10 month old nap advice

[Bol87]

I just wondered if anyone could offer any advice on my 10 month olds nap. She is currently napping as follows:

Wake: Sleeps through to 6am (and yawn through breakfast but she will not go back to sleep after 6am for love nor money)

Morning Nap: 9.30-11am - this nap is easy, she goes straight to sleep & always does 1.5 hours, occasionally longer.

Afternoon nap - absolute nightmare. I usually aim anytime from 2pm, often more 2.30. I try read her cues. Once in her cot, she screams, cries, rolls around, bangs her head on her mattress. This goes on for 30-45 minutes before either she gives in or I do. Today, she won & while she coped OK, she was exhausted by 5.30 & asleep by 6pm (usual bedtime is 6.30). If she does nap, it’s only ever 30 minutes in the afternoon.

I can’t decide why she finds this nap so hard? I feel like she needs it as she’s shattered at bedtime but she clearly finds it’s very hard to go to sleep. We do the same routine as morning nap so she knows it’s naptime.. The only difference is that before morning nap, we are at home playing or eating breakky. We tend to go out for a walk, to a class or to the shops after lunch & before afternoon nap. So she is being more stimulated perhaps? But I always run through our little nap routine when we get back home. Quiet play, a story, a nappy change with a lullaby on to calm her down..

Any suggestions? I dread the afternoons at the mo

If your afternoon nap is only ever 30 mins then her naps are the wrong way around. Long morning naps are find as long as your afternoon nap is also long. If one nap is short and the other long, then you want a short morning nap and a long afternoon one.

I would aim for a morning nap 9.15am-10.00am (wake after 45 mins and do something busy busy to get her going).

Then lunch at 12pm and a 12.30pm afternoon nap.

My ten month old wakes up at 6am, then has her first nap around 9am. This is usually for only 35 mins. Her lunch time nap is from 12 to 1:30/2. If it's any shorter she may need another half an hour around 4 pm. Bedtime is at 7pm. I think you should try waking your baby after 45 mins in the morning, so she is more tired by lunchtime, and so should start to settle more easily and sleep longer.