15mo what am I meant to do about naps?

[Madallie]

dd never used to be a good sleeper but settled and just recently was in a routine (when not ill, teething etc) of:

6.30/7 - awake
10-11 - nap (Ihr)
2.30/3-3.30-4 - nap (usually 1 hr)
715/7.30 - bed

For the most part she was sleeping through (like I said when not ill or teething).

But then for 3 days she refused to nap in the pm. She's quite happy to be in her cot but she just laid there chatting for the entire nap time. So those days she only had one nap.

On the 4th day I thought I'd just put her down for the 1 nap but decided I should push it a bit later so that she was not awake too long before bedtime. So on day 4 (yesterday) she napped 11.00-12.15. I then put her to bed a bit earlier than normal at 6.40pm. BUT this has all obviously caused he to become OT and she was basically awake on and off all night and none of us got hardly any sleep.

I just don't know what to do. This has happened in the past when we've tried to drop to 1 nap so we've just reverted to 2 again but this time she just won't fall asleep in the pm.

To make it more difficult she just will not (however tired) fall asleep in her pushchair so I'm constantly having to rush home for naps. I don't mind so much if she does actually sleep but now she doesn't.

Anyone experiences similar at this age? What did you do?

15 months is average for dropping to one nap, but it should be much earlier - straight after lunch (so about 12ish). Bear in mind they don't drop a nap all at once - sometimes it's one day on one day off for a month or so.

Thanks for repying Zuleika. But I am already doing the nap earlier in fact it was at 11am yesterday. I don't think she could last until 12.

Mine is 14mo and has started refusing an afternoon nap... She goes to nursery during the week and they've started putting her down for a nap at 1, after lunch. We've been doing the same and she sleeps for about an hour and a half... Seems to be working reasonably well!

Thanks Carolra. Glad that works well for you. Maybe I could try that! What time does you dd wake in the morning and go to bed at night if you don't mind me asking?

Mine's the same age and its tricky as we pick the older one up at 1 from pre school and usually go out, so nice nap at home not possible then.

We've occasionally had 10 until 12 and we haven't done an afternoon nap then.

Mine is still waking before 6 every sodding morning whatever we seem to try!

I no Teach. It's tough isnt it? What time does yours go to bed at night? Does yours sleep through even if naps haven't been long? I wouldn't mind what naps were like if it didn't interfere with night sleep.

Mine tends to sleep from 7 until 5.20 regardless of what we do with naps. I started trying to change them in the hope baby would sleep later! Luckily she usually sleeps through until then but sometimes cries out or needs comfort.

Until Christmas she napped 9.30 to 10.30 roughly and after lunch if we were home or 3 ish if we'd been to toddlers. All worked fine, happily went down etc.

We moved morning nap until 10ish to see if that would help her sleep later in the morning but it doesn't seem to! Occasionally 6 am. I've tried to do it later but she cries with tiredness.

We now go out a lot in the afternoon so I'm strict about the morning nap and hope she dozes in pushchair or car if she needs to.

I'd so love to get her waking later . .

I've recently read somewhere on here that when they drop a nap, it helps to give them a quiet time in the afternoon to recharge. so maybe just sitting on a bed in a dim room, reading, etc. it might be worth a try. i'm in the same situation as you. i have been surprised, however, that DS can manage to stay up for a lot longer than i'd thought without having a nap. i really miss having some time in the afternoon to myself, though

Thanks all.

Littletomato my dd seems ok in the day with just 1 morning nap, it's just she now started being really restless/wakeful at night which she isn't when on 2 naps! But she won't generally have 2 naps. It's like a vicious circle and v frustrating!

What times does you lo sleep?

well, we put DS to bed quite late - around 9pm. so he tends to get up at 730/8.
his naps are quite variable now. if he takes two naps, then he has one around 11am and one around 3pm. if he refuses to sleep in the morning, then he'll just take one longish nap around 12, and will skip the afternoon nap. but in any case, he's been fighting the afternoon nap, so i suspect it'll be gone completely soon.

Why not make the morning nap shorter? Wake her after 30-45 mins then put down at 1.

My dd is 15 months and has an AM nap at 9/9.30am for 45 mins then 2 hours at 1pm. She isn't sleeping through at the moment (ill/teeth) and when she does we usually have the AM one when out then PM at home.

Wow Iggly I'd love mine to sleep that much! She does 45 min to an hour I think if its 2 nap.

Yea it's great. But ds was different - took a long time to get decent naps from him!!!!!

I think I've resigned myself to the fact that neither of mine are "good sleepers". Well, the older one since turning 18 months has slept 7-7 so can't really complain there (even if the first 12 months were bf every 2 hours...).

I'd really hoped for more sleep this time around! Sleeping "through" earlier than first but what on earth is with 5.20 every blinking day.

First didn't have proper scheduled naps at all - slept in carrier when I walked everywhere. This one ended up napping after preschool runs which worked for 2 naps. Still working on the 1 nap thing!

They really are all different!

Nap will be longer if you give her lunch beforehand.

Try lunch at 11.15 or 11.30, then down for a nap by 12 at the latest. Alot of the nurseries will do morning tea at 10am and lunch at 11.30, followed by a sleep.