20 month old & naps...lack of!

[Flossy78]

My DD has napped well since she was 6 months. She is nearly 21 months now and up until recently had a nap between 1ish & 3ish in the afternoon. She is very busy so has always been tired for this nap. However for the past week or so she's not slept when I've put her down. She's just moaned & then cried until I got her back up. She's been tired for the rest of the afternoon & then shattered by bedtime. Is this the beginning of her starting to refuse naps or is there anything I can do to encourage/help her to continue this sleep? She goes down around 7pm and wakes around 8am most days. Any advice/ideas gratefully received!

I think she needs it, so would encourage it

ideas:

• after lunch go for a walk, a30 mins nap in the pushchair is better than nothing

• have a nap with her. I tell mine they don't have to sleep, but they have to close their eyes and be quiet - 10 mins later they are snoring..

• introduce the idea of quiet time, again lie down somewhere quiet with her and read her a story or let her listen to a story on tape or some gentle music - even if she's not sleeping she will rest

• go for a drive, she might nods off

give her a beerjoking... you can give her a tiny bit more food at lunch time, full tummy might knock her out - think Christmas lunch!

• skip it all together for a while, if she doesn't need it, you'll both just get frustrated.

you can try again in a few days/weeks time, when she's had a growth spur or gets even more active she might go back to naps.

my 2.5year old is a bit erratic sometimes he has an hour nap, or 3 hrs or none.

Quite common at this age, id keep offering the nap, its quite likely she'll start napping regularly again on a couple of weeks. In the mean time, if she doesnt nap, put her to bed earlier than usual so she doesnt get overtired. And mutter to yourself 'this too shall pass'.....

Thank you both for your replies It's good to know this may be just a phase & that I should keep trying to help her nap. I know she needs it as she looks so tired so I will definitely try all that was suggested.