13 month old nap / sleep advice

[fajita]

This is a question for those of you whose toddlers are still on two naps a day! How long do you leave between last nap and bedtime?

DD has really been fighting bedtime the last couple of weeks - she cries in her cot even though one of us is sat on the landing and gets herself really worked up. When we get to that stage we take her out of cot as we know she won't calm down and then she is absolutely fine! All smiles and just wants to look at her books - she's full of beans.

So, I don't know if it's yet another phase OR it's because she's just not tired enough (which is how it seems at the moment!!)

Her routine is:-

7/7.15pm Wake up
9.30-10.30am Nap 1
2 - 3.30pm Nap 2
6.45pm Bath, followed by a book or two and then usually in her cot at about 7.15pm

Any ideas gratefully received! Do I cut the afternoon nap to an hour??!!

Tonight as an example - she was put into her cot @ 7.15pm but started crying after a couple of minutes. I was out and DH was bedtime, he took her out of cot as she was getting so wound up.

When I got home at 8.30ish they were in the lounge and she was full of beans!! He then took her back up at 9pm, did the bedtime routine again then popped her in her cot, closed the door and came downstairs. And she fell asleep with no problem!

So that kind of makes me lean towards the fact that she needs to be tireder...???

My baby is 15 months. I'd say try and drop or shorten the morning nap and bring the lunch sleep earlier. If my little girl wakes early (before 6) she'll have 30 mins at 8.30ish then sleeps 12-1/ 1.30 then is up until bedtime at 7. I definitely don't think you've got a long enough gap between waking up and bedtime, especially as she's sleeping 12 hours overnight.

That's tough. You could try an 8pm bedtime?

How does she spend her time? I find my son sleeps better when he's had a busy day. I know most people advise to read books and chill out before bed, but my son seems to benefit from a good run around in the hour before bed. We do dinner, bath, then he tears around with daddy, then breastfeed then he's out like a light at 8pm

At that age we were down to one nap. Start by doing a really early lunch because they will struggle to stay awake, then move it back. I did 12:00 lunch, 13:00 nap - wake up if they sleep past 15:00. Bed at 19:00.

And don't be afraid to do even earlier bedtime if needed, any time after 18:00 in my house

I’d end by 4pm. 7am up, nap at 10.30 & 2.30ish

Thanks all!

@SilverBirchTree I did wonder if she hasn't been worn out enough, as we have had a quiet few days. We've done a lot today though, had an hours sensory/party thing, went out for lunch and then had a play date this afternoon at a friends house.

I'm reluctant to push bedtime back as then we will get less of an evening so would rather reduce daytime sleep if that would have same effect ...!! I'll be going freelance soon too so will probably needs evenings to do odd bit of work

@RockinRobinTweets end nap by 4pm? That's even later though!

I did wonder whether she's ready to go down to one 2hr nap instead. She falls asleep for both her naps without fuss in 5-10mins so I think I was taking that to mean that she wasn't ready to drop one

In case of my DD, 2 to 1 nap transition lasted from 10 to 15 months. Every time DD was no longer sleepy at bedtime or woke up earlier in the morning, I would reduce her morning nap by 5 minutes. I tried to preserve the afternoon nap and occasionally pushed her bedtime back. At 13 months we did something like:

7am - wake up
9.40am - nap 1 (no longer than 20 minutes)
12.45-3pm - nap 2 (usually 1.5-2 hours within this slot)
7.30 - bedtime

I’m in the sleep = more sleep camp. Overtired = wired and more difficult to settle

I always refer to this

www.mybabysleepguide.com/2013/02/average-sleep-charts-by-age.html?m=1

You could probably still have 2 naps if she went to bed later or slept less at night but if you want 7-ish bedtime and 12 hours at night then it sounds like you might be moving to one 2 hour nap. Don't be sad, it makes your life easier for planning stuff

@TooMinty Yeah I have to say I am quite looking forward to one 2hr nap! Strangely

Get rid of the morning nap and move the afternoon one to about 1pm. Don't let her sleep past 3pm if you want her in bed for 7pm.

Both my boys were on 1 long nap by that age. Youngest dropped naps altogether at 18 months!

I also liked it when mine dropped naps completely although I have nostalgic thoughts about nap time occasionally!

My LO is 18 months now and solidly on 1 nap which is 2 hours capped. At 13 months (upon advice of a sleep consultant) we started capping her morning nap. Her general routine was:
Awake: 6:45 ish
Nap 1: 10 (capped at 30 mins for a couple of weeks, then capped at 20 mins, and then finally capped at 10 mins), waking no later than 10:30.
Nap 2: 1:45, waking no later than 3:30.
Bedtime: 7:45

It then got to a point where she wasn't falling asleep for bedtime until past 8, and she was waking earlier and earlier. So at that point we scrapped the morning nap and went to one nap. Her routine since then has been:

Awake: anytime between 7-7:30
Nap: 12:30-2:30 (always have to wake her!)
Bedtime: 8

I agree that if they sleep in the day they sleep better at night. If my DS doesn't have 2hrs somewhere in the day he won't sleep at night.
Sometimes he doesn't sleep until 2pm and I wake him for tea at 4ish, he is still ready for bed at 7.00 to 7.30.

Envious of all these 7am get ups my DS never sleeps past 6.15 am. He is 16months and has started to try and drop his naps, but when he doesn't have them he is just too overtired and not settled at bedtime

I'm another that believes that sleep begets sleep.

Maybe try one nap during the day for a week and see if that helps? My son is 15 months and we tend to go like this;

7am ish- wakes up
11am- sleeps for as long as he wants, usually 2.5 hours
5pm- (optional second nap - becoming rarer and rarer)
6pm wake him up if he's sleeping
8pm bedtime

We have a really set bedtime routine and he sleeps through.