How much sleep?

[GillL]

DD 8 months has been sleeping from 8pm til 6pm for a while now. But recently she hasn't been going to sleep until 9 or 10. She doesn't seem tired but just wants to play in her cot. If I'm in the room then she's fine, otherwise she'll scream. I thought it was because she's teething but she doesn't appear to be in any pain. I've been having to cuddle her to sleep when she starts to get tired and it is wearing me out as I've not been getting to bed til late.

Nothing has changed in her routine and she is still sleeping at the same times during the day.

I always hear about how other babies sleep 12 hours a night and get quite jealous. I don't want to put her to bed later in case it's just a phase and I need time to myself.

Can anyone help as I'm struggling to keep my eyes open at work and dh is on nights.

How many naps is she taking, and how long? My DD never slept/sleeps more than 10 hours per night unless she's ill or making up for a bad night....but naps started to change around 10 months for her, and once she dropped one of them she did sleep longer at night.

She sleeps for about 3 hours in the day - in the car in the morning, on the way home and one 2 hour sleep during the day.

Would suspect the "on the way home" nap myself. How long is it? When DD was this age a couple of times they let her have a late afternoon nap at nursery - just half hour or so - and she wouldn't go to bed. Is there no way to keep her awake? Think that by 8 months most babies have dropped down to two naps a day.

Unless we're out in the car when DS2 (15months)is tired he only sleeps about 10 hours a day which includes about 1.5hr during the day. DS1 slept even less - from about 1 yr he slept about 6 hrs at night and had 2x1hr naps in the day.

She's always had the sleep on the way home but still gone to sleep around 8pm.

I don't really know how to keep her awake - especially now I have a new car with an airbag in the front passenger side that can't be turned off, so she has to go in the back.

I'm really hoping this is just a phase. Luckily I have some holiday coming up so I'll be able to sleep in the day to catch up.

Amazing though, how fast 'she's always.....' changes at this age! It might be a phase, but the changes do come thick and fast the first year or two... If you can't do anything about the late pm (or morning) naps in car, which you probably can't, how about a shorter one during the day? Maybe try 1 1/2 hours?

Yes GillL DD always had a late afternoon nap until she stopped being ready for bed and then we knocked it on the head. Lucky for us nursery is only 1 min away in the car. How long does she sleep in the car and what time?

She normally sleeps for about 20 minutes at 6pm. Her childminder did say that she hasn't been sleeping as much in the day so I thought this might make her more tired for the evening. I guess this sleep on the way home is giving her a second wind.

Thats what it sounds like to me. A bit tricky to avoid, I know, especially when its dark.