours she finally had THIRTY MINUTES!

Can anyone please help? None of my books have any literature on a 15 month old going on sleep strike for the whole day - if I hadn't persevered on Saturday or today I am convinced she wouldn't have had a wink until bed time.

Am sure that at 15 months she still needs to nap and my goodness we all know mummy's need the little monkeys to have a nap at that age, does anyone have any advice please?

What time does she get up? maybe she is overtired and putting her to bed a bit earlier might help.

I would move her sleep time earlier maybe noon just for the short term - it sounds like she could be over tired.

You might be right, it was only a month ago she was too tired to stay away and at 11.30 was asleep over an early lunch during the transition, will try putting her down at midday tomorrow and see if it works - fingers crossed it's a simple solution - thanks to you both!!

My DS refused daytime sleeps quite early on. The plus side was that he slept brilliantly throughout the night and has never been an early riser. Maybe go for a "quiet time" instead and see what happens.

I'd second trying a little earlier. My DD is just 16 months and dropped to 1 nap around a month ago, since then the timing of the nap has crept steadily forward and now she tends to go down around 11 am (usually wakes between 6.30 and 7am). My strategy is to take her out to the park about 9.30 and run the legs off her - home for a snack and then into bed; she'll usually sleep for 1.5/2 hours.

Monkey down at 7.00pm and is a very good night sleeper until 6.15 these mornings. I really hope her day time naps are not over, I have only got her to one nap instead of a mid morning and a late afternoon and it was bliss for the first time to have a couple of hours to myself, if napping is over it will be a very sad day for mummy.

Thanks Strawberrie, maybe the midday nap has crept too late from the 11.30 start time, I'll bring it back and hope to get her napping again......

My DS is 20 months, so a bit older than your DD, however I still thought I had a good while longer left of daytime naps. But he has been refusing naps this week and managing to keep going all day from around 6.30 to bed at 7.00. I'm convinced he still needs his nap, but he seems to think otherwise. However, today I was out and about in the car around 10.45 and he fell asleep! So I think I have been putting him for a nap at the totally wrong time - I have been waiting until quite a while after lunch, so around 1.30. I'm now thinking that by then he is too tired to sleep, if that makes any sense. So am going to try putting him down earlier tomorrow and see what the results are. Hope your DD and my DS let us both have a breather at some point in the day.

Oh yes pjd me too! Good luck, I'll be thinking of you!!

Failed! There was NO sleep today at all, screamed when being put into sleep sack and was distraught, so after 15 mins of crying I gave up and for the rest of the day she played and laughed, ate a big dinner, had a bath, read books, fell asleep at 6.30pm. I guess I just might have to accept that this sleep strike might actually be long term. I'm driving tomorrow so will be in the car for two 40 minute stretches, maybe she'll sleep!

Is she walking yet?

We had some sleep here - about 30 mins so better than nothing I suppose. Was out in the car again at around the same time as the previous day, 10.45 ish, for an hour, but he didn't sleep at all despite seeming tired. On the way home, around 2.30 he eventually dropped off half way through the journey. So maybe the thing about giving them the opportunity to sleep earlier isn't going to work! I'm now starting to wonder if maybe he only needs a nap every other day, I read another thread where someone said this was the case with her DC. So I think I'm going to carry on putting him down for a nap/driving somewhere at nap time and if he sleeps fine and if he doesn't try my best not to get stressed about it!!

Yes, she' been walking for a couple of months now, I run around with her and have been trying to wear her out in the morning as much as possible, but she only slept for 30 minutes in the car this afternoon. She has now taken a strong almost fearful disliking to the cot and was awake for 2 hours last night when she usually sleeps straight through from 6.30/7.00 until between 6 and 7 the next morning. I don't know what's happened to bring this on. Do you have any suggestions? I can't find any literature on this except for the transition from crawling to walking but she's almost running these days.

She has just recovered from a throat infection and was on antibiotics, I'm still breastfeeding, home environment still the same, same childminder once a week, maybe she's missing Monkey Music and Sing and Sign classes because it's school holidays!

Thanks for your advice pjd - I think that I'm now coming to terms with the fact that her daytime naps may be over and the only few minutes I'll have to myself will be in the car if she sleeps after we arrive at our destination. I guess there's no point stressing over something I cannot change.

But if anyone has any ideas.........

Try putting her down in her cot, darken the room, and put a few toys/book in with her - if she is really tired she should sleep and if not, then she will be having some quiet time.

I have found that my DS goes through phases of napping and not napping. The one upside is that he sleeps 'like a baby' at night, but it does take some time.

Now he's 2.5 yrs and will only nap at home in his pushchair - it suits me whether he naps or doesn't. Whereas a couple of months ago when he was going through another no sleep phase, I was finding it extremely difficult!