Right, so add is 19 months and we have been through a spell of teething, but even with calpol we are not getting her to sleep before 9pm. I suspect that this is because she is sleeping too much at lunch - she sleeps for up to 2 hours, generally 1hr 45 and is up by 2.30. My nanny thinks she could be either over or undertired. Even with an 8pm bedtime she seems undertired, though in her undertired and overtired so look quite similar. She will go to sleep on her own at nap time, though at bedtime she often needs a bit of help settling down as she gets a bit overexcited. I am currently sitting in her room watching her suck her thumb and wind down in bed now - but I did start the process hopeful of sleep at 7.30, given that although she had a decent nap, she didn't sleep until 1am last night seemingly with a tummy bug that has passed. I should also say that she is a bit like the Duracell bunny, requires continuous movement and once she does sleep she is out cold, thankfully, but I no longer have the energy to spend hours trying to convince her to sleep. She only needed 2 naps from birth and dropped to nursing one nap at 7 months, so she is quite an alert child (something the doctors said about her at birth!). Lovely and I wouldn't swap her, but a restless easily bored handful.
So.... under tired or overtired?!!
We are off on hols this week so am going to experiment with options on limiting naps, but in the meantime if anyone has some pearls of wisdom they would be much appreciated.