Help needed with afternoon nap / bedtime thoughts!!!!

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

DD is 9.5 mo and goes to bed at 6:30-7pm and wakes for the day at 7ish (currently waking for 1.5 hours in the night to get stuck sitting up but that's another problem!!). She has a morning sleep at 10:30ish (dictated by her) and can last from 30 mins to 2 hours.

Today is a good example of the pickle I'm in. She woke from a 2 hour sleep at 1pm and started showing signs of needing a nap at 5pm BUT that's far too close to bed time so I keep her up any way I can. If she does have that sleep, then she could be out for 1.5 hours by choice and grizzly like mad if you wake her up for the remainder of her day. She would then end up going to bed later BUT I don't want to move bed time.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I should do?????

I would limit her morning nap to 45 mins which will hopefully mean she needs another nap earlier in the afternoon so she doesn't get too cranky by bedtime.

Somtimes bedtime just has to mov ea little later to accomodate their growing interests and alertness. DS (16 months)used to be bathed at 6pm on the dot and in bed by 6.45pm but is now bathed at 6.45pm and in bed by 7.45pm as he likes to play upsatirs prior to his bath ('naked' time) and is just not tired at 7pm.

ds wakes at 6am has one nap a day after lunch for @ 2 hours (12-2pm) and is asleep by 8pm.

He certainly doesn't get his earlier morningness form his Mum!

I would try to get her sleeping later in the morning - moving to after lunch. I would try to go out in the morning so that she is kept awake anbd then get some lunch in her about 12 and then try to get her down to sleep after lunch - you can then relax with a coffee and she should be okay all afternoon until bedtime. If your struggling with that you could try putting her down at 9.30 for half an hour and then for an hour and a half in the afternoon. I wouldn't move your bedtime more than half an hour. Be aware though - that the clocks go back in a few weeks and that has a habit of mucking everything up - maybe you could do it all then as you'll probably have a week or so of difficult bedtimes and nap times anyway. Hope that helps.

Thank you for your replies!

The only thing is that she really cannot cope with delaying her nap until later. I can push it to 11am before there's a melt down. Should I do that? Also - she just will not go down before she's ready as it were. Good point about moving bed time . It always used to be 6pm start of bath etc and now it's 6:30pm. I'm not sure i can push it any later without huge melt down but i can try by 15 mins and then another 15 mins after a few nights. Good point about the clocks going back too!!!!

At 9.5 months she still needs a morning nap so I wouldn't try and push is back just now. Instead limit it to 45 mins so she needs another one after lunch.

At 9.5 month ds would never have gotten to 11am without a nap. I know all babies are different but around that age they need a nap @ 2-3 hours after waking to see them through to lunchtime.

I used to feel that ds's nap times ruled my whole life! but 16 months in he sleeps well, naps well and never gets overtired.

Agree with Foxymagoo - at 9.5 months my DD still had 2 naps a day - a short one in the morning and a longer one after lunch. I don't think i dropped the morning nap until she was about 1, a friend of mines DS has only just dropped his morning nap at 18 months, so it can vary widely.