Help - 1 year old resisting naptime?

[Pocket1]

DD is 15 months. Historically we held her to sleep but we sleep-trained at 12ish months and she's been great since. Goes to sleep first or second attempt and sleeps well.

But in the last week she cries blue murder when we put her down and it can take 30-60 mins for her to fall asleep. Noises range from happy babbling, to whinging to full on screaming. At which point we go in and calm her down.

It could be teething - but I can't feel any new teeth. It could be inconsistency as dd is put to bed by me, dh or my mum.

I'm sure dd is tired and not overtired. But still she just won't sleep easily.

Any idea what's going in? TIA

What nap times are you doing? 1 or 2 a day? What is bed time & wake up time for the day?

She wakes anytime between 5.30-6am. Can't seem to break that habit.

Naps are 8.30/9am for 40mins to just over an hour. Then again 1.30pm, again for about an hour

Sorry bedtime is 7pm. Thanks in advance

Ok ... On the advice from a maternity nurse as I had similar thing.

Early wakings are sometimes due to morning nap being to early, so if you can try & string out till 9am & only nap for 30mins.

Then ideally nap again at 12pm for 2hrs ... (Never did I think I would achieve this) then bedtime 7pm as you already do.

Over tiredness can cause the resisting to nap, and also the waking early as not a restful sleep if over tired.

Now I know this is easier said than done & it's all a bit text book, but I was going bonkers as I literally had a baby that didn't nap all effing day!!!

So I stayed in for nap times and basically forced it by being consistent & persevering.

The morning nap could actually soon be on it's way out so defo no longer than 40mins.

I hope this helps, if not then another suggestion is take a look at the EASY routine, this too can work wonders, I also found this www.troublesometots.com which was also quite useful.

With consistency & perseverance I promise you'll get there

Thank you so much. Have heard about morning nap being too early. But the rest is new. Will give it a try - am just so heartbroken at seeing her so upset. I would love to see her drift off happily and peacefully to sleep every day. Thank you X

Btw if naptime is midday, when the heck do you do lunch? Currently it's at 12.45!!!

Maybe she just wants to have one long nap?

Baby lunch should be 11am! Yes I know seems crazy but totally helps with long peaceful lunchtime nap :)

I agree about trying to phase her on to one longer nap. I have no real advice on how best to do this, as my daughter transitioned to one nap a day quite rapidly, as she started nursery, was overwhelmed by how much was going on, and just wouldn't settle down for a nap until after lunchtime, when she pretty much passed out! But it seems to have worked for her, and we get a lot fewer early wakings these days. Would it be a bit scary to go cold turkey on the morning nap altogether, just to try it? I know you can gradually phase it out, but I wouldn't really know where to start with that.

And yes, I agree, lunch earlier. We had to change lunch time from 12:30 to about 11:30, and she now tends to nap from around midday. You can keep some level of flexibility (for example, once a week my mother in law looks after her, takes her to a playgroup in the morning, where she has a decent snack mid-morning. She then falls asleep in the car on the way home around 11:30, transfers into the cot, then has a late lunch when she wakes around 1:30).

I agree with the others, it sounds like time to have just 1 nap. DS has his lunch at 11.30 and then naps from 12 for around 2 hours.

Thank you all so much. Will give this a try and hope it helps her settle into a better routine