17 m/o DD not napping in the day?

[MistyMooBags]

Hello!

My DD (17 months in a week) rarely naps during the day. She's been a wonderful baby - sleeping right through the night since she was 4 weeks old(!) and apart from a little grizzling late afternoon/early evening because she's over-tired and fighting it, I'm not too worried about it.

However, my MIL keeps telling me I should put her in her cot at specific times so she can learn to nap, but when I do she just cries and screams for me...

Is it ok for her not to sleep during the day? She goes to bed at 7pm and tends to wake around 7.30am - sleeps all night without waking. Very rarely she'll curl up on the sofa with a cuddly toy and take a nap, but it's not at a set time of day.

Thanks! :)

Ignore your MIl, all babies need sleep in differing quantities and at different times. If you are both happy and she isn't grizzly before the hour or so before bedtime then why would you want to change something that works?

My 17 month old ds still has 2 x 1 hour sleeps during the day but is awake before 6am most days. I'd happily accept your sleep patterns! His sleeps are in the buggy btw as he wont settle in his cot during the day but will at night without problems. I think with him that i'm not going to fight him to do something that he'll stop doing in a few months anyway.

Does your dd settle in her cot ok at bedtime?

i'd let her stay up if she doesn't want to nap.

ds dropped his naps at 15mo and slept much better for it. he was put to bed earlier though, between 5 and 6pm.

Thanks for your reply! I suppose I just wanted reassurance that I wasn't doing anything wrong by not trying to 'force' her to sleep during the day when she really doesn't want to...

She does get over-tired and I know she's fighting it because she wants to play instead of sleep. She'll have a nap if she's in the car, but other than that she's wide awake all day.

However, she settles to bed at night absolutely fine. :) That's one routine I've been keen to encourage from the start and even if she's chatting with her toys for up to an hour, she's perfectly happy and will drop off to sleep without crying.

I guess I'm VERY lucky!

Maybe your mil can see she's v tired by bedtime and thinks the answer is more daytime sleeping. When ds2 was dropping sleeps i had to force him to sleep in the car or buggy about every third day or he couldn't get to sleep at night. Sounds like she is doing great.