DD 23 Months old suddenly wants to go to bed at 4.30pm and very cranky. Why?

[Jools78]

My DD has no temperature, normal bowel movements (still in nappies so it's easy to monitor) and we're just back from 2 weeks on holiday in Scotland with her Dad.

Yesterday afternoon she fell asleep at 4.30pm in the pram and didn't wake up until 7am this morning apart from when she woke up when I transferred her into her cot at about 9pm. Tonight she wanted to go to bed at 4.30pm again, but I managed to get some food down her, a bath and a story. She was fast asleep by 5.30pm.

She's never done this before. And I'm wondering what it could be. Molar teething (she's dribbling, and there's a rash on her chin which I think is down to this, but could be eczema) but has no other teething symptoms other than being really irritable during the day, out of sorts.

Or I wonder if it's developmental and she's just tired from her brain development, some kind of milestone that's being reached in her head? She is eating well, not massive amounts so I don't think it's a growth spurt.

Any ideas, mums, dads?

Thank you!

Does she still have a daytime nap?

No, she hasn't been daytime napping since we got back and didn't on holiday except for if she was in the car on the back carrier.

I did try to get her to sleep at 2pm (she only day time naps now if she sleeps in our bed with me - at least that was the case before the holiday!) but she wasn't up for a sleep...

She gave up naps quite a while ago (maybe 6 months ago) unless she was going through a growth spurt in which case she slept in the bed with me...

DS is 26 mths and still sleeps for 1 1/2hrs each day and then goes down at 6pm and sleeps until 6.30am.
If he misses his day sleep he is often in bed by 5.30pm and sleeps through. I think they are just so active (brain and body) they are exhausted. If you are worried mention it to your GP to be on the safe side.

My 21 month has started to knock her daytime nap on the head just lately. She too gets tired by around 5. I've started giving dinner a bit earlier and then bathing and bed by 6-6.15pm
Luckily she's still sleeping til around 7.30am.

Hmmm barnsleybelle - is your daughter very cranky, too? Mine is crying at everything at the moment...

Thanks, Just5minspeace, that's good to hear. None of her peers sleep as much as she does - she's often asleep until 7.30/8am... I have always counted my lucky stars!

tbh, no she's not cranky until tea time. However, not sure if this applies to you but when she was having a good lunch time sleep we used to be very busy am and pm. ie, toddler groups or visiting friends am and then once we picked ds up from school maybe the park or football training with ds. She coped fine as she had good sleep in the day. However, once she started hitting and missing with the day sleep i found she couldn't cope with all the activities. I've stopped doing so much now and we have chilling time where we sit and listen to music. I also still put her in her cot in the afternoon so that even if she doesn't sleep she's at least resting, seems to be working as the tantrums have calmed down too.

I tend to think that any time my DS sleeps alot he is going through a growth spurt,

My DS loves his daytime naps, he is 28mths and usually sleeps for one and a half to two hours around lunch time and then goes to sleep in the evening at about 8pm and then sleeps for 10-11 hrs

but when he has a growth spurt he can sleep for 3hrs or more during the day and still sleep a full night.

And most of his peers seem to still have a daytime nap so it seems really normal to us