Not letting 18m/o have a nap

[srah21]

My 18month old DD had a superb routine until recently. She used to wake up at 7.30am, morning nap at 10.30pm, wake up at 11.30/12pm and then back to bed at 7.30pm.

Until recently we would take her to bed for her morning nap but she would finish her milk (yes we still give her a bottle) and jump up and down and scream to come down to play obviously not wanting to sleep. When she did eventually nap, because she was too tired it ended up being quite late in the afternoon (2/3pm) and then she won't sleep until 9/10pm.

As she's so hyperactive and we also have a newborn DS now, sleeping so late can't be good for her so we try to keep her awake until she goes to sleep for the night.

My question is, is this healthy and what do you think I should be doing? Are there any suggestions? Thank you and please help 😫

My 2 always had a nap after lunch, they wouldn't be tired enough at 10:30. Usually 12:30-13:30/2 bedtime 7:30 ish. My youngest is 22 months and is still napping.

10.30 is really early for a nap if waking at 7.30.

Mine always had a nap after lunch so 12/1230 til 2/230. Bed at 6.30/7.

I agree to for after lunch, limit it to an hour and a half if you need to because of bedtime. Some do drop their naps at 18m but in my personal opinion it's too young and they'll get overtired, hyper and sleep worse for it.

I would keep her nap. Most young toddlers have given up morning naps by that point moving into one afternoon nap, have you tried putting her down after lunch? It might take her a little while to get used to the change but it should help with avoiding a late afternoon crash.

Both of mine dropped naps at about 18 months and younger one wouldn’t sleep until late (1am was the worst) if had even a catnap! So some kids do just stop needing naps early. Now 10 and 13 and sleep fine, no health issues!

At that age my DS would nap straight after lunch.

Depending on how tired he was this was normally somewhere from 12-2. Lunch would be at 11.30 and as he’s gotten older it’s now at 12 so that he only sleeps for 1-1.5 hours

I also never let him sleep past 2 otherwise it messes bedtime

Being hyper can often be the sign of an over tired toddler don't mistake it for energy.

My 2 yr old still has a nap after lunch, I have a new baby too so it's also my nap time. I'm hoping he doesn't drop his afternoon nap any time soon!

Dc3 is 18m and has recently moved his nap to after lunch from the morning. Works well, still goes to bed 730 ish. Try moving it before giving up completely.

My dd stopped napping at 15 months. The same situation as you that we'd try to put her down after lunch but she just wasn't having it. for the first couple of weeks we put her to bed an hour earlier to counteract the sleep loss.

But maybe try moving her nap to after lunch first as it's full on when they're awake all day!

My 19m old sleeps 11.45 - 2.45 I thought it was normal at this age to sleep over lunchtime?

At around 18 months my DS dropped his morning nap. Now it's wake around 7am, nap after lunch for a couple of hours, bed about 7pm.

There’s a classic sleep regression at 18 months. Lots of people give up on naps at this age because of it, but personally I think it’s way too young for most kids and if you power through, the nap is likely to come back when the regression settles down.

Most kids this age are on one nap, after lunch. Around 12/12.30pm

Being hyper can be (and often is) a sign of overtiredness. Once the cortisol is racing, it’s much harder for toddler to settle. Sleep begats sleep.

My DD has always liked an earlier nap than most of her friends - she'd normally go down at about 11-11.30 for 1.5-2 hours. Usually up by 7am at the latest though.

18months to have no nap is very young: I would do a nap straight after lunch. Have lunch c.11.30/12 and then nap. I’d assume about 1.5hr/2hr nap.

Just echoing other posters re the after lunch nap. Nursery dropped DS from two naps to one at around 14 months. It took a little while for us to get the same routine to work at home as he was shattered in the mornings, but eventually he settled and now has a consistent nap 12-2ish, sometimes slightly longer and bed at 7:30

I'd just move the nap later (just after lunch). The last thing you want is an overtired toddler as that will make bedtime even more of a struggle.