DD self settles in the day but not at night. Why????

[GreenSpaghetti]

Does anyone have an ideas why my DD (18m) will happily and easily settle herself for day time naps but needs to be held until asleep then transferred to her cot at night time bed time?

She has milk at both, Ewan the Dream sheep at a both and the only really difference to the routine is that she has a story at bedtime. We use a nightlight at night so the room isn’t especially darker than she has it at day time.

It puzzles me every time! Anyone had anything similar or got any ideas for fixing this!

I would guess that it is because you have always held her until she is asleep at night, so she has developed that association. Presumably because she doesn't need to be held to get to sleep in the daytime, you therefore don't do it for the daytime nap, so she has no sleep habit here.

It's an unfortunate self perpetuating problem.

Whilst following the same routine for lunchtime nap and bedtime is useful for some babies, it is not unreasonable to conclude that babies and young children do know there is a difference between their afternoon nap and bedtime - and that they are not exactly the same event.