19 month old outgrowing nap?

[Daisysimply]

Hi any advice is appreciated.

i have a 19 month old little girl who has been very difficult to get down for a nap over the past couple of weeks. She wakes at about 8-9am and I try get her down for a nap between 1-2pm. She has started fighting this nap and will scream when I try get her to sleep. As soon as I put her back down she is happily playing with her toys which makes me think she isn’t tired. However, get to 5pm in the afternoon and she’s exhausted but obviously it’s too late then to give her a nap but too early for bed. I can keep her awake but she will be so grumpy and clingy until she goes to bed.

ive also found on the days when she does nap she will refuse to go to sleep at night until late - around 10pm sometimes even later. If she hasn’t napped she will go down at a reasonable time. When I’ve looked it up it says children need naps till they’re at least 3 years old! I don’t know if this is just a phase or if she is outgrowing a nap. Any help is appreciated.

All mine stopped naps from about 18 mo 😭🤪 It was hell until they got used to going to bed early (and I got used to some early starts)
I used to put to bed at 6:30 some days

I usually started bedtime winddown/routine early, like a longgg bath and play with water toys, lots of books and singing
Basically anything to calm down and get through the danger zone of 4-6 lol

I wouldn't worry, they don't need the sleep so long as they get longer in the evening
& you get the evening to yourself then too

My kids didn't nap from the age of 2. All kids are different, some of my friends kids still nap at age 3, some didn't after 18months.
I agree with pp having a good evening/settling down routine helped us. Dinner, nice long bath, books, snuggle time, bed.

Both mine stopped at 18 months too!
With one, if they were really grumpy I could put them in the car and they might drop off.
The other went from a 3 HR nap one day to standing up in the cot saying no more naps. That was that!

You could maybe try waking them a bit earlier in the morning - 9 am seems quite late to start the day. They might be more willing for a nap after lunch if they've been up longer.

If not, we used to have quiet time after lunch - sit on the sofa, read some books, maybe a bit of TV. Just so they got a bit of a rest.

8 - 9am is actually quite a late wake up for a toddler.

Mine tended to be up early at around 6.30am/7am so were tired by early afternoon so would still nap. Well one reliably would, the other never actually managed any consistent schedule.

You could keep your current morning routine. Skip the nap. Keep them active when they start to get sleepy but bring forward bedtime to 6.30pm - 7pm. Depending on their current bedtime though it might start an earlier morning anyway.

8 to 9 a.m is very late, my kids at that age were awake at around 6-7.They then did have a short nap mid afternoon if I read to them.Stopped napping by age 3.

My two stopped having a nap a 2, but would still sometimes fall asleep while watching TV in the afternoon, or in the car. I do t remember if the evenings were a nightmare, it was a long time ago.

DGD is 19 months and still napping, but she has been through phases of not wanting to go down. Her mum finds it almost impossible to put her down for a nap, so takes her for a drive, then transfers her to bed.

Yes I did wonder if she was waking up a bit late in the morning but I just can’t bring myself to wake her up at 6.30/7am when we don’t need to be up that early. On the days when she’s napping she’s refusing to go to bed till gone 10pm so it doesn’t seem fair to wake her really early. She’s had no nap today and I’m now putting her down for bed for 7pm so fingers crossed she’s not up and ready to go again in about 5 hours!

@Daisysimply how is it now, op? I came across your thread googling as my ds is the same right now. He's waking 8-830, napping at 230 then not going to bed until 10...
I wondered if it was the late mornings that have crept in over the summer