2 to 1 nap transition is a nightmare

[TS123]

Sorry to repost on this but really, I am so confused. I had a good napper on my hands, and I feel like DD ( 13 months) is spiralling into overtired land and nothing I do will put the brakes on this. I started to notice that her afternoon nap was starting later and later in the afternoon and sometimes would be short. So I cut the morning nap to 1 hour - still she would not be very sleepy after lunch and had trouble putting her down. SO, I tried keeping her up all morning - she does great with a 2 hour nap but . . . some mornings are brutal she is so tired she is very cranky by 10:30am. By then it's too late to put her for a morning nap and I know that if I let her nap AT ALL at that hour, she will have virtually no nap in the afternoon. Alot of people talk about giving 2 naps some days and 1 nap other days - how can I figure this out?? It seems that only by waiting until late morning is it obvious that she is going to have trouble getting along with one nap for the day - but by then it's too late. ARGGHH! Anyone else in this position? And what are you doing about it?

I think, if she's more tired in the morning than the afternoon, then it probably makes sense to let her have her main nap in the morning and a shorter one in the afternoon. By keeping her up in the morning you don't sound like she's sleeping longer in the afternoon.

At this age - is she walking yet? - they vary between needing lots of sleep and not-so-much sleep. If they're not all that mobile they might not be so tired. When they get walking in earnest, the sometimes go back to 2 naps.

I would go with the flow rather than trying to manipulate things. Have always found, from personal experience, that tinkering with sleep patterns is not constructive. The only exception being to keep them awake if they start looking sleepy too close to bedtime...

Thanks Chil1234 - I think you are right. I must stop tinkering. I will look more at her cues and let her lead the way.