Will a later bedtime mean better naps?

[TS123]

My DS is 12 months old and lately will only take one nap for 1 1/2hours, and IMO spends most of his day in an exhausted and wired state. Nothing I do will make him nap longer or more often. So, I've been debating whether to put him to bed later in the hopes that less sleep at night will mean more sleep in the day (according to Ferber anyway). Currently I put him to bed anywhere between 6:30pm and 7pm (usually because he seems quite tired by then and will go off easily) and sleeps until 5:30 or 6am. According to Ferber, when a child sleeps this much at night he will be incapable of more daytime sleep. I'm more interested in what experienced mums on mumsnet have to say than what a "sleep expert" tells me. So please -- any advice?

I think all children are differnt. My DD (3) dropped her daytime nap of 2 hours at about 32 months. It got swapped for a structured amount of quiet time, playing in her room.

Before then she had 2 hours a day between 13.30 and 15.30 and went to bed at 8pm.

Now she has quiet time and in the afternoon and goes to bed and sleeps at 7.30pm. She then wakes at 7am.

Perhaps it's the time of your DS's nap that needs to be looked at, rather than the length or changing the bed time. Although you could try a later bedtime for about a week - perhaps by just 30 minutes to see if your hunch is right