Ooff that is tough. It’s so difficult isn’t it. Sadly babies can’t talk so sometimes
it’s completely out of your control to fix it, you just need to ride it out, it’s so hard if you have other things to do and are knackered.
If I were to guess, though, they can start to drop the second nap at that age and try to consolidate into a longer one but it’s not an automatic transition it takes ages, months
sometimes, to adjust. Secondly it’s pretty common for kids to fall apart with tiredness when they have such a big change in routine like nursery. Lastly when they start to go to nursery/daycare they pick up everything, you couldn’t rule out things
like an ear infection, sensitivities to different food and being thirsty or more constipated and uncomfortable. I expect you know what to look for there though and it’s unlikely.
I would ask the nursery to give
You precise details about when she fell asleep (not just when she went down) how much she ate and drank and nappies in full colour detail so you can get a handle on it. It sounds
like you are really attentive to her needs which is lovely. But if I could go back in time and do anything different it would be to stop bringing my own stress into a situation which I did and it didn’t help. To be clear, I am not comparing your wee baby to a dog, but I notice my dog acts totally different when someone is upset in the house, my kids were built the same and still pick up massively on my stress. Had I gone into the room thinking “whatever your emotions are you and I will cope and everything will be fine” it probably went on the same
amount of time… but it didn’t feel like it.
You could try dedicating 10 mins per night to just doing a game, going out to the garden and blow bubbles or “dancing” or banging pots, something without the agenda of winding down and going to bed. Somehow evolution has given
babies the ability to spot parents’ “go to sleep”agenda’s at 50 paces! You aren’t by yourself though my 2 did the same but also were
up multiple times
at night for 2.5 years each. As the old adage goes you can’t control you what is happening, just your reaction to it but it took me a long time to figure that out. Best of luck to you.