Oversleeping in car seat

[Hyggemama]

My toddler (21mo) loves her car seat. Only trouble is if we have a family day out she will sleep all the way there and back. I feel terrible complaining about her being so good in the car as know lots aren't.
The morning nap isn't a problem but if she sleeps after about 2pm it really messes up her bedtime. She will be awake (but grouchy) until gone 10. We love our days out, but me and DP get anxious towards the end of it, knowing she's going to be out of kilter in the evening. Even a 20 min afternoon nap seems enough to keep her up till half 10
Her sleeptime (though baby led) would normally be:
7am wake up
11:30-12:30 nap
8pm ish bedtime
But if we go out around 9am in the car she will sleep straight away. Have tried leaving later and she still squeezes that afternoon nap in on return journey.
So what can we do??? Just stop any travel after about 2pm?
I have thought she doesn't seem to sleep much for her age but if i try to get her to settle any earlier she gets really cross and seems to stay up even later
Please help!

Me and DH do one of us in the back keeping him awake. It’s really hard work!

I used to avoid travelling after 2, or ds would be up till midnight.
It’s a pain at the time, but it’s just a phase.

Haha I tried that the other day! Does work for shorter journeys bur yes hard work. Glad we aren't the only ones. Shes more verbal now so will tell me "want sleep" when I'm trying to keep her awake. Poor girl

My DD was like this, but for naps after 3pm. Would be up until 11ish. We just went with the later bedtime on days where we needed to travel after 3, and tried to have a later than usual dinner and a chilled evening (milk, cuddles, story, quieter dvds like the gruffalo’s child etc) which minimised the grouchiness.

Should say - she is now 2.5 and we don’t have this issue now, now even if she naps later she is usually still happy to go to bed around 8.30ish. Thought I should say as at the time i’d Have liked to know it wasn’t going to last forever! We now have a baby as well which makes things a different kind of complicated but it is all good fun. Hope you can keep enjoying your days out.

Okay glad to hear it is hopefully a phase. She is v reluctant to go to bed no matter what. She used to let us know when she was tired and get in bed, tucking herself in and asking for milk. All seems to have stopped now though and she gets really upset as she gets more tired. It's like shes so frustrated knowing she wont be able to keep herself awake much longer.